Tipperary 0-22

Cork 0-13

Tipperary had minimal fuss in seeing off Cork this afternoon at a rain-soaked Semple Stadium to advance into the last four of the Munster senior hurling championship.

Returned marksman Seamus Callanan struck 0-8 for the winners as Michael Ryan's side dominated large portions to lead by nine at the half and finish with as many points to spare against their outclassed opponents when all was said and done.

The Rebels were left playing catch up after a dominant opening quarter from their opponents, which saw Callanan and John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer wreaking havoc to their full-back line, and the deadly duo simply never let up as they combined for 0-15 over the 70 minutes to secure their side's semi-final date with Limerick on June 19th.

Paudie Maher had Tipp's account opened inside 30 seconds after a fine effort from distance and O'Dwyer doubled the advantage for the home side by the fourth minute.

Alan Cadogan cut in from corner-forward to register Cork's first a minute later, but the Premier men had been allowed to settle into their groove by that stage as Callanan announced his arrival by lofting over his first in the ninth minute and the big Thurles man would have another accurate effort sandwiched by scores from Brendan Maher and O'Dwyer.

Beginning to dwindle, Kieran Kingston's team pucked over two sorely needed scores in response - the second of which came after terrific work from left half-forward Brian Lawton to try and stem the tide a bit.

Ryan's charges were already moving through the gears though and punished their counterparts' indiscipline at the back through simple frees from O'Dwyer and Callanan.

Conor Lehane responded for the trailers with his first of the day, but not even the heavy rain could cool off Tipp's red-hot play at this stage as O'Dwyer landed his fourth from a free on 25 minutes ahead of Noel McGrath rifling over his side's fifth from play, making it 0-11 to 0-4.

Callanan registered his fourth free before a moment of history had arrived which saw Hawk-Eye used for the first time at the Thurles venue to rule out Dan McCormack's effort of a 13th point for the would-be winners.

Patrick Horgan was accurate from close range at the far end to open up his personal account, but Tipp endeavoured to finish out the half strong and it was the impressive O'Dwyer that whipped over back-to-back points from play in injury-time, leaving it at 0-14 to 0-5.

It took two minutes of the resumption for Callanan to make it a 10-point game, lashing over from around centre-field, and Noel McGrath upped the difference to 11 ahead of the Rebels coming into their purple patch.

Horgan (2 frees), Cadogan and Cormac Murphy reduced their side's arrears to seven and when Horgan was presented with the chance of making it a four-point game via a 20-metre free, he didn't hesitate. The Glen Rovers man saw his drilled effort blocked on the line though and afterwards O'Dwyer and Callanan were able to up their personal tallies via more frees, which had saw a major five-minute swing in this provincial quarter-final.

Seamus Harnedy's sole score for the day was backed up by Lehane to leave Kingston's men with an outside chance heading towards the game's home stretch.

Sub Luke O'Farrell and Cadogan's third made it a seven-point game into injury-time and the former would see another goal effort stopped on the line for the visitors, as Tipp were able to pull up winning in the end with late scores from sub Kieran Bergin and the imperious Callanan.

It means the Premier men now face Limerick in a month's time, while Cork must come through the qualifier route in order to keep their dreams of Liam McCarthy alive.

Tipperary - D Gleeson; C Barrett, J Barry, M Cahill; S Kennedy, R Maher, Padraic Maher (0-1); B Maher (0-1), M Breen; S Curran, D McCormack, N McGrath (0-2); J O'Dwyer (0-7, 2f, 1'65), S Callanan (0-8, 4f), J McGrath (0-1). Subs: J Forde (0-1) for N McGrath, Patrick Maher for S Curran, N O'Meara for J O'Dwyer, K Bergin (0-1) for M Breen.

Cork - A Nash; D Cahalane, M Ellis, C O'Sullivan; L McLoughlin, C Joyce, C Murphy (0-1); D Kearney, W Egan; B Cooper, C Lehane (0-2, 1f), B Lawton (0-1); A Cadogan (0-3), S Harnedy (0-1), P Horgan (0-4f). Subs: A Walsh for D Kearney, K Burke for C O'Sullivan, L O'Farrell (0-1) for P Horgan, J Cronin for B Cooper.

Referee - B Kelly.

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