- This event has passed.
McGrath Cup Preliminary Round – Kerry 4-22 IT Tralee 0-10
Kerry defeated IT Tralee by 4-22 to 0-10 in the preliminary round of the Munster McGrath Cup Senior Football competition on Saturday at Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney. Kerry led by 3-9 to 0-4 at half-time. The Kerry goals were scored by Paul Geaney (2), Michael Geaney and Patrick Curtin. Kerry will now play UCC in the Quarter-Final on Sunday January 13th at 2:00pm in Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney.
Buckley’s ring of confidence
By Diarmuid O’Flynn for the Irish Examiner newspaper
Kerry 4-22 IT Tralee 0-10
A gentle introduction to senior inter-county management for new Kerry boss Eamonn Fitzmaurice in Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday with his largely experimental team cruising to victory in this one-sided McGrath Cup encounter. “Job done,” was the Finuge man’s immediate reaction. “Of course fellas were going to be rusty, it’s only the 5th of January, but we’re up and running and have another game next weekend [against UCC] to look forward to. The longer we can stay in the McGrath Cup the better it is in terms of preparation for the league.”
In truth this was a contest only for about ten minutes. Impressive corner-forward Paul Geaney had the ball in the IT Tralee net inside the opening minute thanks to good build up play by Darran O’Sullivan. But points from wing-forwards Darren Wallace and Brendan Pott had the students back to within a point after eight minutes. That was it though, end of challenge. With Paul Geaney’s cousin Michael adding a second goal (27th minute), Paul notching his second and Kerry’s third (32, midfielder Kieran Donaghy a central figure in both), a variety of players adding points, Kerry had built a match-winning lead (3-9 to 0-4) by the break.
“We were a small bit naive,” said IT Tralee manager Wayne Quillinan, former boss of Austin Stacks. “We spoke about it all week, you couldn’t have any fear in the belly but talking to the lads, they admitted they did have a small bit of fear and it led to the basic errors that then led to their first two goals. That set the tone for the game.”
Three minutes into the second half, whatever slim hopes IT Tralee may have been harbouring were well and truly shattered with impressive full-forward Patrick Curtin scoring the fourth and final Kerry goal. From there to the end it was a procession of Kerry scores and scorers, points flowing from all angles, the entire full-forward line of Brian Looney, Curtin and Paul Geaney again on the scoresheet, just as they’d been in the opening half (they finished with 3-12 between them). “They were a potent line,” agreed Fitzmaurice. “We got a few good goals, probably had a few more chances and kicked some great points. You can’t ask anymore of them, they all finished well.”
The new-look full-back line also did well, the experienced Marc Ó Sé flanked by Fionn Fitzgerald and Shane Enright, but the most impressive performances in what admittedly was a very one-sided affair came from the new-look midfield pairing of stand-in captain Johnny Buckley (finished with three points) and man-of-the-match Kieran Donaghy.
Early days of course, very early days, but this was a very positive start to the new year by Kerry, a very positive start also for the new regime led by Fitzmaurice, who himself was delighted to have this one done with. “It felt fine, it is a relief to have the first game over. It’s been coming a long time — I’ve been in the job since last August, there’s been a lot of behind the scenes work in getting things ready. It’s great to be up and running now.”
Scorers for Kerry: P Geaney 2-4 (1f); P Curtin 1-5; M Geaney 1-1; J Buckley 0-3; P O’Connor 0-3 (1f); B Looney 0-3 (1 45); BJ Keane 0-2; D O’Sullivan 0-1.
Scorers for IT Tralee: A O’Donoghue 0-3 (3f); S Carroll 0-2 (1f); B Pott, D Wallace, R Deane, S Killeen, S McCarthy 0-1 each.
KERRY: B Kelly; F Fitzgerald, M Ó Sé, S Enright; J Lyne, J Sherwood, K Young; K Donaghy, J Buckley (c); M Geaney, D O’Sullivan, M O’Donoghue; B Looney, P Curtin, P Geaney.
Subs: D Culhane (Ó Sé 35); BJ Keane (O’Sullivan 35); T Ó Sé (Lyne 54); P O’Connor (P Geaney 54); A Garnett (Buckley 55).
IT Tralee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry); C Farrell (Kildare), J Scully (Wexford); S McCarthy (Kerry), G O’Grady (Cork), M Brosnan (Kerry); R Deane (Cork), D Somers (Clare); D Wallace (Kerry), I Corbett (Limerick), B Poff (Kerry); A O’Donoghue (Kerry), S Carroll (Kerry), B O’Hare (Louth).
Subs: D Cahalane (Kerry, Farrell 35); D Murphy (Kerry, Wallace 49); D Mannix (Kerry, O’Hare 49); S Killeen (Galway, Somers 56); N Curran (Wicklow, Corbett 63).
Referee: K O’Brien (Tipperary)
Kerry new guns step up to mark to sink Tralee
Report from the Irish Independent newspaper
Kerry 4-22 IT Tralee 0-10
New-look Kerry breezed into the quarter-finals of this competition with a facile 24-point victory over the students of IT Tralee the preliminary round game played at the Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney yesterday afternoon. Kerry dominated from the outset with new midfield pairing Kieran Donaghy and captain Johnny Buckley providing a plentiful supply of ball to their inside forward line of Brian Looney, Patrick Curtin and goal poacher supreme Paul Geaney, who got the bulk of the Kerry scores, against a very defensive IT outfit, who sometimes – understandably given their vaulted opposition – had 13 players behind the ball. Kerry were boosted with goals in the sixth minute from Paul Geaney after a Darran O’Sullivan assist, while further goals from Mikey Geaney in the 27th minute – after a defence-splitting pass from the impressive Buckley – and a third maximum from Paul Geaney, after a Donaghy knockdown, saw Kerry build up a seemingly unassailable half-time advantage of 3-9 to 0-4, with Alan O’Donoghue looking the liveliest Tralee attacker.
It was all one-way traffic in the second half as Barry John Keane came off the bench to kick two points, Paul O’Connor kicked three off the bench while Paddy Curtin ran riot with 1-4 in the second period. Paul Geaney, Fionn Fitzgerald, Mikey Geaney and Curtin, of the newcomers impressed for Kerry, while Tomas O Se got a rousing welcome when introduced in the second period. IT Tralee were reliant on Alan O’Donoghue with two frees and points from Cork’s Ruairi Deane, Sean McCarthy and Shane Carroll. However, Tralee could not match the scoring prowess of Kerry’s inside line, with Looney, Curtin and Geaney kicking 3-12 of the Kingdom’s total.
Scorers – Kerry: P Geaney 2-4 (1f); P Curtin 1-5; M Geaney 1-1; P O’Connor (1f); B Looney (1 ’45’); J Buckley 0-3 each; BJ Keane 0-2; D O’Sullivan 0-1. Tralee: A O’Donoghue 0-3 (3f); S Carroll 0-2 (1f); B Poff, D Wallace, R Deane, S Killeen, S McCarthy 0-1 each
Kerry: B Kelly; F Fitzgerald, M Ó Sé, S Enright; J Lyne, J Sherwood, K Young; K Donaghy, J Buckley (capt); M Geaney, D O’Sullivan, M O’Donoghue; B Looney, P Curtin, P Geaney.
Subs: D Culhane (Ó Sé 35); BJ Keane (O’Sullivan 35); T Ó Sé (Lyne 54); P O’Connor (P Geaney 54); A Garnett (Buckley 55)
IT Tralee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry); C Farrell (Kildare), J Scully (Wexford); S McCarthy (Kerry), G O’Grady (Cork), M Brosnan (Kerry); R Deane (Cork), D Somers (Clare); D Wallace (Kerry), I Corbett (Limerick), B Poff (Kerry); A O’Donoghue (Kerry), S Carroll (Kerry), B O’Hare (Louth).
Subs: D Cahalane (Kerry, Farrell 35); D Murphy (Kerry, Wallace 49); D Mannix (Kerry, O’Hare 49); S Killeen (Galway, Somers 56); N Curran (Wicklow, Corbett 63)
Referee: K O’Brien (Tipperary)
Munster GAA McGrath Cup – Preliminary Round
Kerry 4-22 IT Tralee 0-10
Eamonn Fitzmaurice got his Kerry managerial career off to the perfect start when The Kingdom proved too strong for IT Tralee in Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday evening. IT did get the better start but failed to convert an abundance of possession and once Paul Geaney struck for the first of his goals in the 5th minute the writing was on the wall for the students. Two further goals from the Geaneys, Michael and Paul, saw Kerry lead by 3-9 to 0-4 at the break.
A goal and a point on the resumption from Patrick Curtin ensured that there would be no way back for the Tralee side, who despite being outplayed, battled on gamely picking off some nice points from the likes of Shane Carroll, Alan O’Donoghue and Sean McCarthy.
Kerry: Brian Kelly (Legion), Fionn Fitzgerald (Dr Crokes), Marc Ó Sé (An Gaeltacht), Shane Enright (Tarbert), Jonathan Lyne (Legion), Jack Sherwood (Firies), Killian Young (Renard), Kieran Donaghy (Austin Stacks), Johnny Buckley 0-3 (Dr Crokes), (Captain), Mikey Geaney 1-1 (Dingle), Darran O’Sullivan 0-1 (Glenbeigh/Glencar), Michael O’Donoghue (Spa), Brian Looney 0-3 (Dr Crokes), Patrick Curtin 1-5 (Moyvane), Paul Geaney 2-4 (Dingle).
Subs: Tomás Ó Sé (An Gaeltacht), David Culhane (Ballylongford), Paul O’Connor 0-3 (Kenmare), Barry John Keane 0-1 (Kerins O’Rahillys), Andrew Garnett (Spa).
IT Tralee: Paul O’Sullivan, Cian Farrell, Joe Scully, David Larkin, Sean McCarthy (0-1), Giles O’Grady, Michael Brosnan, Ruairi deane (0-1), Damien Sommers, Darren Wallace (0-1), Ian Corbett, Brendan Poff (0-1), Alan O’Donoghue (0-3 Fr), Shane Carroll (0-2), Barry O’Hare. Subs: Dan Cahalane, Daniel Murphy, Sean Killeen (0-1), David Mannix, Niall Curran.
Referee: Keith O’Brien (Tipperary)
For the Record
| Kerry | IT Tralee | |
| 2012 McGrath Cup Performance | Did not take part | Defeated Waterford by 2-14 to 0-14 before losing to CIT by 2-16 to 2-5 |
| Number of McGrath Cup Senior Football titles | 3 | 0 |
| Last McGrath Cup Senior Football Title | 2011 | N/A |
| McGrath Cup Senior Football Record since 2000 | Played – 13 Won – 11 Lost – 2 Drawn – 0 |
Played – 10 Won – 2 Lost – 8 Drawn – 0 |
| Last meeting in the McGrath Cup | 2011 Preliminary Round – January 9th at Austin Stack Park Tralee – Kerry 1-14 IT Tralee 1-13 – Match Report | |
Fixtures and Results
Preliminary Round (Extra time)
Saturday January 5th
@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney Kerry v IT Tralee @ 2:00pm
Sunday January 6th
@ Miltown-Malbay Clare v LIT @ 2:00pm
@ Cork IT Cork v CIT @ 2:00pm
Quarter-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 13th
@ Limerick venue Limerick v Clare or LIT @ 2:00pm
@ Kerry venue or TBC UCC v Kerry or IT Tralee @ 2:00pm
@ Cork or Tipperary venue Tipperary v Cork or CIT @ 2:00pm
@ Waterford venue Waterford v UL @ 2:00pm
Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 20th
Final (Extra time)
Sunday January 27th
McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends
Since 2000, Cork’s McGrath Cup success rate is 89% (best of any county) with 16 wins out of 18 in the competition. In the same period, Kerry have won 11 of their 13 matches (a 85% success rate).
Despite a goal-less final, there was an average of 2.4 goals per match in the 2012 McGrath Cup competition (22 goals scored in total). This contrasts with 16 goals scored in the 2011 competition over 11 matches (an average of 1.4 goals per match).
The record of the Third Level Colleges in the McGrath Cup since entering in 2005 is Won 21, Lost 44 (32% success rate). None of the six colleges have a winning record in the competition during that period. UCC have the best record, winning 7 of their 15 matches (47% success rate). CIT have won 6 of their 14 matches (43% success rate) followed by UL who have won 5 of their 12 matches (42% success rate). Meanwhile IT Tralee, LIT and WIT have won 3 out of 24 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.
Limerick footballers have won 1 of their last 6 matches in the McGrath Cup. Waterford have won 1 of their last 5 matches.
Tipperary is the only team to have won at least 1 match in the last 3 years of the McGrath Cup with a 66% record during that period, Won 6 Lost 3.
Clare footballers have won 4 of their last 6 matches in the McGrath Cup over the last two seasons. During that span, Clare have scored 3 goals and conceded 3 goals.
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
Tipperary (3) – 1989, 1993, 2003
Kerry (3) – 1996, 2010, 2011
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.
