By John Fogarty
Tipperary 2-18 Galway 0-20
Tipperary put their Parnell Park woes behind them with a deserving victory here although it was a dubious Seamus Callanan goal that helped them on their way.
There was nothing contentious about Callanan's finish but it did appear he had fouled John Hanbury in getting to a ball put through by John McGrath.
That 45th minute score put Tipperary into a 10-point lead although the home side were hanging at the death in Thurles as Galway powered back with six points on the bounce.
Tipperary didn't score for a yawning 15 minutes as Galway, with Joseph Cooney causing bother in the inside forward line, ploughed into the margin.
Darren Gleeson also had to make a late catch to deny Cooney an unlikely goal but then substitute Conor Kenny secured the win in the second minute of injury time after some fine work by John O'Dwyer.
Backed by a strong breeze, Tipperary would have been disappointed to finish the first half without a lead. They achieved that, enjoying a three-point 0-14 to 0-11 advantage, but some sloppy play saw Galway had seen them cut it from five in the injury time.
Kieran Bergin started as he meant to go on and was a key figure in Tipperary establishing a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes. Galway never managed to restore parity for the remainder of the half but then they were never too far behind in a period where there was hardly a stand-out goal opportunity although Gleeson was level to a shot from James Regan in the 14th minute.
A Regan point in the 24th minute brought the teams to within a point of each other but then Tipperary rallied with a couple from Ronan Maher and O'Dwyer.
The score of the half, possibly competition, came in the 29th minute when Callanan controlled a crossfield ball in the air bounced the ball on his hurley before striking it over the bar.
Callanan had been one of Tipperary's quieter operators at least on the score-sheet. In general play, he and Brendan Maher were quite the opposite, regularly setting up scoring opportunities for their colleagues.
Scorers for Tipperary: S Callanan (1-3, 0-2 frees); J O'Dwyer (1-2); K Bergin, J Forde (0-3 each); J McGrath (0-2); G Ryan, R Maher, D Gleeson (free), B Maher, C Kenny (0-1 each).
Scorers for Galway: J Flynn (0-4, 3 frees, 1 sideline); C Mannion, J Cooney (0-3 each); C Regan, P Brehony, A Smith (1 free) (0-2 each); I Tannian, J Glynn, B Molloy (0-1 each); C Barrett (0-1, own score).
Subs for Tipperary: J Woodlock for G Ryan (h-t); C Kenny for D Maher (inj 42); N McGrath for J McGrath (54); J Meagher for K Bergin (70).
Subs for Galway: K Hynes for P Brehony (43); G Lally for D Higgins (47); B Molloy for J Regan (52); A Harte for J Flynn (68).
TIPPERARY: D Gleeson; C Barrett, P Curran, C O'Brien; M Breen, P Maher, R Maher; K Bergin, G Ryan; D Maher, J Forde, B Maher; J O'Dwyer, S Callanan, J McGrath.
GALWAY: C Callanan; J Coen, J Hanbury, P Mannion; G McInerney, D Collins, I Tannian; J Cooney, A Smith; P Brehony, C Mannion, D Higgins; J Regan, J Flynn, J Glynn.
Referee: J McGrath (Westmeath)