McGrath Cup Final – Kerry 1-12 Tipperary 1-5

Tried and tested set to return after Kingdom stroll

By Jackie Cahill for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Kerry 1-12 Tipperary 1-05

The time for experimentation is almost over. Eamonn Fitzmaurice has vowed to field his strongest possible teams over the next two weekends as Kerry open their Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign against heavyweights Mayo and Dublin. The Kingdom manager has run the rule over a number of young players during a successful McGrath Cup campaign but now, only the strongest can survive. Some of his emerging young stars will see game time, for sure, but Fitzmaurice hinted that he’s a ‘horses for courses’ man. He’s anxious to get off to a good start in Castlebar next Sunday and it should be an experienced team that trots out at McHale Park.

Of course, Fitzmaurice’s hand could be forced to an extent as a number of his players are involved in Sigerson Cup matches over the next few days. But in his head, Fitzmaurice has probably settled on the starting 15 for an attractive opening fixture against last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists, with Killian Young and James O’Donoghue likely to be fit in time. Reflecting on the McGrath Cup campaign as a whole, Fitzmaurice said: “With these lads, it’s trying to get a bit of game time into them.

Sometimes that can be hard in the National League when you have a very competitive panel. Human nature being what it is, you’re going to go with the experienced fellas that have been there, done that. But the lads have got a good chance and have definitely stuck their foot in the door going forward.” That’s not to say that Kerry’s young guns don’t deserve a chance, because they do. Jonathan Lyne and Jack Sherwood have done well in defence so far this year while up front, Michael O’Donoghue and Paul Geaney are lively prospects.

But when push came to shove against Tipperary at Sean Treacy Park on Saturday, it was the men who’ve been around the block that got the job done. Darran O’Sullivan scored 1-3 while the Ó Sé brothers Marc and Tomás marshalled a mean defence as Kerry claimed a third title in four seasons. Tipp, chasing a first McGrath Cup title since 2003, didn’t score from play until the 47th minute. At the other end, Kerry finished with eight different scorers.

Fitzmaurice reflected: “We’re happy with January. What we’ve done with each game is taken stock each week. We’ve trained, seen who’s available, we’ve checked the knocks. There are Sigerson games going on again on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week and a lot of the lads will be involved in them. So, we’ll take stock again on Thursday, see who’s available to us. We’ll put our strongest possible team next weekend but we have two seriously tough games coming up, away to Mayo and at home to Dublin.”

Right now, Kerry’s squad looks solid. This team, after all, was only a couple of points off Donegal in last year’s All-Ireland quarter-final, when they general consensus was that Kerry didn’t play well. The Dr Crokes contingent will return from club duty to provide Fitzmaurice with fresh options and Kerry should be in good fettle when they meet Tipperary again in May, in the quarter-finals of the Munster SFC.

Kerry elected to play with the breeze in the first half last Saturday, in front of 839 spectators in Tipp town. They were 1-7 to 0-2 clear at half-time, with O’Sullivan firing home a clinical 16th minute goal. Tipp managed just two pointed frees from Barry Grogan, scorer of 2-12 in his two previous matches. Marc Ó Sé stuck to Grogan like glue throughout and although the Aherlow forward registered 1-4, he managed to escape just once for a point from play. A number of frees he’d normally pop over drifted wide too but Grogan did goal from a 45 in the 57th minute, with Kerry goalkeeper Brendan Kealy at fault as the ball floated into the net.

It was the highlight of Tipp’s afternoon and their manager Peter Creedon admitted that the Premier County could have few complaints with the end result. He argued that Tipp’s opening Division 4 fixtures, at home to Carlow next Sunday and away to Waterford six days later, are much more important than a McGrath Cup final. “We had a good campaign; two good wins and there were reasonable parts about today as well. But we have to get promotion — that’s it. The next two games are way more important.”

Scorers for Kerry: D O’Sullivan (1-3, 0-1f), P Geaney 0-3 (1f), T Ó’Sé, A Maher, B Sheehan (f), M Geaney, M O’Donoghue & P Curtin 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: B Grogan 1-4 (1-0 45, 0-3f), L McGrath 0-1.

KERRY: B Kealy; M Ó Sé, A O’Mahony, S Enright; J Lyne, J Sherwood, T Ó Sé; A Maher, B Sheehan; M Geaney, D O’Sullivan, M O’Donoghue; B.J. Keane, P Curtin, P Geaney.

Subs: D Culhane for Sherwood (47); A Garnett for Sheehan (57); BJ Walsh for Keane (57); P Murphy for Lyne (58); B Kelliher for O’Donoghue (59).

TIPPERARY: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, J Coghlan; B Fox, S Kennedy, C McDonald; G Hannigan, L Egan; S O’Brien, P Quirke, B Maher; L McGrath, B Grogan, C Sweeney.

Subs: H Coghlan for Egan (h.t.), A Campbell for Kennedy (h.t.), B O’Brien for S O’Brien (53), B Jones for Hannigan (59), A Matassa for Sweeney (67).

Referee: J Bermingham (Cork)

Kerry cruise to McGrath Cup final victory

Round-up from the GAA.ie web site

McGrath Cup Final: Kerry 1-12 Tipperary 1-5

Kerry were comfortable winners in the McGrath Cup final against Tipperary on Sunday at Seán Treacy Park in Tipperary Town. Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s side led from start to finish, and had seven points to spare at the end. It is the fourth time in their history they have won the competition, and is their third title in the last four years. They led 1-3 to 0-1 midway through the first half. Their goal came from the lively Darran O’Sullivan, who had a fine game from his centre-half-forward berth, and who ended up with 1-3 for the day.

The Kingdom were in total control at half-time, leading 1-7 to 0-2, and the second half was a fairly stale affair as a result. Barry Grogan was Tipperary’s best player, and he pulled them closer to Kerry with a goal in the second half which came directly from a 45′. However, it made little impact on the result and Kerry cruised to the finish to give Fitzmaurice his first piece of silverware as boss.

Team News

The Tipperary Senior Football team to play Kerry in the McGrath Cup final on Saturday next at Sean Treacy Park Tipperary Town shows 3 changes from the team which defeated Waterford in the semi-final. Brian Fox, Ciaran McDonald and Lorcan Egan come into the team instead of John O’Callaghan, Alan Campbell and Aldo Matassa. The team is as follows:

1. Paul Fitzgerald (Fethard)

2. Andrew Morrissey (Galtee Rovers)

3. Paddy Codd (Killenaule) Captain

4. John Coghlan (Moyne Templetuohy)

5. Brian Fox (Eire Og Annacarty)

6. Seamus Kennedy (Clonmel Commercials)

7. Ciaran McDonald (Aherlow)

8. George Hannigan (Shannon Rovers)

9. Lorcan Egan (JK Brackens)

10. Steven O’Brien (Ballina)

11. Philip Quirke (Moyle Rovers)

12. Bill Maher (Kilsheelan Kilcash)

13. Liam McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney)

14. Barry Grogan (Aherlow)

15. Conor Sweeney (Ballyporeen)

The Kerry team to play Tipperary in the Munster GAA McGrath Cup Final on Saturday next in Tipperary Town at 2:30 shows 6 changes in personnel from the side that defeated Limerick in the semi final on Sunday last:

Brendan Kealy returns in goal in place of Brian Kelly, Marc Ó Sé, Aidan O’Mahony and Shane Enright resume in the full back line for David Culhane, Michael Moloney and Fionn Fitzgerald, Tomás Ó Sé comes in for the unavailable Killian Young at No. 7 and up front Paul Geaney comes in for James O’Donoghue who is also unavailable.

1. Brendan Kealy Kilcummin

2. Marc Ó Sé An Gaeltacht

3. Aidan O’Mahony Rathmore

4. Shane Enright Tarbert

5. Jonathan Lyne Killarney Legion

6. Jack Sherwood Firies

7. Tomás Ó Sé An Gaeltacht

8. Anthony Maher Duagh (Capt)

9. Bryan Sheehan St Marys

10. Michael Geaney Dingle

11. Darran O’Sullivan Glenbeigh/Glencar

12. Michael O’Donoghue Spa

13. Barry John Keane Kerins O’Rahillys

14. Patrick Curtin Moyvane

15. Paul Geaney Dingle

16. Brian Kelly Killarney Legion

17. David Culhane Ballylongford

18. Andrew Garnett Spa

19. Barry John Walsh Kerins O’Rahillys

20. Paul Murphy Rathmore

21. Breandán Kelliher Dingle

For the Record

Fixtures and Results

Preliminary Round

Saturday January 5^th

@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney     Kerry 4-22 IT Tralee 0-10

Sunday January 6^th

@ Miltown-Malbay                       Clare 1-19 LIT 1-2
@ Cork IT GAA Grounds             Cork 1-15 CIT 0-10

Quarter-Finals
Sunday January 13^th

@ Foynes                                   Limerick 2-16 Clare 2-13 (after extra time)

@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney     Kerry 2-12 UCC 0-10

@ Pairc Ui Rinn                           Tipperary 2-9 Cork 1-9

@ WIT GAA Grounds Carriganore Waterford 0-16 University of Limerick 0-12 (after extra time)

Semi-Finals
Sunday January 20^th

@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney               Kerry 3-17 Limerick 1-11

@ Sean Treacy Park Tipperary Town     Tipperary 1-12 Waterford 2-8 (after extra time)

Final (Extra time)

Saturday January 26^th

@ Sean Treacy Park Tipperary Town     Kerry v Tipperary                         @ 2:30pm

McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends

Since 2000, Kerry have won 14 of their 16 matches (a 88% success rate – best of any county). In the same period, Cork’s McGrath Cup success rate is 85% with 17 wins out of 20 in the competition.

Tipperary is the only team to have won at least 1 match in the last 4 years of the McGrath Cup with a 73% record during that period, Won 8 Lost 3.

In the 9 games to date in the 2013 McGrath Cup, there has been an average of 2.6 goals per game. This compares with 2.4 goals per match in 2012 and 1.4 goals per match in 2011.

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the McGrath Cup since entering in 2005 is Won 21, Lost 49 (30% 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 16 matches (44% success rate) while UL have won 5 of their 13 matches (38% success rate).

Since 2011, the record of Third Level Colleges when playing an Inter-County team in the McGrath Cup is Won 2, Lost 16 (11% success rate)

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.

Tipperary’s last victory over Kerry in the McGrath Cup came on January 16^th 2005 – 1-10 to 0-8 was the final scoreline in a Quarter-Final match played in Clonmel Sportsfield. See the teams and scorers below –

Scorers: Tipperary: D. Browne 1-5 (0-3 frees, 0-1 45); D. O’Brien, P. Morrissey, E. Hanrahan, J. Shanahan, P. Cahill 0-1 each. Kerry: D. Quill 0-4 (0-2 frees); R. O’Connor, M. O Se, A. O’Mahony, P. Kelly 0-1 each.

Tipperary: B. Enright; D. Byrne, N. Curran, P. King; P. Morrissey, N. Fitzgerald, R. Costigan; E. Hanrahan, K. Mulryan; A. Fitzgerald, F. O’Callaghan, P. Cahill; J. Shanahan, D. Browne, D. O’Brien.

Subs: T. Doyle for O’Brien; L. England for Cahill; S. Collum for Fitzgerald; B. Hahessy for Costigan.

Kerry: K. Cremin; P. Reidy, S. O’Sullivan, M. Lyons; B. Guiney, A. O’Mahony, M. O Se; S. Scanlon, K. Donaghy; P. Kelly, N. Kennelly, D. O’Dwyer; D. Quill, R. O’Connor, D. Doona.

Subs: E. Brosnan for Scanlon; D. O’Sullivan for D. O’Dwyer; A. O’Sullivan for Kennelly; A. O’Connell for S. O’Sullivan; D. Daly for Donaghy.

Referee: Martin Collins (Cork)

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 (3) – 1996, 2010, 2011

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

McGrath Cup – 2013 Scorers