Limerick hold off Tipperary to claim Munster U20 hurling crown

Limerick are Munster U-20 hurling champions following a hard fought four-point win over Tipperary at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

Diarmuid Mullins's side led from the very first minute and never really looked in danger of being caught despite Tipperary’s dangerous full-forward line.

Adam English hit the net after just three minutes and then followed up with two points in the opening quarter.

Aidan O’Connor finished with the man of the match award, however, as he landed nine points in what was a fantastic performance.

It was O’Connor that landed the first point of the game before English’s stunning goal after he took the ball from right under Cathal Quinn’s nose.

Tipperary got back into the game thanks to Peter Creedon and Kyle Shelly but English’s double and an excellent Colin Coughlan score saw Limerick 1-04 to 0-02 ahead.

That remained the lead up until the 17th minute when Shelly fired in an excellent goal for the Brendan Cummins-managed Tipperary side.

Limerick were soon back in the ascendency though with O’Connor and Shane O’Brien finding the target and three in a row from O’Connor had them four points to the good in the latter stages of the first half.

Points from Chris Thomas, O’Brien and O’Connor again then saw Limerick into a 1-13 to 1-06 half time advantage.

Eddie Stokes and Jack Leamy traded points at the beginning of the second half and it was the latter that got his side back into the game on 37 minutes with their second goal.

That again put four between the sides but Limerick scored two of the next three points to turn the game their way.

O’Brien and O’Connor kept the score ticking over from there to leave Limerick 1-19 to 2-11 to the good heading into the final quarter.

Two Shelly frees and a point from play by Leamy then