McGrath Cup Football Q-Final – Kerry 2-18 LIT 0-5

Kingdom romp to meeting with Cork

Kerry 2-17 Limerick IT 0-5

By Murt Murphy for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Monday, January 17, 2011

KERRY booked a McGrath Cup semi-final with All-Ireland champions Cork on Sunday following this mismatch at Austin Stack Park, Tralee yesterday. The hosts bossed this tie from the outset with Darran O’Sullivan looking sharp, in his return to attack after playing at wing-back last week. LIT, thanks to two early points from their Limerick senior Ger Collins, trailed 0-4 to 0-2 after 15 minutes, with Alan O’Sullivan, Gary Sayers and David Geaney (2 frees) on the mark for Kerry.

However, with Tomas Ó Sé, Padraig Reidy and Jonathon Lyne solid in defence, the Kingdom began to pull clear. A succession of points, including a superb effort from Lyne, saw Kerry race 0-8 to 0-2 clear by the 30th minute, and it was game over in the 32nd minute when David Geaney’s 45 was punched to the net by his cousin Paul. Kerry led 1-10 to 0-3 and early points from Alan O’Sullivan and Darran O’Sullivan extended Kerry’s lead before a David Geaney goal heaped further misery on the students (2-14 to 0-3).

Scorers for Kerry: D Geaney 1-6 (0-4 frees), P Geaney 1-3, D O’Sullivan 0-2 (0-1 free), J Lyne and A O’Sullivan 0-2 each, G Sayers, and B O’Grady 0-1 each.

Scorers for LIT: G Collins 0-3 (0-1free), E O’Connor 0-1 free, G O’Gorman 0-1.

KERRY: T Mac An tSaoir; K O’Dwyer, P Reidy, S Enright; J Lyne, T Ó Sé, E Hickson; S Scanlon, A O’Sullivan; G Sayers, Darran O’Sullivan, B O’Grady; D Geaney, K Donaghy, P Geaney.

Subs: N O’Mahony for G Sayers (ht), D Moran for S Scanlon (47), C O’Mahony for T Ó Sé (47), D O’Sullivan for S Enright (47), M O’Donoghue for K Donaghy (52).

LIMERICK INSTITUTE TECHNOLOGY: P Dwyer; S Bolton, N Brady, P Dalton; N Gaughan, E Leamy, P Sheehan; E Cummins, C Talty; D McNamara, D Clohessy, E O’Connor; D Heffernan, G Collins, G O’Gorman.

Subs: T McCarthy for D Clohessy (43), S Lenihan for E Leamy (45), S Hayes for D Heffernan (50), D Murtagh for P Dalton (inj 55).

Referee: B Tyrell (Tipperary)

Match Preview

Kerry face a college team for the second successive week when they face IT Limerick at Austin Stack Park, having enjoyed a narrow win over IT Tralee last weekend. Paul Geaney was the star of the show last week and he is one of several players manager Jack O’Connor will be keeping an eye on.