Tipperary's footballing renaissance continued at Semple Stadium on Wednesday night when their minor side overcame a wasteful Limerick to set up an ESB Munster final showdown with Kerry. Tipperary.2-8 Limerick..0-9 The victory also assures Tipp of a place in the All-Ireland quarter-finals and a long summer of championship involvement. Two goals in a four-minute spell after half-time proved decisive, but a vast improvement on this performance will be required if they are to ask questions of the Kingdom in the final. It could have been so different if Limerick had converted their chances after dominating possession in the first half. Instead, they went into the break level on 0-4 apiece and the fact that all four of their first half scores came from Paraic McEnery frees tells its own story about their attacking problems. The second half saw an improvement in standards with points from Alan Moloney and Conor Sweeney edging Tipp into a 0-6 to 0-5 lead before McEnery, with his fifth point from placed balls, tieing up the scoring again in the 38th minute But the complexion of the game changed completely when quick-fire goals from team captain Sweeney and David McGrath put the home side firmly in the driving seat. Limerick rallied in the closing stages, but despite creating three goal opportunities, failed to save the day. Tipperary - J English; D Heffernan, S Russell, K O'Riordan; C Walsh, R Kiely, T Hanley; A Moloney 0-2, P Acheson; D Lowry 0-1, G Ryan 0-1, D Bourke; C Sweeney 1-1, D McGrath 1-0, M O Dwyer0-2. Subs - M Hickey 0-1 for Bourke; L Treacy for Ryan; B O Hara for Hanley; S Boland for Lowry; T Bourke for O Dwyer. Limerick - D O'Sullivan; T Barrett, P Begley, A O Sullivan; M Sheehan, J Browne, A Morrissey; D Bonfil, C Joyce-Power; C Ryan, E O'Connor 0-4, S Carroll; E McEnery, S Garry, P McEnery 0-5. Subs - S Flavin for Barrett; J Walsh for C Ryan; T McCarthy for Morrissey; D Richardson for Garry; J Fitzgerald for P McEnery. Tweet

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