Dubs fade out of sight

That the contest should end in such a one-sided manner will be of cause for particular regret to a Dublin side that played with the advantage of an extra man for the entirety of the second-half but failed to utilise that numerical supremacy to any effect.

However, the most damning statistic from a Dublin perspective is that half of their scores came within the opening 12 minutes as their challenge completely dissipated after such an encouraging first quarter.

They could not have wished for a more impressive start with Donal Burke, Danny Sutcliffe, Fionntán Mac Gib and Conal Keaney all scoring from play with just three minutes on the clock.

A seventh minute Jason Forde free briefly stemmed Dublin's momentum but a Paul Winters brace and scores from Burke and Sutcliffe pushed the Dubs 0-9 to 0-1 clear by the 10th minute.

Such a scenario was unlikely to be maintained and so it proved as Tipperary gradually settled thanks to two Cian Darcy points while Seamus Kennedy and Ronan Maher began to find their feet at midfield after a lively start from Dublin's Mac Gib.

A Sutcliffe point in the 17th minute stalled Tipperary's progress for a short time but with John McGrath increasingly influential, the Premier County levelled matters by the 23rd minute through another Forde free. McGrath's superbly-taken goal three minutes later re-enforced the impression of Tipperary control but Ronan Maher's second booking in injury-time handed Dublin a boost as they entered the break trailing by four points (1-15 to 0-14).

Dublin looked bereft of ideas upon the restart as they struggled to use their extra man to any great benefit and an ankle injury to captain Chris Crummey added to their woes as the half progressed.

Forde began to punish some progressively ill-disciplined Dublin tackling and the contest was effectively settled in the 54th minute as Michael Breen was allowed slalom through the Dublin defence before firing low past a helpless Alan Nolan.

The Tipp faithful were buoyed by two points from substitute John O'Dwyer but by then, all semblance of a contest had left proceedings with Dublin's substitutes failing to make any impression when introduced.

Dublin's paltry tally of six second-half points mirrored their difficulties as Tipperary eased home at their leisure, confirming a semi-final clash with Limerick next weekend.

Scorers - Tipperary: J Forde 0-9 (0-7f), J McGrath 1-4, M Breen 1-0, C Darcy, R Maher, S Curran, J O'Dwyer 0-2 each, A Flynn, B Heffernan, Pádraic Maher, S Kennedy 0-1 each. Dublin: D Burke 0-7 (0-6f), D Sutcliffe, C Keaney, P Winters 0-3 each, F Mac Gib 0-2, S Barrett, F Ó Riain Broin (0-1f) 0-1 each.

Tipperary: B Hogan; A Flynn, J Barry, M Cahill; B Heffernan, Padraic Maher, P Feehan; S Kennedy, R Maher; S Curran, B McCarthy, J McGrath; M Breen, J Forde, C Darcy. Subs: J O'Dwyer for Darcy (45), Paul Maher for Kennedy (66), P Shanahan for Breen (68), T Hamill for Feehan (70), W Connors for McCarthy (70+2).

Dublin: A Nolan; P Smyth, B O'Carroll, E O'Donnell; J Madden, C Crummey, S Barrett; R McBride, F Mac Gib; D Burke, C Keaney, D Sutcliffe; R Hayes, R O'Dwyer, P Winters. Subs: F Whitely for Hayes (half-time), R Mahon for O'Dwyer (42), D Kelly for Crummey (49), C Costello for Winters (54), F Ó Riain Broin for McBride (62).

REF: S Cleere (Kilkenny).