2024 FBD Insurance County Championship Draws
The draws for the 2024 FBD Insurance County Hurling and Football Championships will now take place on Thursday, April 18th and will be broadcast live on Tipp GAA TV from 8pm. With the FBD Insurance County Leagues now in full swing all clubs will be very interested to see who they will be facing when the championships come around in a few short months time. The draw will be broadcast on the Tipperary GAA YouTube channel and the link to watch will be circulated in the days before the event.
Munster Under 20 Football Championship
Our Under 20 Footballers secured their second win of the campaign last Saturday afternoon when they defeated Waterford by 5-13 to 0-08 in Lemybrien. Corner-forward Orrin Jones was once again Tipperary’s main man as he scored 2-6 to help Tipperary maintain their unbeaten run and top the Munster Under 20 round-robin series group on a sunny Easter Saturday afternoon. The Premier men got off to the perfect start and led 0-4 to 0-1 after the first quarter, with a Jones bomber on the 45 being the highlight score. The first goal just came moments later when lightning-fast hands from Conal Grogan found the Arravale Rovers man, but his shot was saved and tapped in by Ardfinnan’s Shane Ryan. The goal really affected Gavin Whelan’s men as they couldn’t win any kickouts and were under mounting pressure as Tipp got their second goal in the 25th minute after Michael Freaney won the loose ball, sidestepped two defenders and drove it into the bottom left corner to leave Niall Fitzgerald’s side ahead 2-9 to 0-1 going into the break.
Waterford did have chances in the first half but hit eight wides in total. However, the Déise defence suffered more pain after just 66 seconds from the restart. A complete misskick from Ryan caught out two Waterford defenders, allowing Grogan to tap it into the back of the net. To Whelan’s side’s credit, they didn’t throw in the towel and dominated the next 20 minutes. Their first score of play came in the 47th minute from Nire man Michael O’Sullivan to make it 3-9 to 0-6. But the Tipp decided to awake from their sleep, and a classy outside-of-the-boot goal from Jones in the 50th minute and a coolly taken penalty by the sharpshooter in added time after sub-Paddy O’Keeffe was dragged concluded the day’s events. Scorers for Tipperary: O Jones 2-6 (1-0 pen, 0-3 frees), S. Ryan (1-2), C. Groogan & M Freaney (1-0 each), S O’Meara (0-2) C King, D Hogan (Free), T Charles (0-1 each)
Tipperary have now qualified for phase 2 of the competition and will now play a further round robin with Cork, Ketty and Clare. Our first game will at home to Cork on April 10th at 7pm.
Munster Minor Hurling & Football Championships
Our Minor Footballers got their campaign underway on Tuesday evening with a very impressive 2-13 to 0-10 win over Limerick in Fethard Town Park, Thurles Gaels sharp shooter Dylan Cotter was the stand out performer on the night, scoring 2-02 from midfield where he partnered with another notable contributor on the night, Órán Gahan.
Gahan and Cotter began with a trio of soaring marks to retain their first three kick-outs as Gahan excelled in the role of supplier, adding four assists across the hour. In a game which featured a fine display of left-footed kicking from both teams, Limerick opened the scoring through Cian Costelloe. Tipp struck for 1-1 within the next minute. Centre-back Tom Corcoran was another key playmaker and finisher for Tipp with his late runs netting two points. The first brought them level before Tipp manufactured their goal. Cotter had his initial attempt saved by Stephen Kearney but Charlie Walsh kept the ball alive for the Thurles man to sweep in.
Monaleen’s Shane Dolan landed four out of four shots in the first half, with his opening effort from play followed by a tap-over free.
Tipp forged 1-4 to 0-3 ahead with three points on the trot. Corcoran nonchalantly slotted his second off the left, Walsh slotted his first of four from a mark, and Cillian Healy added another lovely left-footed curler. Jamal Yousif also struck the butt of the post but Limerick began to crowd the centre to make life tricky for Tipp. They had lightning speed to counter, too, through wing-backs Michael Mulcahy and Conor Ó Longaigh.
Two Dolan frees and two huge punts from Rory Mullins and Donal Dawson levelled the game but a free from hometown hero Walsh made it 1-5 to 0-7 at the change of ends. Tipp were re-energised into the wind. They pressed the restart with renewed vigour, kicked well into the space, and didn’t shoot a wide for the next 23 minutes. Cotter conjured up 1-2 in the space of two minutes, bookending his goal with two white flags. The major came from Ronan Myles’ mark off the opposition kick-out. The ball went through the hands of Healy and Ciarán Kelly down the right before Cotter’s well-timed arrival to poke home. Centre-forward Yousif was also beginning to make his pace tell against a tiring defence, beating his marker for two classy points and having another shot saved by Kearney.
When Cotter’s defence-splitting pass ended in a Walsh point, it was 2-10 to 0-7. Limerick had two goal chances to get back into the contest but Rian McNamara sliced over and Cillian McNamara cracked the crossbar. Tipp kept motoring with points from Kelly, Walsh, and a Jack Garrett free to stretch the lead to 11 before Limerick clipped the final pair deep in stoppage time. Substitute Jake Slattery had the first and then won a free for Dolan. He placed it on the ground and aimed under the crossbar but his venomous shot flew just too high.
Scorers for Tipperary: D Cotter (2-2); C Walsh (0-4, 1 mark, 1 free); T Corcoran, J Yousif (0-2 each); J Garrett (free), C Healy, C Kelly (0-1 each).
Next up for the players is a trip to Lemybrien to play Waterford, who lost their opening game in dramatic circumstances against Clare, next Tuesday evening at 7pm. The Minor Footballers will then play Clare in Quilty on April 16th.
Our Minor Hurlers will also be in action this week when they welcome Cork to FBD Semple Stadium on Thursday evening at 7pm. This game will be followed by games against Waterford in Dungarvan on April 11th, Clare in Thurles on May 2nd and Limerick in Limerick on May 9th.
Both Minor panels have put in a lot of work in preparation for the championship and will be hoping that this work will bring a good return for their work. We wish all the players on both panels along with both team managements the very best of luck in the championship.
Munster Senior Football Championship
The Tipperary Senior Footballers will play Waterford this coming Sunday afternoon at 2pm in Dungarvan in the Munster Senior Football Quarter Final.
Both sides have will be coming into the game on the back of fairly disappointing league campaigns and will be hoping that their fortunes will take a turn for the better on Sunday. When the sides met a few short weeks ago in Bansha, they could not be separated, so this game could well be another very tight encounter. Best wishes to all the players and management and we look forward to seeing a large Tipperary crowd in Dungarvan on Sunday to show support for the team.
Munster Championship Tickets
Tickets for Tipperary’s forthcoming Munster Senior Hurling and Football championship games are now on sale and can be purchased online from Ticketmaster.ie or in selected Centra and Supervalu stores across the county. Juvenile Group orders can now be placed via https://munster.gaa.ie/tickets for Senior Hurling Championship Round Robin games in Thurles, Cork and Limerick.
By Jonathan Cullen Wed 3rd Apr
