Sport

GAA Matchbox - reviewing the weekend Championship action

Colm Cooper goaled for Kerry against Clare at the weekend  
Colm Cooper goaled for Kerry against Clare at the weekend   Colm Cooper goaled for Kerry against Clare at the weekend  

Munster Senior Football Championship semi-final


Kerry 2-23 Clare 0-17


KERRY will play Tipperary in the Munster SFC final as early goals gave them the platform to beat Clare on Sunday.

Those goals came in the first five minutes from, somewhat fortuitously, Colm Cooper and Stephen O’Brien. Clare were unable to recover and, although they plugged away, Kerry eventually won by 12. Nevertheless, Kerry manager Eamon Fitzmaurice will be worried by his side’s indiscipline, coughing up too many frees for the Banner.

Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final 


Meath 0-20 Louth 1-13


FURIOUS Louth manager Colin Kelly claimed that being asked to travel to Derry for a crucial All-Ireland SFC Qualifier this Saturday is ‘crazy’ and amounts to a "pile of crap".

The Wee county chief didn’t mince his words after watching his side exit the Leinster Championship with a battling display against neighbours and old rivals Meath. Louth went to Parnell Park with optimism after winning the Division Four league title and blitzing Carlow by 10 points, but found the step up in class against Division Two opposition too much to handle.

Mickey Newman and Eamon Wallace did the bulk of Meath’s scoring, with 11 between them and their reward for victory is a glamour provincial semi-final clash with Dublin at Croke Park on June 26. That will be a repeat of the 2012, '13 and '14 Leinster finals and Meath will hope their all-action young side can deliver on the biggest stage of all to shake up the entire Championship.

But it’s misery for Louth, who must somehow pick themselves up for an intimidating trip to Derry’s Owenbeg base and a round 1A Qualifier at 5pm on Saturday: “Overall, in terms of our application, I can’t fault them,” said Kelly.

“It’s been a long, long season and they have been dealt another pile of crap with this six-day turnaround. But the one thing I can guarantee is that, whatever happens next Saturday night, they will be giving everything they’ve got because that’s the core value they have as a group and it’s just a pleasure to be dealing with them.

“But look, it is a disaster and it’s like everything else, to me it’s just a rush to get down to the last-eight and the last-four of the All-Ireland series. There’s no sense or rhyme or reason to it. People talk about player welfare and yet we are putting fellas out six days later after going through 70 minutes of a really intense Championship battle. It’s crazy stuff.”

Louth have a quality two-man full-forward line of Ryan Burns and Conor Grimes, with the talented Jim McEneaney sitting in just behind them. But they were no match for Meath’s defence, which was expertly coordinated by captain Donal Keogan and centre-back Padraic Harnan.

Leinster Senior Football Championship quarter-final


Westmeath 0-13 Offaly 0-12


WESTMEATH had to withstand a spirited second-half fightback from Offaly in order to make it through to the Leinster SFC semi-final, where they will take on Kildare.

The home side kicked the last five points of the first-half to take a six-point lead at the break. But after the interval, it was the Faithful county who gained the upper hand, led by an inspirational display from Peter Cunningham.

John Heslin steadied the ship for Westmeath by opening up a two-point lead with 15 to go and, although Offaly clung to them tenaciously, a late James Dolan point wrapped it up.

Connacht Senior Football Championship semi-final


Roscommon 4-16 Sligo 2-13


ROSCOMMON staged a dramatic second-half comeback to overhaul Sligo in a thrilling, topsy-turvy Connacht football semi-final at Hyde Park that was a throwback to football from the pre-blanket defence era, writes Noel Fallon.

Sligo looked set to shock the Rossies for the second successive year when they went in leading by eight points at half-time. That first-half was a replica of last year’s match between the counties as the Sligo full-forward-line wreaked havoc.

However, a number of factors ensured this year’s match had a different finale. Sligo lost the influential Adrian Marren to a black card just before the break and then Senan Kilbride gave the home team a lifeline when he pounced for a goal 20 seconds into the second-half. Backed by the strong wind, Roscommon poured forward, while the strength of their bench ultimately proved decisive, with Neil Collins and the Smith brothers making notable contributions.

Roscommon joint-manager Kevin McStay said there wasn’t any panic in the home dressing room at half-time: “We felt the half-time scoreline was harsh, every mistake was ruthlessly punished," he said. 

"We went into groups and Fergal [O’Donnell] had a few strong words. Neil Collins coming on was the turning-point. The second-half performance was so important to us. We were either going to take a big step back or a giant leap forward and we did the latter,” he said.

Sligo were only three points behind going into the final minutes, when full-forward Pat Hughes hit the post: “We were always going to struggle after losing Charlie Harrison and Adrian Marren, we can’t replace players of that calibre," said Sligo manager Niall Carew. 

"Then you look at the Roscommon bench, they were able to bring in Neil Collins and Enda Smith. I was worried at half-time and then they got the goal just after half-time."

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final


Kilkenny 1-25 Dublin 0-16


KILKENNY debutant Jonjo Farrell hit 1-5 in a scintillating 14-minute second-half spell as the Cats advanced with ease to the Leinster final, where they will meet either Galway or Offaly.

Dublin, disappointingly from their viewpoint, trailed Kilkenny by a point at the break, despite playing with a stiff breeze and, early in the second period, Kilkenny simply ran away from them. Brian Cody’s men effectively ended the contest between the 37th and 45th minutes, when they hit seven points followed by Farrell’s goal.

MATCH STATS


Roscommon: G Claffey (0-1, 45); S McDermott, S Mullooly, N McInerney; J McManus (0-1), S Purcell, D Murray; N Daly, D Keenan (0-3); F Cregg (0-1, free), C Murtagh (2-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free); C Devaney (0-3); S Kilbride (1-0), C Cregg , D Shine (0-2); Subs: N Collins for Purcell (39), E Smith (1-1) for C Cregg (50), D Smith (0-2) for Shine (58), C Compton for Kilbride (58), J McDermott for Keenan (70) N Kilroy for F Cregg (70); Yellow cards: D Shine (18), S Mullooly (21), C Compton (67)


Sligo: A Devaney; D Maye, K McDonnell, C Harrison; Keelan Cawley, E Flanagan, Brendan Egan; N Murphy (0-2), A McIntyre; N Ewing, M Breheny (0-3, 0-2 frees), N Gaughan; A Marren (1-3, 1-0 pen), P Hughes (0-5), Kyle Cawley (1-0); Subs: L Henry for Harrison (22), C Breheny for Marren (bc) (34), Brian Egan for Kyle Cawley (59), C Henry for Gaughan (63), J Kelly for Maye (bc) (70); Black cards: A Marren replaced by C Breheny (34), D Maye replaced by J Kelly (70); Yellow cards: E Flanagan (10), N Gaughan (39), Keelan Cawley (28)


Ref: J McQuillan (Cavan)

Tipperary: E Comerford; C McDonald (0-1), C O’Shaughnessy, A Campbell; B Maher (0-1), R Kiely, J Feehan; P Acheson (0-2), G Hannigan; P Austin, K O’Halloran (0-7, 3f, 2 45s), B Fox (1-1); J Keane, M Quinlivan (1-3, 0-1f), C Sweeney (1-0); Subs: S Leahy for Keane (b/c 35), M Dunne for Kiely (55), I Fahey for Austin (60), A Moloney for Sweeney (68), S O’Connell for Maher (70), B Hewitt for Fahey (b/c 70+3) 


Cork: R Price; J Loughrey, E Cadogan, C O’Driscoll; K O’Driscoll, B O’Driscoll, T Clancy; S Kiely, I Maguire; J O’Rourke (0-1), C Dorman (0-2), M Collins (2-1); C O’Neill (0-2f), B Hurley (0-1), P Kerrigan (0-3, 1f); Subs: P Kelleher (0-1) for Hurley (h.t.), R Deane for Kiely (h-t), S White for Deane (b/c)

Meath: P O’Rourke; D Keogan, M Burke, D Tobin; P Harnan, D Smyth, A Douglas; H Rooney, C O’Brien (0-1); E Wallace (0-4), C O’Sullivan (0-2), G Reilly (0-3); A Tormey (0-3), D McDonagh, M Newman (0-7, 0-6f, 1 45); Subs: C Finn for Tobin (50), B McMahon for McDonagh (56), D Lenihan for Tormey (63), S Tobin for Reilly (67)


Louth: C Lynch; P Rath, P Reilly, K Toner; A Williams (0- 2), D McMahon, D Maguire; J Stewart, J Califf (0-4, 0-3f); D Byrne (0-2), J McEneaney (1-0), B Duffy (0-1); C McKeever, C Grimes, R Burns (0-4, 0-4f); Subs: R Moore for Duffy (35 BC), E Lafferty for McMahon (45), A Reid for McKeever (53), J Bingham for Toner (58), G McSorley for Byrne (69)


Ref: P Hughes (Armagh)