Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Championship Play-Off 2 – Clare 0-10 Tipperary 0-5

Clare defeated Tipperary by 0-10 to 0-5 in the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Championship Play-Off 2 on Wednesday April 26th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Clare book semi-final spot after easy win against Tipperary

Report by Gerry Quinn for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Clare 0-10 Tipperary 0-5 Munster MFC

Clare won their Electric Ireland Munster MFC clash against Tipperary at Cusack Park, Ennis last evening to qualify for the semi-final after a poor enough encounter.

They were never led and in the main they relied on the boot of both centre-forward Paudie Kelly and full-forward Gavin Cooney for scores. Tipp would have been the happier at the break, considering that the young Banner boys enjoyed an inordinate amount of possession over the opening half hour. In this instance, leading by just three points was a poor return for Clare, notwithstanding the fact there had no score from play in that period.

Paudie Kelly opened the scoring for the hosts inside a minute with a right footed free. It was followed by a similar type of point by Gavin Cooney off his left as Clare put their stamp on the game early. Tipperary keeper Jack Dolan made a fine diving save on 13 minutes to deny Gearóid Cahill before Cooney had Clare’s third score, close to the end of the first quarter. Conall Kennedy got Tipp’s first score, a point from play on 18 minutes, and then a Ryan Lamb ’45 made it a two point game. A Kelly free for Clare in injury time made it 0-5 to 0-2 at the whistle. Clare should have been further in front at this stage but seven first-half wides didn’t help their cause.

After the break the Premier county put in a sterner performance but, like Clare in the first-half, they squandered an amount of scoring chances. Clare increased their lead, thanks to a right footed free from 40 metres by sharp shooter Kelly before Tipp struck the target twice on the bounce through Riain Quigley from a free and a Conall Kennedy effort from play. This left the score reading 0-7 to 0-4 after 38 minutes.

Moments later Clare struck for their first point from open play of the evening – Gavin Cooney left-footed over Jack Dolan’s crossbar, to settle a few Clare nerves. Aidan McGrath from the left wing had a good Tipp point with nine remaining but Clare replied with three unanswered scores before the end, to secure victory.

Scorers for Clare: G Cooney (0-5) 3 f’s, P Kelly (0-5) all frees.

Tipperary: C Kennedy (0-2), R Lambe ’45, R Quigley f, A McGrath (0-1) each.

CLARE: M Lillis; J Miniter, J O’Sullivan, J Sheedy; D Ryan, F Donnellan, C McNelis; C McMahon, D Griffin; S Rouine, P Kelly, D Coughlan (Capt.); R O’Doherty, G Cooney, G Cahill.
Subs: K Whyte for McMahon (h/t), C O’Donoghue for O Doherty (45), R Considine for Cahill (52), A McNamara for Griffin (56), B Clancy for Coughlan (59).

TIPPERARY: J Dolan; J Harney, J Flannery, D Mulcahy; D Bolger, P Devlin, J Ryan; S Grogan, S Ryan; R Quigley, R Lambe, C Boland’ A McGrath, C Kennedy, M Stokes.
Subs: D O’Leary for Flannery (38), C O’Sullivan for Boland (49), M McFadden for Bolger (54), D Tynan for Stokes (56), J Flannery for Quigley (57).

Referee: E Walsh (Kerry)

.@GaaClare kick on to @MunsterGAA MFC semi-final following gutsy win over @TipperaryGAA https://t.co/KLz6Y256cO pic.twitter.com/Oh1gJUGa9M

— The42.ie GAA (@The42GAA) April 26, 2017

Tipperary minor football campaign comes to a disappointing close at Cusack Park – https://t.co/Rg60R9KUIR @tipperarygaa #tipperary

— Tipperary Star Sport (@tippstarsport) April 26, 2017

Team News

Tipperary Minor Footballers travel to Cusack Park, Ennis tomorrow evening, Wednesday April 26th, to play Clare https://t.co/D7D9wIMF5Y

— Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) April 25, 2017

The panel has been announced and lines out as follows; 1. Jack Dolan (Fethard), 2. Jack Harney (Joint Captain) (Moyle Rovers), 3. Jake Flannery (Joint Captain) (Galtee Rovers), 4. Diarmuid Mulcahy (Moyle Rovers), 5. Darragh Bolger (Moyle Rovers), 6. Paul Devlin (Éire Óg Annacarty-Donohill), 7. John Ryan (Boherlahan-Dualla), 8. Stephen Grogan (Cahir), 9. Shane Ryan (Galtee Rovers), 10. Ríain Quigley (Moyle Rovers), 11. Ryan Lambe (Clonmel Commercials), 12. Calvin Boland (Clonmel Commercials), 13. Adam Mc Grath (Galtee Rovers), 14. Conall Kennedy (Clonmel Commercials), 15. Mark Stokes (Kilsheelan-Kilcash)
Subs: 16. Eoin Power (Clerihan), 17. Eanna Mc Bride (JK Brackens), 18. Darragh O’Leary (Ardfinnan), 19. Conor Ryan (Loughmore-Castleiney), 20. Liam Cleary (Borrisokane), 21. Cavan Mc Kenna (Cahir), 22. Manus Mc Fadden (Grangemockler-Ballyneale), 23. Darragh Tynan (Inane Rovers), 24. Cian O’Sullivan (Clonmel Óg).

The extended panel players are; Jamie Grant (Newcastle), Aaron O’Neill (Newport), Aidan Keane (Carrick Swan) and Ian Holloway (Carrick Swan).

The management team consists of – manager Matt O’Doherty (Arravale Rovers), coach-selector David Power (Kilsheelan-Kilcash), coach-selector Mick O’Sullivan (Drom & Inch) and selectors Johnny Nevin (JK Bracken’s) and Donal Hayes (Upperchurch-Drombane) while Jason Coffey (Ardfinnan) is Strength and Conditioning Coach.