Premier men bury ghost of last year's semi defeat by dismantling Treatymen to secure their place in All-Ireland final

AFTER a crucifying day of suffering for Limerick fans, not to mention the oft-neglected neutral, let us be thankful for small mercies this evening.

Four months after the fire and brimstone of that league final preamble, the country's two best hurling teams will slug it out on All-Ireland final day.

For that, we should thank the Lord. To which the shell-shocked denizens of Shannonside will doubtless riposte: "Is there really a God?"

While readers mull over that profound question, let us dissect the bones of yesterday's horrendously lopsided All-Ireland SHC semi-final between the Tipperary assassins and their hapless Limerick victims.

The final scoreline of 6-19 to 2-7 is sufficiently ghastly to make you wonder if Limerick were even on the same pitch. Little did we think that Kilkenny's 23-point margin of All-Ireland final victory would actually be eclipsed inside 12 months. The really scary part for Limerick is that the 24-point chasm doesn't particularly flatter Tipperary.

True, they embellished an already dominant display with a hat-trick of Lar Corbett goals between the 57th and 66th minutes.

But by then, the winners had also coughed up two goals that owed more to debatable refereeing and slack defending than to any great attacking play by the vanquished.

Suffice to say, here was a day when all of Limerick's frailties came home to roost: when the clear gap in class (suspected beforehand) was magnified by a glut of costly errors by the men in green -- be it defensive fumbles, poor shot selection or finishing that was poorer still.

Dublin hurling fans may be privately thankful that their team didn't see off Limerick at the quarter-final stage because they simply aren't far enough on the development road to tackle a team of Tipp's resources.

Yet those same supporters must shake their heads in bemusement at how individual Limerick players who hurled up a storm three weeks ago could be so off their game here.

Take the case of midfielder Gavin O'Mahony, who couldn't miss with his prodigious deadball striking against the Dubs. Here, apart from one converted free and another from play, he could scarcely hit a barn door. One early pass overshot the end-line runway and he hit another six wides thereafter.

Paudie McNamara was another Limerick quarter-final hero, subjecting full-back Tomás Brady to a surprisingly torrid time. Here, albeit the service was poor, you would struggle to recall one example of McNamara winning clean possession in his duel with Pádraic Maher, and his one fleeting chance of a 53rd minute goal was blocked by Brendan Cummins.

These are just two individual cameos of Limerick distress, but a far bigger problem was their collective malaise.

Congested

Tactically, Justin McCarthy got it badly wrong by starting with two inside forwards, with Brian Geary handed the role of defensive sweeper. When Limerick players weren't missing the target with low-percentage shots from a congested centrefield, they were directing aimless balls inside -- frequently to the free man in defence, Paul Curran.

Mind you, it wasn't overly negative stratagems that conspired to rip the heart out of Limerick's semi-final challenge. It was defensive blunders.

Firstly, in the fifth minute, Stephen Lucey allowed John O'Brien's low delivery to skid past him -- straight to the lurking Eoin Kelly. You can guess the rest.

Initially, Limerick offered pockets of resistance with Mark Foley and Brian Geary both starting well in the half-back line while David Breen and O'Mahony hit two fine points from play.

But, from a position where they trailed by 1-2 to 0-2, the wheels came off. Tipp's second goal in the 16th minute was batted home by the precocious Noel McGrath -- our choice for man of the match -- after Corbett burned Mark O'Riordan for pace and delivered an inch-perfect assist across the goalmouth. But whereas that goal could be marked down to attacking brilliance, the next one, just one minute later, was a defensive calamity.

Foley betrayed his promising start with an uncharacteristic fumble, and could only look on in horror as Pat Kerwick sped away to fire an angled shot under Brian Murray that the 'keeper really should have saved. Three goals adrift insidethe opening quarter, Limerick already looked a beaten docket.

Somehow, you never suspected they would have the forward firepower to capitalise if Tipp repeated their recent tendency for second-half sleepwalking.

As it happened, the latter never really materialised (despite leaking two goals in one six-minute spell) while the Limerick forwards were even more toothless than anyone could have predicted beforehand.

The starting six forwards managed a paltry three points, just two from play. Even their unheralded sub, Brian O'Sullivan with 1-1, managed more.

Ollie Moran's midweek 'recall' had been a dummy team ruse -- his fit-again brother Niall started instead.

But after hitting two wides and another effort into the goalkeeper's hands, Moran's reward for belatedly finding his range was immediate substitution.

Void

That completed the first-half scoring, with Tipp 3-8 to 0-4 in the clear. Any prospect of another Limerick comeback from beyond the grave (a la '96 or '07) was rendered null and void when Tipp hit the next five points in the first 11 minutes after the restart.

In the same period we had five Limerick wides while the generally ineffectual Andrew O'Shaughnessy went for goal from a free and saw his effort blocked.

The only flickers of Limerick hope came when 'keeper Murray roofed a 48th minute penalty -- harshly awarded against Paddy Stapleton after O'Shaughnessy went to ground -- and then when O'Sullivan's 54th minute shot from distance skidded beyond a possibly unsighted Cummins.

Shaken and stirred, Tipp went for the jugular with three goals from Corbett, who woke himself from a spell of inactivity to gobble up two inviting assists from the visionary McGrath (albeit the second carried the whiff of an illegal hand pass).

Limerick's misery was complete when a necklace of rapid-fire passes from McGrath, Paul Kelly, Seamus Callanan and finally Michael Webster teed up Corbett to fire into an empty net. A case of champagne hurling from the Munster champions -- and stale plonk from a team that only reached the last four through the luck of the draw.

This was a redemptive day for Tipp, recording their first Croker victory since 2003, but Liam Sheedy still has plenty to work on between now and September 6.

He took off both midfielders, including the surprisingly subdued Shane McGrath, and won't be enamoured by the two goals conceded either.

The biggest imponderable of all is whether yesterday is a help or a hindrance to Premier dreams of slaying the Kilkenny giant. Their confidence must be soaring but, on the flip side, they will never get it easier. And next month they will never get it harder.

- Frank Roche