Tipp Under 20's complete dream week with All Ireland success

 

 

Tipperary     5-17

Cork               1-18

 

By Shane Brophy

 

Tipperary made it an All Ireland senior and under 20 hurling double in the space of six days as they crushed Munster rivals Cork in the final at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.

Four goals inside the first eight minutes set Tipperary on their way as Cork made a valiant effort to recover in the second half, cutting the margin to seven at one stage before the Premier added a fifth goal in injury time to seal the victory.

Tipperary didn’t take long to prove their goal-scoring ability, just sixteen seconds in fact when Conor Bowe slipped in Billy Seymour who finished well.

Cork recovered somewhat by hitting three points in reply from Brian Turnbull, Conor O’Callaghan and Daire Connery before the flood-gates opened with Tipp striking for three goals in two minutes.

Firstly, a Bryan O’Mara catch in defence began a move that involved Seymour and Jake Morris who provided the inch perfect pass to Andrew Ormond to find the net on six minutes. Less than sixty seconds later, Ormond turned provider by taking on the Cork defence before playing in Jerome Cahill who in turn fed Billy Seymour for his second goal.

Ryan Walsh responded with a point for Cork but the defence were struggling with Ormond at the heart of the destruction, this time playing in Jerome Cahill for the fourth goal after eight minutes to lead 4-1 to 0-4.

Cork were shell-shocked but managed to steady the ship for the rest of the first half somewhat, although Tipperary managed to keep the scoreboard ticking over with five of their six forwards on the score-sheet by half time when they led 4-9 to 0-10.

Cork brought greater aggression to the contest in the second half but they struggled to eat into the margin until Tommy O’Connell goaled on 46 minutes to give the Rebels some impetus.

Tipp wilted a little and Cork missed two goal chances to eat into the margin further but an injury time Cathal Bourke goal and an eighth point from senior star Jake Morris sealed an eleven point win with Cork finishing with fourteen man with Tommy O’Connell sent off for a second bookable offence late on.

 

MATCH DIGEST

Man of the Match: Billy Seymour (Tipperary)

SCORERS – Tipperary: Billy Seymour 2-5 (0-1 s-cut); Jake Morris 0-8 (3 frees, 165); Andrew Ormond 1-2; Jerome Cahill 1-1; Cathal Bourke 1-0; Conor Bowe 0-1.

Cork: Brian Turnbull 0-8 (7 frees); Tommy O’Connell 1-2 (0-2 65s); Ryan Walsh, Daire Connery (1 free) 0-2 each; Conor O’Callaghan, Brian Roche, Shane O’Regan, Robert Downey 0-1 each.

 

Tipperary: Aaron Browne; Conor McCarthy, Eoghan Connolly, Craig Morgan (Capt); Niall Heffernan, Paddy Cadell, Bryan O’Mara; Ciaran Connolly, Johnny Ryan; Gearoid O’Connor, Jerome Cahill, Jake Morris; Andrew Ormond, Billy Seymour, Conor Bowe.

Subs: Sean Hayes for O’Connor (36); Kian O’Kelly for Ormond (49); Joe Fogarty for Bowe (52); Cathal Bourke for Ryan (58).

Cork: Ger Collins; Sean O’Leary Hayes, James Keating (Capt), Eoin Roche; Ger Millerick, Conor O’Callaghan, Robert Downey; Ryan Walsh, Tommy O’Connell; Sean Twomey, Brian Roche, Daire Connery; Brian Turnbull, Shane O’Regan, Simon Kennefick.

Subs: Evan Sheehan for Kennefick (HT); Jamie Copps for Keating (40); Barry Murphy for Connery (41); Padraig Power for Walsh (54).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway).