Munster Under 17 Football (Darrel Darcy Cup) Final – Tipperary 0-12 Clare 0-10

Tipperary defeated Clare by 0-12 to 0-10 in the Munster Under 17 Football (Darrel Darcy Cup) Final on Monday October 27th at the Gaelic Grounds Limerick.

Clare opened the scoring in the first minute with a point from the impressive Keelan Sexton, their captain. Tipperary took until the 5th minute to equalise when Jack Delahunty converted a free before Jamie Bergin got Tipp’s first score from play in the 8th minute. Further points from Padraic Feehan, Delahunty (free) and Daire Egan saw Tipperary stretch their lead to 0-5 to 0-1 after 20 minutes of action. The teams shared the next four scores and by the interval, Tipperary led by 0-7 to 0-3.

Daire Egan scored a point from play immediately upon the resumption and though Clare responded with two points, 3 points in a 3 minute spell from the 40th minute by Delahunty (free), substitute Ross Peters and a long range effort from Stephen Quirke saw Tipperary lead by 0-11 to 0-5. Both sides were guilty of missing chances over the next few minutes and when Jack Delahuty scored his fourth free of the game in the 51st minute, Tipperary led by 0-12 to 0-6 and looked certain winners.

However, Clare made a number of changes in the second half and these seemed to improve matters as they took over at half-back and midfield in the closing stages and laid seige to the Tipperary goal. Points from Sexton (2) and Conor Tevlyn left just three points between the sides as the game entered injury time. There was still time for one last moment of drama as a long ball in to the square by Clare full-back Pierce Lillis evaded all the inrushing forwards only to bounce and hit the top of the crossbar and over for a point. This left the scoreline at 0-12 to 0-10 and though Clare had further possession, they ran out of time and Tipperary won by two points.

Afterwards, members of the Darcy family from the Shannon Rovers club in Tipperary along with Munster GAA Vice-Chairman Jerry O’Sullivan presented the Darrel Darcy Cup to Tipperary captain Emmett Moloney.

Tipperary: Liam Powell; Tommy Lowry, Jack Skehan, Kyle Peters; Cathal O’Mahony, Danny Owens, Padraic Feehan (0-1); Jack Kennedy, Stephen Quirke (0-1); Emmett Moloney (Captain), Liam Fahy, Conor Clancy; Jamie Bergin (0-2), Daire Egan (0-2), Jack Delahunty (0-5, 0-4 frees)
Subs: Shane Power for Kyle Peters, Ross Peters (0-1) for Clancy, Jordan Moloney for Egan, Cian Flanagan for Feehan, Gary Ryan for Moloney, Aidan Buckley for Fahy, Ger Mockler, Michael Gohery, Darragh Phelan, Jamie Moriarty, Lyndon Fairbrother, Jack Cleary, Mike Hogan, Robert Byrne, Sean Moloney, Caolan Hennessy, Ceathlach Hennessy, Corrie Mooney, Kevin Connolly

Clare: Cillian Roche; Cillian Burke, Pierce Lillis (0-1), Cillian Glynn; Cathal Downes, Colm Pyne, Damien O’Loughlin; Jamie Howard, Cillian Brennan; Niall McCarthy, Keelan Sexton (Captain, 0-6, 0-2 frees), Conor Magnor; Michael Curry, Alan Sweeney, Sean Malone (0-1)
Subs: Darren Torpey, Conor Downes, Conor Tevlyn (0-1), Darragh Bohannon, Jack Morrissey, Nigel Murray, Aaron Rudd (0-1), Rory McMahon, Jack Callinan

Referee: John Ryan (Cork)