Tipperary 2-7, Cork 2-6: Tipperary caused a major upset in the Munster Minor Football Championship semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds last night when they rocked Cork to book a place in the decider against Kerry.

The Premier County, looking for their first title in 10 years, looked to corner forward Tim Dalton to give them a headstart with two early points, and, in 15 minutes, he carved the opening for Shane Quinlan to put them 1-3 to 0-1 ahead. Cork, unable to make an impression, trailed 1-6 to 0-3 at the break.

Shane McCarthy revived their hopes with a 44th-minute goal, but Tipperary were not there for the taking and Dalton broke through to ease the pressure with a cracking goal, to leave them ahead 2-7 to 1-4.

Cork put in a late rally and saw light after Colm O'Neill found the net. The same player cut the deficit to two, from a free, and Shane McCarthy set up a thrilling finale. Tipperary, however, stood firm to the final whistle.

TIPPERARY: M O'Donnell; D Buckley, J Coughlan, B Fox; D O'Brien, P Codd, A Aylward; P Donnellan; T Dunne; S Carey (0-1), B Jones, S Quinlan (1-0); D Keogh (0-1), S Browne (0-1), T Dalton (1-4, 0-1 from free). Subs: P Murphy for Browne (35 mins), D O'Sullivan for Codd (59 mins).

Cork: A Seymour; J O'Callaghan, M Power, S McLoughlin; S Kelleher, B Lombard, S Kiely; C O'Donovan, J Fitzpatrick; C O'Driscoll, S McCarthy (1-4, 0-2 from frees), D Molden (0-1); C O'Neill (1-1, 0-1 from free), E Hegarty, K Coffey. Subs: C O'Sullivan for Hegarty (30 mins), D Bracken for Fitzpatrick (39 mins), M Dilworth for Molden (45 mins).

Referee: R Hickey (Clare).