Tipperary 2-23
Dublin 0-15

Tipperary booked their place in the last four of this year's All-Ireland SHC following a workmanlike victory over Dublin at Semple Stadium today.

It was a case of job done in front of an attendance of 43,088 as far as Eamon O'Shea was concerned but his Dublin counterpart Anthony Daly was left scratching his head after a second below-par performance in-a-row from his charges.

Backed by wind advantage, all six Tipp forwards got on the scoresheet in the opening 35 minutes and they went in at the break with a 0-15 to 0-8 advantage.

Indeed, Dublin were somewhat lucky to be just seven points in arrears at the halfway stage as full-back Peter Kelly did well to deny Bonner Maher a goal in the 21st minute.

Trailing by 0-9 to 0-18, the team in sky blue were thrown a lifeline in the 47th minute when they were awarded a penalty following a foul by Cathal Barrett on Paul Ryan.

Ryan's penalty effort was well-saved, however, and although Conal Keaney managed to salvage a point from the rebound they were left cursing their luck when John O'Dwyer netted the game's opening goal at the other end five minutes later.

And O'Dwyer added gloss to the Munster side's win when raising his second green flag with six minutes left on the clock.

As expected, Tipp were forced to line out without corner-back Michael Cahill due to a knee injury and his place went to Shane McGrath while the Dublin starting 15 also showed changes with Conor McCormack and David Treacy preferred to Joey Boland and Dotsy O'Callaghan.

A minute's silence was observed prior to throw-in in memory of Offaly U-21 hurling manager Dermot Hogan and, once referee Brian Gavin got proceedings underway, Danny Sutcliffe opened the scoring for Dublin less than a minute in.

Tipp hit three unanswered points, including two exceptional efforts from play by Lar Corbett, but two converted Alan McCrabbe frees had Dublin back on level terms by the 8th minute.

Five points on the spin placed the Premier County in pole position as Dublin continued where they left off in the Leinster final.

Anthony Daly's players enjoyed more than their fair share of possession in the opening 35 minutes but were laboured in possession and Tipp were full value for their interval lead.

And it was Tipperary who drew first blood in the second half with Gearoid Ryan sending over his second point.

There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome once Ryan's penalty was saved and it proved to be well founded as Tipperary pulled away.

Eoin Kelly's arrival on the pitch in the 64th minute generated the biggest cheer of the day and Tipperary's reward is a semi-final clash against Munster rivals Cork in Croke Park on Sunday, August 17th.

Tipperary - D Gleeson; P Stapleton, Padraic Maher, C Barrett; B Maher, J Barry, S McGrath (0-1); K Bergin, J Woodlock (0-1); G Ryan (0-3), Patrick Maher (0-1), J O'Dwyer (2-2); N McGrath (0-1), S Callanan (0-11), L Corbett (0-2). Subs: D Maher for N McGrath, J Forde for Ryan, E Kelly for Corbett, S Bourke (0-1) for Patrick Maher, T Stapleton for Woodlock.

Dublin - A Nolan; S Durkin, P Kelly, N Corcoran; S Hiney, L Rushe (0-1), M Carton; J McCaffrey (0-1), C Keaney (0-2); R O'Dwyer (0-1), A McCrabbe (0-5), D Sutcliffe (0-1); D Treacy (0-1), C McCormack, C Cronin. Subs: D O'Callaghan (0-1) for McCormack, P Ryan (0-2) for Cronin, M Schutte for Sutcliffe, J Boland for McCrabbe, E Dillon (0-1) for Treacy.

Ref: B Gavin (Offaly). Tweet

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