Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship quarter-final: Derry 2-10 Kerry 1-24
REIGNING champions Kerry made safe progress to the semi-final of the All-Ireland Minor Football Championship with a comprehensive 11-point win over Derry yesterday.
The sides were tied at the interval, thanks to first half goals from Pádraig Quigg and Feargal Higgins for the Oak Leaf men, but the Kingdom dominated after the restart and from the moment captain Seán O’Shea bagged their goal in the third minute of the second half, they never looked back.
Derry manager Damian McErlain conceded that his side could have no complaints with the outcome: “The better team won on the day,” he said.
“They have tremendous footballers and athletes right from corner-back and up through the pitch. They won this last year and I think they’ll take some beating this year again. We’re tremendously proud of the commitment and work-rate that the players have shown throughout the year.
"From being beaten in the Ulster League Shield final to going toe-to-toe with this Kerry team for a vast amount of this game has shown progress and a willingness to play for the Derry shirt. If all Derry teams showed the same application that these lads have this year, then we would see some positive results right through the age groups.”
Derry made a cracking start to the match and although the Kingdom opened the scoring with O’Shea scoring his first of six first half points, the Oak Leaf men hit back to raise the white flag three times without reply to lead by two points after just six minutes.
Patrick Coney, Séamus Higgins and Caolan Devlin (free) split the uprights for the beaten Ulster finalists. Kerry were dominant for long periods of the first half and in O’Shea and David Shaw, they caused the Derry defence insurmountable problems with their trickery and guile.
Three points from the boot of O’Shea restored Kerry’s lead by the 15th minute and although Coney scored his second of the match thanks to good work from half back Pádraig McGrogan, Kerry maintained their dominance with four further points in the space of three minutes.
Derry scored their first goal in the 24th minute, Quigg slotting the ball beyond Billy Courtney in the Kerry goals after the Kingdom ’keeper saved his initial shot. The second Derry goal came six minutes later when Feargal Higgins beat two Kerry men before finding the bottom corner to rekindle the Derry challenge.
Coney’s third of the half levelled the scores in injury time and despite Kerry’s dominance, Derry had fought back to tie the scores. The second half belonged to the Munster champions though and while Derry curtailed the influence of O’Shea, David Clifford and David Shaw were in scintillating form.
Kerry did all the damage in the opening 13 minutes after the interval, scoring 1-6 with Derry replying with just one point of their own, O’Shea with the Kerry goal in the 33rd minute. David Clifford and David Shaw proved too hot to handle with the two men contributing 10 points, all from play.
Kerry cruised the closing stages and for all their endeavour, Derry just couldn’t penetrate the Kerry defence to get the goals they needed to get back into the game. McErlain said that despite another good year, no decision has been made on whether he and his team will return for the 2017 season.
“We would have to sit down and discuss with our families what our next move is,” he said.
“It has been an honour and a privilege to be in charge of these lads this year but it’s a huge commitment and a sevenday-a-week job. Decisions like this can’t be taken lightly.”
MATCH STATS
Derry: B McKinless; C McCluskey, G McLaughlin, A Bradley; P McGrogan (0-1), E Concannon, S McErlain; P Coney (0-3), C Doherty; S Higgins (0-1), C Devlin (0-3 frees), P Quigg (1-0); S Downey; F Higgins (1-2, 0-1 free), E Bradley; Subs: O McKeever for E Concannon (33), O McWilliams for S Downey (37), S Mortimer for G McLaughlin (43), R Young for C Doherty (45), L Kielt for E Bradley (51), JP Devlin for C McCluskey
Kerry: B Courtney; D Naughton, N Collins, G O’Sullivan; M Potts (0-1), D O’Brien (0-2), M Foley; M Breen (0-1), M Ryan (0-1); D Moynihan (0-1), S O’Shea (1-6, 0-1 free), D Shaw (0-5); D Clifford (0-5), B Sweeney, F O’Brien (0-1); Subs: B Friel for F O’Brien (h-t), C Teehan (0-1) for B Sweeney (44), Stefan Okunbar for M Ryan (55), K Dwyer for M Potts (56 mins), C Linnane for D Moynihan (58), T O’Connell for D Clifford
Referee: J Hickey (Carlow)
