County star Philip Austin scored five points from placed balls as divisional side Thomas MacDonagh's became the first team from north Tipperary to claim the county SFC title since Kilruane MacDonagh's 36 years ago at Cashel yesterday.

Thomas MacDonagh's 0-9
Moyle Rovers 0-7

Managed by former Laois forward Chris Conway, MacDonagh's upset the odds with a narrow victory over seven-time champions Moyle Rovers. The only consolation for Moyle is that they will get to represent Tipperary in the AIB Munster club SFC - they will face UCC in the penultimate round on November 20 - as divisional teams are not eligible to compete in the provincial championships.

The south Tipperary outfit were unlucky not to earn a replay when Brian Mulvihill's attempt for an equalising point hit the post deep into the nine minutes of injury-time added on by referee David Grogan for an early to Rovers attacker Paul Shanahan early in the second half.

Following that let-off, substitute Tommy Connors replied with the insurance score for MacDonagh's.

Despite being forced to field without the injured Declan Browne, Rovers held a slender 0-5 to 0-4 lead at the break with John Shanahan and Mulvihill showing up well. But the new champions never looked back after Austin put them ahead from a free 10 minutes into the second half.

Scorers - Thomas MacDonagh's: P Austin 0-5 (5f), J Gallagher 0-2, L England, T Connors 0-1 each. Moyle Rovers: B Mulvihill 0-2, P Acheson, S Carey (1f), P Shanahan (1f), L Boland, J Shanahan 0-1 each.

THOMAS MACDONAGH'S - J McDonnell; D Hackett, D Buckley, R McLoughney; K Maher, N O'Meara, J Carroll; S Murphy, L England; P O'Meara, A Hannigan, J Gallagher; B O'Meara, P Austin, G Hannigan. Subs: D Egan for B O'Meara (h-t), F Hayes for A Hannigan (46), T Connors for P O'Meara (58), R Gleeson for Maher (60+5), B O'Meara for Egan (60+7).

MOYLE ROVERS - I Browne; D Conway, R Power, A Campbell; S Keating, N Fitzgerald, D Dwyer; M Dunne, P Acheson; P Quirke, S Carey, P Shanahan; L Boland, J Shanahan, B Mulvihill. Subs: R Desmond for P Shanahan (inj, 32), D McGrath for Keating (50), D Nolan for Conway (blood, 50), S Foley for Boland (55), L Cronin for McGrath (inj, 59).

Ref - D Grogan (Aherlow). Tweet

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