GAA Inter-Provincial Football Semi-Final – Ulster 3-17 Munster 1-15

Ulster defeated Munster by 3-17 to 1-15 in the GAA Inter-Provincial Football Semi-Final on Sunday December 11th at Parnell Park Dublin.

REPORT: @UlsterGAA too strong for @MunsterGAA in Inter-Provincial Football Semi-Final at Parnell Parkhttps://t.co/Mi5larG9Ts pic.twitter.com/8AoV33rXVT

— The GAA (@officialgaa) December 11, 2016

Inter-Provincial Football Semi-Final

Ulster 3-17 Munster 1-15

By Paul Keane at Parnell Park for GAA.ie

Peter Harte showed all his class at Parnell Park with 1-8 to secure Ulster’s Inter-Provincial Final place.

Pete McGrath’s northerners are expected take on Connacht in the decider and will fancy their chances of a 32nd title on the basis of this strong display. They did stutter early on, but effectively wrapped up the semi-final win with an unanswered scoring burst of 2-7 in the second quarter of the game.

Aidan Breen and Enda Lynn scored the goals in that period while Tyrone talisman Harte added their third from the penalty spot at the death. Stefan Campbell of Armagh was excellent too and kicked five points from play as well as playing a key role in winning the penalty and earning a number of frees that were converted by Harte and Tomas Corrigan.

Ulster struggled initially and fell 0-4 to 0-1 and 0-5 to 0-2 down in the opening quarter as Paul Whyte, a late addition to the Munster team, helped himself to three points. Kerry’s Tommy Walsh, who left the Kingdom panel earlier in the year, also contributed a point though things soon turned sour for Ger O’Sullivan’s Munster outfit.

They only added one more score, a converted free by Whyte, for the rest of the half as Ulster weighed in with that 2-7 burst. It was all Ulster for around 15 minutes and Breen sparked them into life with a neat goal when he slid a low shot past Evan Comerford following a Connor McAliskey pass. Munster struggled to cope with Ulster’s direct running and conceded a series of frees that Harte easily converted.

Campbell scored two eye catching points from the left wing and their second-goal in injury-time put them in the clear. Lynn’s strike was a beauty and McAliskey was again the provider before the Derry man chipped expertly over a defender and the Munster ‘keeper to the top corner of the net.

Munster trailed 2-9 to 0-6 at the break and were without captain and Kerry man Aidan O’Mahony who was black carded approaching half-time. Munster were better after the restart and outscored Ulster by 1-3 to 0-2, the goal coming from Clare’s Jamie Malone, to reduce the gap to just three points after 43 minutes, 2-11 to 1-11.

Ulster finished the game strongly though and Harte nailed some cracking scores to help reassert Ulster’s authority. The penalty award came after great work by Campbell who set Mark Bradley free and when he was hauled down by Colm O’Driscoll, Harte did the rest to leave Ulster with a slightly flattering eight-point win.

Scorers for Ulster: P Harte 1-8 (1-0 pen, 4fs), S Campbell 0-5, T Corrigan 0-4 (2fs), E Lynn 1-0, A Breen 1-0.

Scorers for Munster: P Whyte 0-4 (3fs), J Malone 1-0, D Tubridy 0-3, I Corbett 0-2, G Brennan 0-1, T Walsh 0-1, B Fox 0-1, K Sexton 0-1, R Deane 0-1, C Sweeney 0-1 (f).

Ulster: N Morgan (Tyrone); D O’Hagan (Down), K Clarke (Cavan), M Jones (Fermanagh); T McCann (Tyrone), C Moynagh (Cavan), A Breen (Fermanagh); E Donnelly (Fermanagh), C Vernon (Armagh); K Niblock (Antrim), P Harte (Tyrone), E Lynn (Derry); S Campbell (Armagh), C McAliskey (Tyrone), T Corrigan (Fermanagh)
Subs: M Bradley (Tyrone) for McAliskey (38), R Johnston (Down) for Lynn (43), N Sludden (Tyrone) for Moynagh (43), T Kernan (Armagh) for Niblock (46), D McCusker (Fermanagh) for McCann (50), G McGovern (Down) for Jones (59), McAliskey for Bradley (60), C Snow (Fermanagh) for Morgan (62).

Munster: E Comerford (Tipperary); K Hartnett (Clare), A Campbell (Tipperary), T O’Gorman (Waterford); I Corbett (Limerick), C Dorman (Cork), C O’Driscoll (Cork); G Brennan (Clare), A O’Mahony (Kerry); J Malone (Clare), P Whyte (Waterford), K O’Driscoll (Cork); E Cleary (Clare), T Walsh (Kerry), C Sweeney (Tipperary)
Subs: D Tubridy (Clare) for Cleary (20), P Hurney (Waterford) for Sweeney (20), B Fox (Tipperary) for K O’Driscoll (28), D Treacy (Limerick) for O’Mahony (29, black card), R Deane (Cork) for Brennan (h/t), K Sexton (Clare) for Whyte (h/t), Brennan for Malone (39), K O’Driscoll for Walsh (44), Sweeney for Hurney (50), C Kenrick (Tipperary) for Comerford (59).

Fixture Details

11.12.2016 (Sun)
GAA Football Interprovincial Championship Semi Final
Parnell Park, Dublin 14:00
Ulster v Munster
Referee: Anthony Nolan (Cill Mhantáin)
(E.T. if Necessary)

Munster Inter-Provincial Panels Announced