ESB Minor Football Semi-Final Results / Reports
Kerry and Tipperary will once again meet in the ESB Munster Minor Football Championship Final having overcome Clare and Cork in their respective semi-final meetings this evening.
Kerry overcame a spirited Clare challenge in Tralee on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-4 while Tippeary outscored Cork by 0-13 to 0-10 after extra-time in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
The ESB Munster Minor Football final will take place on July 5th at 12 noon.
Tenacious Tipp leave Rebels reeling
Tipperary 0-13 Cork 0-10 after extra-time
By Fintan O’Toole for the Irish Examiner newspaper
Thursday, May 14, 2009
TIPPERARY sprung a huge surprise in last night’s Munster MFC semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, edging out Cork after a marathon affair that required extra-time to deliver an outcome.
The action closed out in near darkness, yet despite the tremors this result will cause, it was difficult to fault Tipperary’s claims to victory; in a largely mundane match, Tipperary produced the best passages of play.
Indeed they should have wrapped up the match before it entered the additional stages, having raced into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead after 26 minutes and also spurning a 53rd minute penalty when Ross McGrath smacked his shot against the crossbar. At that juncture the tide seemed to have shifted in Cork’s direction, but Tipperary improved on a poor second-half display to close out the match in a decisive fashion in extra-time.
Tipperary were the proprietors of the first-half play with a cornerstone of their overall control being their ploy of sitting corner-forward Michael Ivors in front of the full-back line. It paid a handsome dividend as Ivors frequently intercepted Cork passes defence and gave a splendid display. Cork struggled to negotiate a route past Ivors and overall Tipperary covered well in defence in the opening half and choked the supply lines outfield.
But Cork’s passing was also desperately poor as they wildly lashed balls forward and Tipperary showed greater intelligence to their offensive play. Roger Peters and Billy Hewitt both confidently pointed for them within the opening ten minutes.
Cork in contrast began sluggishly and their difficulties were exacerbated by the loss of full-back Darragh Rodgers through injury. Tipperary increased their advantage with some good scores as the first-half wore on courtesy of Liam Treacy, Luke Murphy and a Hewitt brace.
By the 26th minute they had sailed 0-6 to 0-0 clear and Cork’s plight was deepening. The display of wing-back Alan Cronin did offer Cork a bright spot, and they finally managed to jump off the scoring mark before half time through John Dineen and Brian Hurley. Suddenly the interval deficit of 0-6 to 0-2 was somewhat less daunting.
Cork cranked up the pressure after the interval extracting valuable contributions from Damien Cahalane, Rory O’Sullivan and Patrick Wiley. But it failed to translate into an early deluge of scores and Tipperary had increased their lead to 0-8 to 0-3 by the 45th minute. The game could have been killed off by then but Cork goalkeeper Sean Mellet produced an outstanding save to deny Ross McGrath.
In the final quarter Cork finally started to slip into a scoring groove, atoning for their earlier series of wides. John Dineen, Cronin and David Drake all slotted over points and the impetus lay with Cork entering the final ten minutes. They enjoyed a great slice of fortune in the 53rd minute when McGrath’s penalty effort hit the bar rather than the net, and they seized on that opening to force parity through a Daniel Fitzgerald free and a fine shot by substitute Dean Brosnan.
But despite funnelling a multitude of ball forward, Cork’s attack failed to capitalise as they struck a few excellent chances for a match-winner wide.
Extra-time wound up suiting Tipperary. They had looked like being submerged by Cork pressure nearing full-time but capitalised on the reprieve to settle themselves. Their defence spearheaded by the brilliance of Paddy Dalton, Graham Quinn and Gerard Mulhair, kept the Cork attack at bay while centre-forward Ross McGrath carried the scoring burden.
McGrath arrowed over three points in the first half of extra-time and Tipperary held a sizeable 0-12 to 0-9 lead by the 70th minute. Ger Minihane grabbed one back for Cork, yet Tipperary’s rearguard was stout and a lovely 78th minute score by substitute Johnny McMahon sealed a famous Tipperary win.
Scorers for Tipperary: B Hewitt (0-2f), R Peters (0-1f, 0-1 ’45), R McGrath (0-1f) 0-3 each, L Treacy, L Murphy, T Hill, J McMahon 0-1 each.
Cork: J Dineen, B Hurley 0-2 each, D Brosnan, A Cronin, D Drake (0-1’45), D Fitzgerald (0-1f), S Finn, G Minihane 0-1 each.
TIPPERARY: A Wall; P Dalton, J Ryan, G Quinn; L Murphy, G Mulhair, D Dwyer; E Kendrick, J Lonergan; T Hill, R McGrath, R Peters; M Ivors, L Treacy, B Hewitt. Subs: S Power for Treacy (24), S O’Meara for Lonergan (50), A Matassa for Hill (58), S Foley for Hewitt (58), B Hewitt for Power (60), J McMahon for Kendrick (72), E Kent for McGrath (80).
CORK: S Mellet; D O’Donovan, D Rodgers, D Cahalane; A Cronin, R O’Sullivan, W O’Mahony; E Healy, P Wiley; D Nation, J O’Rourke, D Drake; D Fitzgerald, J Dineen, B Hurley. Subs: S Down for Rodgers (inj) (21), S Finn for Healy (37), G Minihane for Nation (44), D Brosnan for Fitzgerald (55), M Russell for Dineen (62), D Murphy for O’Sullivan (70), Dineen for Russell (76).
Referee: Michael Rock (Clare)
Tipp’s McGrath crushes Rebel revival to seal final showdown with Kingdom
Tipperary 0-13 Cork 0-10 (AFTER EXTRA-TIME)
From the Irish Independent newspaper
Thursday May 14 2009
TIPPERARY recovered from losing a five-point second-half lead to get the better of Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh last night.
They blitzed the home side in the first half as Billy Hewitt caused the Cork defence all sorts of problems, registering three points in the opening period as they led 0-6 to 0-2 at the break.
Though Brian Hurley got the first point of the second half to reduce the arrears to three, Roger Peters, Ross McGrath and Thomas Hill made it 0-8 to 0-3 to Tipp.
However, Cork fought back and Dean Brosnan equalised to force extra-time. Helped by points from McGrath, though, Tipp led 0-12 to 0-9 at half-time in extra-time and they held that three-point advantage to advance to the final.
Scorers — Tipperary: B Hewitt (0-2f), R McGrath (0-1f), R Peters (0-1f, 0-1 ’45) 0-3 each, L Murphy, L Treacy, T Hill, J McMahon 0-1 each. Cork: J Dineen, B Hurley 0-2 each, D Drake (0-1 ’45), A Cronin, D Fitzgerald (0-1f), D Brosnan, G Minihane, S Finn 0-1 each.
TIPPERARY — A Wall; P Dalton, J Ryan, G Quinn; D Dwyer, G Mulhair, L Murphy; E Kendrick, J Lonergan; R Peters, R McGrath, T Hill; M Ivors, L Treacy, B Hewitt. Subs: S Power for Treacy (24), S O’Meara for Lonergan (50), A Matassa for Hill, S Foley for Hewitt (both 56), Hewitt for Power (61), J McMahon for Kendrick (72), E Kent for McGrath (80).
CORK — S Mellett; D O’Donovan, D Rogers, D Cahalane; A Cronin, R O’Sullivan, W O’Mahony; E Healy, P Wiley; D Nation, J O’Rourke, D Drake; D Fitzgerald, J Dineen, B Hurley. Subs: S Downs for Rogers (21), S Finn for Healy (36), G Minihane for Nation (43), D Brosnan for Fitzgerald (54), M Russell for Dineen (60), D Murphy for O’Sullivan (71), Dineen for Russell (76).
REF — M Rock (Clare).
Kerry 2-10 Clare 1-4
From the Irish Independent newspaper
It took a freak own goal early in the second half by Clare wing-back Seanie Malone to afford struggling Kerry the breathing space they needed to see off a brave Banner challenge at Austin Stack Park.
Clare enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the opening half, but over-elaboration cost them dearly as they wasted good possession in front of the Kerry goal and the Kingdom were fortunate to retire 0-5 to 0-4 in front at the interval.
Clare were still trailing by a point when disaster struck as Jeremy Hoare surged forward for Kerry and when he punched the ball across goal it hit the post and cannoned into the net off the in-rushing Malone. Kerry points followed from Eanna O’Connor, Donal O’Sullivan and Michael Brennan, but Clare got a lifeline on 47 minutes when Conor Ryan goaled. However, Kerry upped the tempo and a 56th-minute O’Connor goal sealed victory.
Scorers — Kerry: E O’Connor 1-2 ( 0-1f), S Malone 1-0 (og), S Carroll, D O’Sullivan 0-2 each, J Sherwood, M Brennan, N O’Shea, M Reen 0-1 each. Clare: C Ryan 1-0, C McInerney 0-3 ( 0-1f), D Sexton 0-1
KERRY– P O’Sullivan; M Galvin, P Galvin, N Fitzgerald; M Finnegan, J Hoare, D Wren; S Carroll, D Doody; I Galvin, J Sherwood, M Brennan; N O’Shea, E O’Connor, D O’Sullivan. Subs: K Hurley for I Galvin (ht), J O’Sullivan for D Doody ( 34), M Griffin for M Finnegan ( 38), P O’Connor for D Wren ( 56), M Reen for J Sherwood ( 56).
CLARE — W Deloughhrey; M O’Connor, Sean Brennan, G Johnson; S Collins, E Malone, S Malone; K O’Connor, Shane Brennan; D Sexton, C Ryan, S Tierney; C McInerney, E Finucane , C Nolan. Subs: M Malone for C Nolan ( ht), S Lynch for E Finnucane ( 38), C King for S Tierney (50), E Fitzgerald for S Brennan ( 55), D O’Neill for C Ryan ( 56) .
REF — D O’Mahony (Tipperary)
