Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final – Kerry 2-12 Sligo 1-6

Kerry defeated Sligo by 2-12 to 1-6 in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final on Monday August 3rd at O’Connor Park Tullamore.

Report – @Kerry_Official has eased into the @ElectricIreland All-Ireland MFC semi-finals with victory over @sligogaa: http://t.co/vk98Wii7d5

— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 3, 2015

All-Ireland MFC: Kerry power past Sligo

ALL IRELAND MFC QUARTER FINAL: KERRY 2-12 SLIGO 1-6

By Kevin Egan for GAA.ie

Kerry’s minor footballers will share the Croke Park stage with their senior counterparts on August 23 after a comfortable win over Sligo set up a clash with Ulster champions Derry in the All Ireland minor championship semi-final.

Sligo showed no shortage of pride or passion in what was their fifth championship outing of the summer but in truth they simply didn’t have the wherewithal to compete with the skilful football of a Kerry side that looked capable of scoring in a myriad of different ways. Four points from their wing back pairing of Gavin White and Daniel O’Brien, along with another from midfielder John Mark Foley, illustrated the threat that the Kingdom posed from long range, however the real damage was done close to goal where Conor Geaney posed a constant threat with his angled running and crisp finishing.

A free from the boot of the younger cousin of senior stars Paul and Michael tied up the contest after Finnian Cawley opened the scoring with a stunning long range effort, and for the next 20 minutes Kerry took control of the tie with some outstanding play in every sector of the field. Billy Courtney demonstrated his value in goal with a wonderful one on one save to deny Kyle Cawley, while in front of him, Jason Foley put in something close to a man of the match display at full back, seeing off a sequence of direct opponents. Kerry’s control of the restarts will also have pleased manager Jack O’Connor greatly, while up front their movement and interplay carved out a sequence of openings.

An old fashioned high ball led to Brian Ó’Seanacháin blasting the ball to the roof of the net for the game’s opening goal after six minutes and this score was followed by some sumptuous points from Geaney, Seán O’Shea and Daniel O’Brien. Sligo regained a little momentum close to the interval when Finnian Cawley pointed a long range free and Rian Kennedy added another sweet dead ball strike from under the O’Connor Park stand, but two crucial wides cost them dearly and left them still well adrift at the interval, 1-6 to 0-3.

Aidan Rooney’s side showed plenty of intent after the restart and exerted some good early pressure that yielded a point from Liam Gaughan, but that brief period of resistance was to be short lived and the ease with which Geaney and John Mark Foley added further points to the Kerry tally illustrated the toll that chasing green and gold jerseys had exerted on this Sligo team.

Any lingering hopes of an upset were crushed midway through the second half when Templenoe corner forward Stephen O’Sullivan did brilliantly to win a high ball at top of the right in between two defenders, and he showed real tenacity to turn back towards goal and centre the ball into the path of Geaney. The Dingle player still had the keeper to beat but a first time left footed finish gave Conor McGovern no chance whatsoever.

Sligo poured forward in search of scores and they got their reward when Kyle Cawley tapped in a simple goal, capitalising on a loose break that result from Billy Courtney parrying Michael Gordon’s strike on goal. Kerry were still well able to keep the Yeats County at bay however and they tacked on three further points, including one each from Gavin White and Ronan Buckley that could easily have been goals, if the need was there. It may be in three weeks’ time when they come face to face with the Ulster champions, but for now they were able to ease over the line with plenty to spare.
***
Scorers for Kerry: C Geaney 1-4 (1f), B Ó’Seanacháin 1-0, S O’Shea 0-1 (1f), G White 0-2, D O’Brien 0-2, JM Foley 0-1, R Buckley 0-1.

Scorers for Sligo: K Cawley 1-0, F Cawley (0-1f) & R Kennedy (0-1f) 0-2 each, L Gaughan & C Lally 0-1 each.

KERRY: B Courtney; D Brosnan, Jason Foley, J Morgan; G White, M Breen, D O’Brien; A Barry, John Mark Foley; B Barrett, B Ó’Seanacháin, S O’Shea; S O’Sullivan, B Sweeney, C Geaney
Subs: M Foley for O’Sullivan (44), T O’Sullivan for Brosnan (48), E Cronin for O’Shea (49), R Buckley for JM Foley (52), J Duggan for Barrett (56), D O’Shea for Breen (57).

SLIGO: C McGovern; M O’Dowd, E McGuinness, B Mahon; N Mullen, D Cummins, M Gordon; K Banks, P Kilcoyne; L Gaughan, R Kennedy, F Cawley; S Power, P O’Connor, K Cawley
Subs: A McLoughlin for O’Connor (29), N Rooney for Mullen (45), C Lally for Banks (53), C Herron for Kennedy (58), O Gilmartin for McGuinness (58 – bc)

Referee: John Hickey (Carlow)

Previews – @ElectricIreland All-Ireland MFC Q-Finals Derry v Longford, Kildare v Cavan, Kerry v Sligo, Galway v Tipp: http://t.co/RvERfNFFzX

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 31, 2015

Team News

The Kerry Minor Team V Sligo has been announced: http://t.co/IW0qfMtbcZ http://t.co/ix7ze3j9P1

— Kerry GAA (@Kerry_Official) July 30, 2015

Kerry V Sligo Electric Ireland GAA Minor Football Championship Quarter Final

The Kerry Minor Football Team to play Sligo in the Electric Ireland GAA Minor Football Championship Quarter Final tie in O’Connor Park Tullamore on Bank Holiday Monday (2pm) shows 3 changes in personnel from the side that defeated Tipperary in the Munster Final.
John Mark Foley replaces the injured Mark O’Connor at midfield, Brandon Barrett comes into the half forward line in place of the injured Cormac Linnane and Bryan Sweeney replaces Michael Foley at full forward.
The team, captained by Dingle’s Conor Geaney is as follows:

1. Billy Courtney Dr. Crokes
2. Darren Brosnan Gneeveguilla
3. Jason Foley Ballydonoghue
4. Jack Morgan Austin Stacks
5. Gavin White Dr. Crokes
6. Mike Breen Beaufort
7. Daniel O’Brien Glenflesk
8. Andrew Barry Na Gaeil
9. John Mark Foley Kilgarvan
10. Brandon Barrett Ardfert
11. Brian Ó Seanacháin Ballydonoghue
12. Sean O’Shea Kenmare
13. Stephen O’Sullivan Templenoe
14. Bryan Sweeney Listowel Emmets
15. Conor Geaney Dingle (Captain)

Fir Ionaid
16. Eoghan O’Brien Churchill
17. Michael Foley Spa
18. Tom O’Sullivan Dingle
19. Dara O’Shea Kenmare
20. Ronan Buckley Listry
21. Graham O’Sullivan Dromid Pearses
22. Evan Cronin Spa
23. Jack Goulding Ballyduff
24. James Duggan John Mitchels

Sligo

1. Conor McGovern (Calry/St Joseph’s)
2. Brian Mahon (Owenmore Gaels)
3. Eddie McGuinness (Tubbercurry)
4. Mark O’Dowd (Enniscrone/Kilglass)
5. Nathan Mullen (Coolaney/Mullinabreena)
6. Darragh Cummins (Calry/St Joseph’s)
7. Michael Gordon (Easkey)
8. Kevin Banks (Coolera/Strandhill)
9. Paul Kilcoyne (St Mary’s)
10. Liam Gaughan (Tourlestrane)
11. Patrick O’Connor (St Farnan’s)
12. Finnian Cawley (St Farnan’s)
13. Kyle Cawley (St Mary’s)
14. Nathan Rooney (St Mary’s)
15. Sean Power (Drumcliffe/Rosses Point)