McGrath Cup Senior Football Semi Final – Kerry 2-12 CIT 0-13

Kerry defeated CIT by 2-12 to 0-13 in the McGrath Cup Football Semi-Final on Sunday January 12th at John Mitchels Tralee.

Fitz: Kerry going in right direction

Kerry 2-12 Cork IT 0-13

By JP McCarthy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s McGrath Cup experiment produced a “Jekyll and Hyde” display in Tralee yesterday. His side only hit five points from play over the hour but he knows they will have to improve ahead of next Sunday’s final against Cork. “Look, it was very much a Jekyll and Hyde performance. There was some good passages of play, but overall very mixed. The attitude was better than last weekend. We were trying to do the right things, it wasn’t coming off at times but we are going in the right direction.” Paul Galvin entered the fray at centre-back in the 58th minute, Fitzmaurice admitted he is contemplating an extended run for his fellow Finuge man in the position. “It is something we are considering, but we are considering a lot of things. Mikey Geaney started at wing-back and then came back in at his more normal position of wing-forward, while Jonathan Lyne is a more natural wing-back playing wing-forward.”

Next up: Cork. Fitzmaurice is wary of the Rebels, as he notes a mirror image of Kerry’s situation last year. “They are under new management, like us last year, and will be up for the McGrath Cup, like we were last year. There are players there who were on the panel when Conor Counihan was manager and they are only bursting for road, mad for action. They have a lot of fellas in the 22-25 [age] bracket who haven’t got a chance to impress and they’ll get that chance next weekend.”

A stop-start Kerry display saw the hosts lead by 1-7 to 0-6 at the break, only Bryan Sheehan, Donnchadh Walsh and Alan Fitzgerald managing to notch points from play. Sheehan ended the game with 0-9, seven from placed balls. Stephen O’Brien struck the game’s first goal in the sixth minute after good interplay between Walsh and Fitzgerald sliced open CIT. The goal put Kerry into a lead that they would not relinquish.

CIT performed well in the first half. Pa Kilkenny shadowed Barry John Keane well in the corner; Brendan O’Sullivan was prominent at midfield, while Donal Óg Hodnett and, especially, Cathal Vaughan (who kicked 0-8, two from play) impressed in the forward line. The Kingdom slowly imposed themselves and by the 17th minute opened up a 1-4 to 0-3 lead with three Sheehan scores (one from play). Sixty seconds later Donnchadh Walsh missed a great goal chance, the Kerry captain slipping at the crucial moment. Three points from Vaughan (one from play) kept CIT in touch but they will rue a missed goal chance in the 30th minute when Kerry goalkeeper first denied Darragh Treacy before Mark Griffin blocked Hodnett’s effort from the rebound.

In the second 35 minutes Sheehan continued to be Kerry’s main source of scoring power, he accounted for 0-4 of Kerry’s second half tally of 1-5. Two early second-half frees from him countered efforts from Treacy and Vaughan for CIT. Kerry — almost sensing an unnecessary dog-fight — then struck for the game’s all-important second goal in the 49th minute. A quick free found Barry John Keane alone in the square and he duly blasted to the net. The game petered out in the final quarter with a raft of substitutions and a litany of frees breaking up the flow of the game.

Nine minutes from time Kerry’s Stephen O’Brien rounded the CIT goalkeeper Andrew O’Donoghue only to see his low shot from a narrow angle rebound off the butt of the post to safety. Barry John Keane hit another point, again after being found in space with a quick free, to put Kerry 2-12 to 0-10 ahead. The game was over as a contest at this stage but CIT battled on and late points from James Walsh, Vaughan and wing-back Rory O’Sullivan eroded the Kingdom’s winning margin to five.

Scorers for Kerry: B Sheehan 0-9 (7f), BJ Keane 1-1, S O’Brien 1-0, A Fitzgerald, D Walsh 0-1.

Scorers for Cork IT: C Vaughan 0-8 (0-6f), J Walsh 0-2, S McCarthy, D Treacy, R O’Sullivan 0-1.

KERRY: B Kealy; P Murphy, M Griffin, S Enright; M Geaney, J Sherwood, B Maguire; A Maher, D Moran; J Lyne, B Sheehan, D Walsh; BJ Keane, A Fitzgerald, S O’Brien.

Subs: P Crowley for Geaney (ht), S O’Callaghan for Fitzgerald (injured, 43), M Reen for Walsh (54), P Galvin for McGuire, B Shanahan for Maher (58), M Geaney for Lyne (65).

CORK IT: A O’Donoghue; P Kilkenny, E Byrne, TJ Brosnan; R O’Sullivan, P Daly, J Collins; B O’Sullivan, K O’Connor; S Finn, S McCarthy, D Treacy; C Vaughan, D Óg Hodnett, J Walsh.

Subs: T Hegarty for O’Connor (ht), J Corkery for Finn (38), S Cahill for Collins (54), G Fannin for Brosnan (62), C O’Sullivan for B O’Sullivan (65), L Prendergast for Daly (68).

Referee: R Moloney (Limerick)

Munster GAA McGrath Cup Semi Final

Kerry 2-12 CIT 0-13

Report from the Kerry GAA web site

Kerry eased their way into the McGrath Cup final against Cork on Sunday next at a Cork venue when disposing of a very plucky CIT side at the John Mitchels GAA Complex in Tralee on Sunday evening. Kerry manager, Eamonn Fitzmaurice, described it as a Jekyl and Hyde performance and that probably summed it up best on an afternoon when Kerry mixed some fine football and movement with some ordinary enough passages of play.

The visitors got the better start with two early points from Knocknagoshel’s James Walsh and the impressive Cathal Vaughan but then Kerry struck for a goal when Barry John Keane set up Stephen O’Brien with a delightful pass in the 5th minute. Three points from Bryan Sheehan to one in reply from Vaughan saw Kerry lead by 1-3 to 0-3 at the end of the first quarter.

Sheehan and Vaughan continued to trade points and Donnchadh Walsh and Alan Fitzgerald chipped in with two more to leave Kerry leading by 1-6 to 0-7 at the break but Brendan Kealy was called on to make two point-blank saves in the 29th minute as CIT looked certain to hit the net. Sheehan added two more points to one each from Darragh Treacy and Vaughan again before Kerry got in for their second goal when Barry John Keane finished to the net after a goal mouth scramble following a quick free by Sheehan.

Shane McCarthy and Vaughan pointed for CIT and Sheehan added one from a free and from play before Barry John Keane closed the Kerry scoring with a point in the 23rd minute to leave the score 2-12 to 0-10 in Kerry’s favor. Paul Galvin came in and was on the ball a number of times but to be fair to CIT they kept the pressure on in preparation for their Sigerson Cup meeting with Carlow IT in the coming weeks and they finished with three good points from James Walsh, Cathal Vaughan and Rory O’Sullivan.

Scorers:

Kerry: Bryan Sheehan 0-9 (7 fr), Barry John Keane 1-1, Stephen O’Brien 1-0, Alan Fitzgerald and Donnchadh Walsh 0-1 each.

CIT: Cathal Vaughan 0-8 (0-6 fr), James Walsh 0-2, Shane McCarthy, Darragh Treacy and Rory O’Sullivan 0-1 each.

When – Sunday January 12^th at 2:00pm

Where – John Mitchels Tralee

Referee – Richard Moloney (Limerick)

Extra time – (2 periods x 10 minutes only) to be played if sides finish level at the end of 70 minutes

Contact Munster GAA PRO Ed Donnelly at pro.munster@gaa.ie for more information

Team News

The Kerry Senior Football Team to play CIT in the Munster GAA McGrath Cup Semi Final on Sunday in John Mitchels GAA Complex in Tralee at 2pm shows just two changes from the side that defeated IT Tralee on Sunday last. Brendan Kealy resumes in goal and Barry John Keane, who impressed when introduced on Sunday last, is named at right corner forward. Both Peter Crowley and Paul Galvin have been added to the substitutes list. The team is as follows:

1. Brendan Kealy (Kilcummin)

2. Paul Murphy (Rathmore)

3. Mark Griffin (St Michaels/Foilmore)

4. Shane Enright (Tarbert)

5. Mikey Geaney (Dingle)

6. Jack Sherwood (Firies)

7. Brian Maguire (Listowel Emmets)

8. Anthony Maher (Duagh)

9. David Moran (Kerins O’Rahillys)

10. Jonathan Lyne (Killarney Legion)

11. Bryan Sheehan (St Marys)

12. Donnchadh Walsh (Cromane) (Capt.)

13. Barry John Keane (Kerins O’Rahillys)

14. Alan Fitzgerald (Castlegregory)

15. Stephen O’Brien (Kenmare)

Subs:

16. Brian Kelly (Killarney Legion)

17. Shane O’Callaghan (Austin Stacks)

18. Barry Shanahan (Austin Stacks)

19. Peter Crowley (Laune Rangers)

20. Paul Galvin (Finuge)

21. Mark Reen (Rathmore)

•In the absence of Dr Crokes players, Donnchadh Walsh has been named captain for the duration of the McGrath Cup campaign.

• Paul Murphy was a Kerry Under 21 player in 2012 and Shane O’Callaghan was on 2013 U21 team.

• Alan Fitzgerald has represented Kerry at Junior and Under 21 level (2011) and has an All Ireland Junior Club medal won with Castlegregory (2010)

For the Record

Fixtures and Results

Quarter-Finals

Sunday January 5^th

@ John Mitchels Tralee                  Kerry 0-17 IT Tralee 0-8

@ CIT GAA Grounds                       CIT 5-17 Mary I 2-6

@ Mallow                                          Cork 3-22 LIT 0-7

@ Gaelic Grounds Limerick           UL 5-18 UCC 4-16

Semi-Finals (Extra time)

Sunday January 12^th

@ John Mitchels Tralee                  Kerry v CIT                                                                @ 2:00pm

@ Mallow                                          Cork v UL                                                                  @ 2:00pm

Final (Extra time)

Sunday January 19^th

McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends

Since 2000, Kerry’s McGrath Cup success rate is 89% (best of any county) winning 16 of their 18 matches (an 88% success rate). In the same period, Cork have won 86% of their matches in the competition with 18 wins out of 21.

There was an average of 2.5 goals per match in the 2013 McGrath Cup Competition (25 goals scored in total). This compares with an average of 2.4 goals per game in 2012 and 1.4 goals per game in 2011.

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the McGrath Cup since entering in 2005 is Won 23, Lost 53 (30% success rate). None of the third level colleges have a winning record in the competition during that period. CIT have the best record, winning 7 of their 16 matches (44% success rate). UL have won 6 of their 14 matches (43% success rate) followed by UCC who have won 7 of their 17 matches (41% success rate. Meanwhile IT Tralee, LIT, WIT and Mary I Limerick have won 3 out of 29 matches between them.

Kerry have not lost a match in the McGrath Cup since the 2006 final where the Kingdom lost to Cork by 1-9 to 0-6 at Pairc Ui Rinn.

McGrath Cup Senior Football Roll Of Honour

Clare (12) – 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008

Cork (6) – 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Limerick (5) – 1985, 1987, 2001, 2004, 2005

Kerry (4) – 1996, 2010, 2012

Tipperary (3) – 1989, 1993, 2003

Waterford (1) – 1981

London (1) – 1988

Visit the Munster GAA web site History section to view the complete Roll of Honour since the competition began in 1981 – https://munster.gaa.ie/history/mcgrath-cup-football/

McGrath Cup

Presented by Joe McGrath on June 21st, 1981 for the promotion of Senior Football in Munster

Cork Institute of Technology Panel

The Cork Institute of Technology Football Panel for the McGrath Cup includes the following players –

Andrew O’Donoghue            Aghada                        Cork

Brendan O Sullivan              Valentia                       Kerry

Brian O Regan                      Nemo Rangers           Cork

Cathal Vaughan                    Uibh Laoire                  Cork

Chris Davies                         Legion                         Kerry

Conor Flanagan                    Clyda Rovers              Cork

Conor O Sullivan                  Youghal                       Cork

Daniel Daly                           St Mary’s                     Kerry

David Hanrahan                   Douglas                       Cork

Donal Og Hodnett                 O Donovan Rossa      Cork

Eoin Byrne                            Bishopstown                Cork

James Walsh                        Knocknagoshel           Kerry

Jason Collins             St Marys                     Cork

Jeremiah O Connor              Boherbue                    Cork

John Corkery                        Aghabollogue              Cork

John O Donoghue                Ballingeary                  Cork

Kevin Dwyer                         Waterville                    Kerry

Pa Kilkenny                          Glencar                       Kerry

Peter Daly                             St Marys                     Cork

Rory O Sullivan                    Timoleague                 Cork

Sean Finn                             Glanworth                   Cork

Shane McCarthy                  Douglas                       Cork

Thomas Hegarty                   O Donovan Rossa      Cork

TJ Brosnan                           Newmarket                 Cork