Tipperary 3-18 Clare 1-22
Sunday June 21 2009
Tipperary survived a superb Clare fight-back to win their Munster Hurling semi-final in the Gaelic Grounds.
The Premier County will meet Waterford in the Munster showpiece but they had to endure a nervous finish to the game following a brilliant comeback by the Banner men.
Clare could have even completed their remarkable comeback in dramatic fashion but they denied by a superb save by Brendan Cummins right at the death.
Tipperary raced into 1-6 to 0-1 lead inside the first ten after 10 minutes. Lar Corbett striking the early goal. Diarmuid McMahon hit a superb goal before the break to revive Clare.
A third Tipp goal in the second half through John O'Brien looked like it would finally kill off the match but Clare kept coming back.
Debutanat Colin Ryan scored 0-12 in all and was influential in the Banner comeback.
Seamus Callanan found the back of the net for Tipperary to put them 11 points clear
Clare started the second half quite well and got within four points but suffered a blow when O'Brien got the third goal for Tipperary
Eoin Kelly pointed a free seconds later but Clare continued to fight and a quick flurry of points, two coming from Ryan and another from the outstanding McMahon, reduced the gap to two goals again.
With little over five minutes remaining, there was only three points in it after Ryan's ninth point of the day
With a goal in it at the end, Ryan fired the sliothar at goal in the hope of salvaging a draw but Cummins' heroics, as ever, left Tipp in the clear.
