GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers Round 1 – Tipperary 1-12 Offaly 0-10

Tipperary 1-12 Offaly 0-10

Report from the RTE.ie web site

Tipperary cruised into the second round of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship qualifiers at Offaly’s expense this evening. The Premier County scored a comfortable 1-12 to 0-10 victory in front of 1,310 spectators at Semple Stadium. The hosts produced a cracking second-half display, outscoring the visitors by 0-07 to 0-04 after half-time. Tipp led by 1-05 to 0-06 at the break, with Peter Acheson bagging the goal in the 17th minute. Alan Maloney’s long ball in towards the Offaly goalmouth was flicked on by Michael Quinlivan for Acheson, who pounced from close range at the Town End.

Quinlivan was a constant thorn in Offaly’s side and the 2011 All-Ireland minor medallist finished the game with four points, including three from play. Five of Tipp’s six starting forwards scored from play last night and not even the pre-match introduction of marquee forward Niall McNamee could inspire Offaly, for whom Ken Casey kicked five points. Tipperary held a two-point lead at half-time but it could have been more, as Quinlivan saw his injury-time penalty saved by Offaly goalkeeper Alan Mulhall.

Referee Conor Lane booked Mulhall for bringing down Quinlivan, but the Walsh Island shotstopper atoned with a smart save before Alan Maloney pointed from the rebound. Tipp led by four points twice in the first half, but Offaly cut the gap back to a single point with a run of three unanswered scores – the last of those a wonderful effort from McNamee, one of three late changes for the visitors. However this was an evening when Tom Coffey’s Offaly struggled woefully in attack, with Casey the notable exception. Tipp’s win was just their fourth from 13 qualifier outings, a run stretching back to 2001.

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, C McDonald; B Fox, R Kiely, A Campbell; G Hannigan, H Coghlan; P Austin (0-02), P Acheson (1-00), D Leahy; A Maloney (0-03), M Quinlivan (0-04, 1f), R Ryan (0-02).

Subs: B Mulvihill (0-01) for Coghlan (43 mins), S Scully for Leahy (62), L Egan for Hannigan (66), B O’Brien for Quinlivan (67), P Whelan for Maloney (68).

Offaly: A Mulhall; S Sullivan, J Moloney, S Pender; B Darby, M Brazil, E Rigney; R Brady, A McNamee; N Dunne (0-03, 2f), K Casey (0-05, 1f), R Dalton; A Sullivan, P Cunningham, N McNamee (0-02).

Subs: N Smith for A McNamee (h/t), D Hanlon for Brazil (51), G Guilfoyle for Rigney (51), D Currams for Cunningham (64), D Kelly for Dunne (68).

Referee: C Lane (Cork)

Team News

Offaly: Alan Mulhall; Shane Sullivan, John Moloney, Sean Pender; Brian Darby, Michael Brazil, Eoin Rigney, Alan McNamee, Richie Dalton; Ross Brady, Daniel Currams, Niall Smith; Ken Casey, Graham Guilfoyle, Anton Sullivan.

The Tipperary Senior Football team to play Offaly in the first round of the qualifiers on Saturday June 30 at 7pm at Semple Stadium is:

Paul Fitzgerald (Fethard)

Andrew Morrissey (Galtee Rovers)

Paddy Codd (Killenaule)

Ciarán McDonald (Aherlow)

Brian Fox (Eire Og Annacarty)

Robbie Kiely (Arravale Rovers)

Alan Campbell (Moyle Rovers)

George Hanningan (Shannon Rovers)

Hugh Coghlan (Portlaoise)

Philip Austin (Borrisokane) Captain

Peter Acheson (Moyle Rovers)

Donagh Leahy (Arravale Rovers)

Alan Maloney (Rockwell Rovers)

Michael Quinlivan (Clonmel Commercials)

Richie Ryan (Eire Og Annacarty)

Admission Details

Ardán Ó Riain (New Stand) and the Town Terrace will be open.

Admission prices are as follows –

Stand – adults €15, students / OAPs €10 and Under 16s free

Terrace – adults €10, students/OAPS €10 (same as adult) and Under 16s free

Match Preview

GAA Football All-Ireland Qualifier Round 1

Tipperary v Offaly, Semple Stadium, 7pm

From the GAA.ie web site

Tipperary versus Offaly is a fixture generally more associated with hurling, but the two sides meet in Round 1 of the GAA Football All-Ireland Qualifiers on Saturday evening in Semple Stadium.

It’s the first time the two teams have ever met in the football championship, and it promises to be an interesting tie, as both sides will see it as a good chance for them to get a championship win, and start to rebuild in the Qualifiers.

It has been a difficult year for both counties so far. They both were relegated from Division III of the Allianz Football League after two very poor campaigns that resulted in them both parting company with their managers.

Peter Creedon took over the Tipperary footballers from John Evans at the end of March, while Tom Coffey replaced Gerry Cooney as Offaly boss in April.

The similar pattern of their seasons continued in their respective provincial championship campaigns – Tipperary were downed by Kerry in Munster, while Offaly were no match for Kildare in their Leinster quarter-final recently.

It all means that Saturday’s clash has the same importance for both sides – defeat will mean that the year has been pretty much as bad as it can get, while a victory could spark a much needed revival for the remainder of the summer.

Speaking ahead of the game, Offaly boss Coffey says he will be adopting a tough approach to any players not showing sufficient commitment in the future, as he looks to usher in a new era for Offaly football.

“Even if a guy is one of your better players or lower down the ladder, the call will have to be made and you’ll have to move on,” he said.

“It’s not working the way it has been. We’ll just have to get everyone on board and committed. When you get that commitment you get a great bond in a team.”

Offaly have been given a major boost ahead of the game with the news that star forward Niall McNamee is close to full fitness following a recent injury.

McNamee came on against Kildare, but understandably looked short of sharpness. Coffey says he expects him to take a while to be at 100 per cent, but he is expected to feature at some stage against Tipperary.