TIPPERARY RETURN TO HAUNT DESSIE
Defeat in Tullamore brings back painful memories of Minor heartache for the young Dubs
IN HIS playing days with Dublin, it’s a safe assumption that the sight of the Tipperary jersey didn’t exactly fill Dessie Farrell with too much dread. His burgeoning managerial career with underage Dublin teams, however, has been scarred by defeats to the blue and gold. The first was the 2011 All-Ireland minor final when a late Tipperary goal denied his team a title they were apparently destined for.
Four years on, many of those same Tipperary players were involved yesterday as the county’s under-21 team scored another landmark win over the Leinster champions.
Farrell was once again helpless on the side line as Tipp struck twice in injury-time to dump the holders out of the Eirgrid All-Ireland Under 21 Football Championship.
It was fitting that midfielder Steven O’Brien and Kevin O’Halloran grabbed those Tipp scores as O’Brien was the game’s key performer while O’Halloran top scored for the Premier in Tullamore.
The Munster champions achieved victory the hard way as they trailed by five points early in the second half and Dublin appeared to have the game just where they wanted it. But four Tipp points in-a-row between the 34th and 43rd minutes signalled their desire and they would go on to outscore Dublin by 0-11 to 0-5 in the half overall.
They will go on now to a first ever All-Ireland Under 21 decider on May 2. Theis semi-final was a poor spectacle early on with just 10 points exchanged in the first half. Crucially, Dublin went on lead 0-7 to 0-3 at halftime.
But it wasn’t until the last eight minutes of the half when they truly found their range, outscoring Tipp by 0-4 to 0-1 in that period to put daylight between the teams. Conor McHugh helped himself to four points in the half and was the difference between the teams.
Senior midfielder Shane Carthy was also on the mark with a long range score while Colm Basquel split the posts from a tight angle on the right. Dublin’s momentum appeared to carry on into the second half despite now facing into the stiff O’Connor Park breeze.
Carthy doubled his takings after the restart and Dublin were now five clear. Interestingly, Farrell’s charges had come from behind themselves to win in the second half of all their Leinster Championship games.
But this time around they were the ones who had their pockets picked. Tipp scored those four points in a row from Josh Keane, senior star Colin O’Riordan, O’Brien and Liam Casey to leave just one between them.
The Premier outfit had wrestled control of the momentum and a Cormac Costello point was a rare Dublin highlight. Farrell’s side were poor in attack and McHugh pulled a straight- forward free kick badly wide.
With 51 minutes on the clock, the southern side had moved two clear while Dublin’s Martin Cahalane, a late addition to the full-back line, had been black carded.
Dublin did battle on and were level for a second time in the half at 0-12 apiece late on. That came after backto-back Costello frees and one from sub David Campbell. It was as good as it got for them, however, and Tipp raised their game impressively in the two minutes of additional time.
O’Riordan worked a short free out to O’Brien who put the Munster side back in front in the 61st minute. And with Dublin desperately chasing an opportunity to level it up, Tipp broke away and won a free that O’Halloran turned over at the hospital end of the ground.
Not for the first time in the game, the Portroe man punched the air in delight.
‘We did well in patches but in the
last five or seven minutes, Tipperary plucked out some big catches and won breaking balls as well which was crucial,’ said Dublin manager Farrell at full-time
There was an emotional moment before the match when a minute’s silence was observed for the late Dave Billings, former Dublin player and selector.
In recognition of his work as Director of Gaelic games at UCD, the Dublin and Tipp players attending the college stood together during the period of silence.
TippeRaRy: E Comerford; K Fahey, J Feehan, C O’Shaughnessy; R Mulcahy, L Boland, B Maher; S O’Brien, C O’Riordan; J Lonergan, I Fahey, L Casey; K O’Halloran, J Keane, P Maher. Scorers: K O’Halloran 0-4 (3f), J Keane 0-3, C O’Riordan, S O’Brien 0-2, L Casey, J Lonergan, R Mulcahy 0-1.
DubLin: L Molloy; D Byrne, M Cahalane, R McGowan; A Farrell, E Lowndes, C Mullally; Stephen Cunningham, S Carthy; N Scully, A Foley, E Murchan; C Basquel, C Costello, C McHugh. Scorers: C McHugh 0-4 (1f), C Costello 0-4 (3f), S Carthy 0-2, C Basquel, D Campbell 0-1. Referee: J Henry (Mayo).