Cian Darcy leads goal-rush for Tipperary minors

Tipperary 7-12 Galway 2-12

Rampant Tipperary hammered seven goals past Galway yesterday to end the young Tribesmen's reign as All-Ireland minor hurling champions.

Gaining sweet revenge for last year’s final loss, Tipp had 15 points to spare as they set up a final meeting with Limerick on September 4th.

Tipp beat Limerick by 17 points in the provincial decider and will now hope for a repeat victory as they target a first Irish Press Cup success since 2012.

Cian Darcy scored a hat-trick of goals, Rian Doody a brace and there were also goals from Mark Kehoe and Ger Browne as Tipp ran riot against Galway.

Darcy, Kehoe and Doody raised green flags in the first half as Tipp established a 3-4 to 0-6 interval lead.

And they didn’t let up after the break as Darcy added two more to complete his treble, with Doody and Browne also contributing majors.

Galway had consolation goals from Cinian Fahy, whose effort was turned into his own net by Tipp full-back Michael Whelan, and substitute Ronan Murphy.

But this was a comprehensive display from Tipp as a badly undercooked Galway were blown out of the water. The sweeper system that worked to such good effect last September was decimated by Tipp but Galway had just a facile victory over Antrim as preparation for this game.

In contrast, Tipp had four games in the Munster championship to steel themselves for the All-Ireland series. And they led all the way to the finish after Darcy began the goal rout in the fourth minute.

Galway’s heavy defeat will lead to fresh calls for their inclusion in the Leinster championship, with manager Jeffrey Lynskey revealing at full-time that they had 70 training sessions for, effectively, one competitive outing.

TIPPERARY: C Barrett; K O'Dwyer, M Whelan, G Dunne; C Flanagan, B McGrath (0-1f), J Cahill; P Cadell, G Browne (1-1); R Doody (2-2, 0-1f), J Morris, C English; L Fairbrother (0-1f), M Kehoe (1-4), C Darcy (3-2). Subs: D Walsh for English (haf-time), S Neville (0-1) for Morris (45 mins), D Ryan for Dunne (51 mins), C Stakelum for Fairbrother (53 mins), J Kelly for Whelan (57 mins).

GALWAY: J Forde; R Glennon, J Fitzpatrick, S Molloy; P Foley, I O'Brien, R Maher; C Fahy (1-1), J Coyne (0-1); E Fahy (0-2), J Canning (0-1), E Niland (0-6, 5f, 1 65); L Forde (0-1), K Cooney, M Lynch. Subs: C Salmon for Lynch (33 mins), R Malone for P Foley (36 mins), I O'Shea for Glennon (38 mins), R Murphy (1-0) for Cooney (45 mins), R O'Neill for E Fahy (51 mins).

Referee: C McAllister (Cork)