In the fifth round of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, Clare secured their third victory in a row with a 1-24 to 0-24 win against Tipperary. The triumph, due in part to Diarmuid Ryan’s goal and Shane O’Donnell’s masterclass in set-up play, propels Clare into another Munster final contest against Limerick.
Despite already being out of the competition, Tipperary proved resilient, with the significant contribution of Jake Morris, who delivered 0-11 points, five of which were from play. Furthermore, O’Donnell, Clare’s dominant full-forward, performed superbly, scoring a couple of points, initiating the goal, attracting six fouls enabling scoreable frees (five translated into points) and lending a hand in three additional points.
As a result, Clare achieved the second position in the round-robin tournament, setting up for another showdown with the All-Ireland champions in Thurles in two weeks. Tipperary’s manager, Liam Cahill, made significant lineup changes, involving first championship starts for Seán Kenneally and Andrew Ormond and injury comebacks for Barry Heffernan and Brian McGrath.
Unfortunately, due to a lower-leg injury for Michael Breen before the match, another quick change had to be made, meaning Eoghan Connolly had to step in. Manager Brian Lohan made a last-minute switch too, with Conor Leen taking over from Rory Hayes.
Tipperary’s debutants brought their A-game right from the start in front of an audience of 19,418, leading 0-5 to 0-2 courtesy of an initial spree of four points. However, Clare came back strong, regaining the lead with six out of the following seven points, featuring two excellent scores by Aidan McCarthy. Despite missed goal opportunities by both O’Donnell and Peter Duggan, Clare’s Mark Rodgers managed to salvage a point.
In the first half, Diarmuid Ryan and David Fitzgerald’s scores, following Paddy Cadell’s loss to O’Donnell, seemed set to give Clare the lead. However, a pair of last-minute goals from Morris resulted in a draw, with each team scoring 0-11.
Clare took control in the second half, overcoming Tipp’s long-range tactics and benefiting from O’Donnell’s growing dominance, they surged ahead. They rattled off an unanswered 1-5, with O’Donnell contributing to the full forward line’s scoring tally. He also participated in an additional 1-3 sequence which started with a Tipp’s long shot. The ball was passed from Cathal Malone to O’Donnell, then Fitzgerald, and finally Diarmuid Ryan who scored.
O’Donnell then assisted a goal by Darragh Lohan and earned consecutive penalties for McCarthy, one of which resulted in a rebounded shot. This put the score at 1-17 to 0-12 in favour of Clare. Tony Kelly’s entry to the game was met with cheers, and he wasted no time in dispossessing Bryan O’Mara before scoring with an assist from O’Donnell.
Despite Clare’s seemingly unassailable lead, Tipp refused to give in. They scored six out the next seven points, including three from the steady Morris. O”Mara, Noel McGrath, and Connolly also made contributions, bringing the score to 1-20 to 0-20 with eight minutes left.
However, O’Donnell made his mark again, landing a goal after catching a long pass and earning another penalty for Rodgers to convert. Tipp managed to pull within scoring distance following a goal from Ronan Maher and a penalty from Morris, just as four minutes of added time were announced.
However, Rodgers’ penalty and a strong goal from Connolly ended up cancelling each other out. Then, Kelly solidified Clare’s victory with a penalty from his own 45, even though Ronan Maher scored a late penalty for Tipp.
The team from Tipperary included B Hogan, Johnny Ryan, C Morgan and E Connolly, who managed to score 0-2. Further participants were B McGrath, R Maher who, out of his total score of 0-2, managed to score one free kick, and B Heffernan with a score of 0-1. The team also featured P Cadell, W Connors, A Tynan who scored 0-1, and J Morris who scored an impressive 0-11, 0-6 of which were free kicks. S Kenneally contributed 0-3 to the total score, and team was rounded out by A Ormond, G O’Connor with a score of 0-2 all of which were free kicks, and M Kehoe. Substitutions for Tipperary included D Stakelum who replaced O’Connor after 29 minutes, B O’Mara, who achieved a score of 0-1 and stood in for Heffernan after 44 minutes, N McGrath, successful in scoring 0-1, who replaced Cadell after 45 minutes, C Stakelum took Ormond’s place after 52 minutes and P Maher replaced Kehoe after 56 minutes.
Clare’s team included E Quilligan, C Leen, C Cleary, and A Hogan. Other participants were D Ryan, who scored 1-2, J Conlon, C Galvin, C Malone and D Lohan, who achieved a score of 0-1. Also on the team were D Fitzgerald, who piled on 0-3, D Reidy who gained 0-1, and P Duggan, who scored 0-1. A McCarthy amassed a score of 0-8, 0-6 of which were free kicks and S O’Donnell scored 0-2 while M Rodgers tallied 0-3, 0-2 of which were from free kicks. Substitutions included T Kelly, who scored 0-2 with 0-1 achieved from a free kick, replacing Reidy after 47 minutes. I Galvin who did well to score 0-1, replaced McCarthy after 54 minutes. Further changes saw P Donnellan replace Lohan after 64 minutes, and A Shanagher replacing Duggan after the 68th minute. The referee for the match was J Murphy from Limerick.