GAA Football All Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers – Tipperary 0-10 Antrim 0-8

Gutsy Tipperary march on

Report from the GAA.ie web site

GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers Round 3: Tipperary 0-10 Antrim 0-8

Tipperary are through to Round 4 of the GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Qualifiers after a narrow defeat of Antrim at sunny Semple Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Peter Creedon’s charges made a great start and were 0-5 to 0-1 up after 25 minutes, but the Saffrons came charging back and had the gap down to two points, 0-6 to 0-4, at the break and were level within eight minutes of the restart.

Antrim looked to have all the momentum, but Tipperary regrouped brilliantly and hit the final two scores of the game, through Brian Mulvihill and Alan Maloney, to win in a gripping finale. Maloney was the Premier County hero, scoring 0-6 of their total, including three points from play, but it was the Tipperary defence that once again deserves all the plaudits for maintaining their discipline in the closing stages when the Saffrons threw everything at them. Indeed, it could well have been Antrim facing into a high-profile Round 4 clash with the Ulster final losers had Michael McCann not pulled a late goal chance wide in added time.

After a slow start to the game, Tipperary found their feet first and led in the sixth minute when Maloney landed a free. Maloney made a great start to the game and would score twice more from play before Michael Quinlivan also added his name to the scoresheet to give Peter Creedon’s side a 0-4 to 0-0 lead by the quarter hour mark. Antrim took a full 19 minutes to register their first score, which came from the boot of Tomás McCann, but the Saffrons struggled badly in the wide open spaces of Semple Stadium until manager Liam Bradley decided to drop an extra defender back.

George Hannigan nudged the home side back into a four-point lead, while the Saffrons registered seven wides in the first 25 minutes before the first half finished with a flurry of scores. Simon McDonaghy pulled one back for Antrim before Maloney hit his fourth, but the visitors came with a well-timed burst just before the break, with wing-back James Loughrey hitting two points from play to cut the game to just two at half-time.

After a largely incident-free 35 minutes’ football, the two minutes of time added on contained plenty of drama, and Tipperary might well have hit the back of the net just before the whistle but captain Philip Austin pulled his shot wide when presented with a great chance. The Saffrons hit the first two points of the second half, through Tomás McCann and Kevin Brady, to draw level by the 43rd minute.

It was low scoring but utterly absorbing as Maloney and defender Donagh Leahy put Tipp back into the lead, before Michael Magill leveled matters for the last time in the 58th minute. However, it was the Munster side who kicked on in the closing stages, with sub Mulvihill putting them back into the lead with five minutes left and Maloney grabbing the insurance score at the death.

Tipperary Scorers: A Maloney 0-6 (0-3f), M Quinlivan 0-1 (0-1f), G Hannigan 0-1, D Leahy 0-1, B Mulvihill 0-1

Antrim Scorers: T McCann 0-2 (0-1f), S McDonagh 0-1, J Loughrey 0-2, K Brady 0-1, M McCann 0-1, M Magill 0-1

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, C McDonald; B Fox, R Kiely, A Campbell; G Hannigan, H Coghlan; R Ryan, A Maloney, D Leahy; M Quinlivan, P Acheson, P Austin.

Antrim: C Kerr; A Healy, R Johnston, K O’Boyle; T Scullion, J Crozier, J Loughrey; M McCann, S McDonagh; C Murray, M Sweeney, K Niblock; T McCann, K Brady, M Johnston.

Referee: Eddie Kinsella

Attendance: 2,563

Tipp show vigour to see off dogged Antrim side

By Jackie Cahill for the Sunday Independent newspaper

TIPPERARY 0-10 ANTRIM 0-8

TIPPERARY’S cover is now well and truly blown. The losers of today’s Ulster final will tread carefully when they face the Premier County in round 4 of the All-Ireland qualifiers next weekend. Because Tipperary, under the astute guidance of Peter Creedon, are on a roll. Yesterday they sent Antrim crashing out — an Antrim side, as manager Liam Bradley admitted afterwards, that had travelled with confidence.

Tipp were worthy winners a week before against a Wexford side that had rattled Dublin in the Leinster semi-final. And they were at it again yesterday in front of 2,563 spectators, the vast majority of them from Antrim. And that’s a damning indictment of Tipperary GAA fans, who surely don’t need much more convincing about the capabilities of this team. They’re transformed under Creedon and yesterday Tipp scored a third championship victory in the same season for the first time since 1998. Just like the Wexford game, when this one was in the melting pot Tipp stepped forward and got the job done.

The sides were level three times in the second half before sub Brian Mulvihill popped over a lovely point with five minutes remaining to send Tipp 0-9 to 0-8 clear. Two minutes from time, 2011 All-Ireland minor medallist Michael Quinlivan was hauled down and from the resultant free, Alan Maloney tapped over. It was the sixth point of a productive afternoon for Maloney, restored to the starting line-up for yesterday’s tie. But there was still one heart-stopping moment to come as Michael McCann dragged a shot narrowly wide in the final minute as Antrim chased a winning goal. If they had grabbed it, Tipp would have rued a second-half tally of 11 wides.

But Antrim were equally profligate before half-time, notching up seven wides. And they needed a brace of James Loughrey scores late in the half to remain in touch, trailing by 0-4 to 0-6 at the break. With Antrim sitting deep, scores were at a premium, but Tipp managed to break through the massed ranks to scorch 0-4 to 0-0 clear in the first 15 minutes — Maloney on target with three points. Antrim’s first score arrived courtesy of Tomás McCann in the 18th minute but they wouldn’t register another until the 32nd minute.

Scorers — Tipperary: A Maloney 0-6 (3f), G Hannigan, D Leahy, M Quinlivan (1f), B Mulvihill 0-1 each. Antrim: J Loughrey, T McCann (1 ’45) 0-2 each, S McDonagh, M McCann, K Brady, M Magill 0-1 each.

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, C McDonald; B Fox, R Kiely, A Campbell; G Hannigan, H Coghlan; R Ryan, A Maloney, D Leahy; M Quinlivan, P Acheson, P Austin. Subs: B Mulvihill for Ryan (h-t), C Sweeney for Austin (64).

Antrim: C Kerr; J Crozier, K O’Boyle, R Johnson; T Scullion, M Sweeney, A Healey; S McDonagh, M McCann; J Loughrey, K Brady, C Murray; K Niblock, M Johnson, T McCann. Subs: M Armstrong for Johnson (h-t), M Magill for Niblock (55), R Murray for C Murray (60), O Gallagher for T McCann (69)

Referee: E Kinsella (Laois)

Team News

The Tipperary senior football team to play Antrim shows 1 change from the team which started in last Saturday’s victory over Wexford. Alan Maloney comes into the team at centre forward in place of Brian Mulvihill.

1. Paul Fitzgerald (Fethard)

2. Andrew Morrissey (Galtee Rovers)

3. Paddy Codd (Killeneule)

4. Ciarán McDonald (Aherlow)

5. Brian Fox (Éire Óg Annacarty)

6. Robbie Kiely (Arravale Rovers)

7. Alan Campbell (Moyle Rovers)

8. George Hannigan (Shannon Rovers)

9. Hugh Coghlan (Portlaoise, Laois)

10. Richie Ryan (Eire Og Annacarty)

11. Alan Maloney (Rockwell Rovers)

12. Donagh Leahy (Arravale Rovers)

13. Michael Quinlivan (Clonmel Commercials)

14. Peter Acheson (Moyle Rovers)

15. Philip Austin (Borrisokane) CAPTAIN

Match Preview

TIPPERARY v ANTRIM,

THURLES, SATURDAY 3.0pm

They meet for the first time in the championship but they have already met once this season when Antrim won by 1-13 to 0-13 in an Allianz football League (Division 3 game) in Semple Stadium in mid-February. Antrim led by 1-8 to 0-6 at half-time and increased their lead to nine points in the third quarter but Tipperary staged a revival, out-scoring the visitors by 0-6 to 0-1 in the last quarter.

Championship 2012

Kerry 0-16 Tipperary 0-10 (Munster quarter-final); Tipperary 1-12 Offaly 0-10; Tipperary 1-13 Wexford 0-15 (Qualifier Round 2)

Monaghan 1-12 Antrim 1-9 (Ulster quarter-final); Antrim 2-11 London 2-9; Antrim 0-11 Galway 0-10 (Qualifier Round 2)