Kerry’s Munster title challenge falters as Tipperary strike for two late goals to take win

Tipperary 2-9 Kerry 0-9

KERRY faced their third Munster Intermediate final in as many years in Ballyagran on Saturday, this time against Tipperary rather than Cork, but again a battling performance wasn’t enough to get them over the finishing line in front.

Despite Kerry leading by two points at half time, Tipperary proved the adage about goals winning matches, and two green flags in the second half helped deliver the title to the Premier county.

Needless to say, Kerry manager Bryan Darcy – a Tipperary native – was obviously disappointed with the final result, but certainly not by Kerry’s display here.

“We were slow out of the blocks early on. The quicker you score the quicker you settle into a game and that first score was a long time coming. But the girls got to grips with it and we actually went in leading at half-time,” he said.

“The two goals basically killed off our challenge, and unfortunately that’s a bit of a common trend for us over the course of the National League, so that’s something we are going to keep working on. But I was really happy with our attitude. All the girls stayed working, stayed fighting. With our backs to the wall noone’s head dropped. I have to commend them, they never gave up and that says a lot about their character.”

Kerry were a little slow out of the starting block, with Tipperary sharpshooter Jenny Grace opening the scoring just two minutes in. She quickly added a well-struck ’45 and then punished a foul on Ciara Brennan to make it 0-3 to 0-0.

Kerry were beginning to assert themselves now, but it still took no less than 16 minutes for them to open their account, Sara Murphy launching a monster free from her own half to split the posts.

That seemed to settle Kerry; certainly they started winning a lot more of the physical duels and asking questions of their fancied opponents.

Jackie Horgan clipped over a free and quickly added another from very long range. She was on the end of another Sara Murphy free, controlling it neatly with one touch and firing it between the posts from over 50 metres, a truly wonderful score. It was the best score of the day, but unfortunately, it was to be Kerry’s only score from play, and that was probably the key difference between the sides in the end.

Sineád Meagher squared matters up at 0-4 apiece, but Kerry were on top now and Jackie Horgan added two more frees to give Kerry a 0-6 to 0-4 advantage heading in for the break.

A foul on Sinead Meagher saw Jenny Grace add to her account on the restart and she quickly added another to make it 0-6 apiece. Ciara O’Sullivan had a Kerry effort drop short – in hindsight, she might have been better off passing off to the waiting Jackie Horgan, but hindsight is easy from the spectators’ gallery. Horgan did pop over another free but Jenny Grace rapidly replied in kind and Amy Quinlisk nudged Tipperary back in front, 0-8 to 0-7. A great ball by the excellent Sophie Pembroke saw Jill-Anne Quirke double Tipperary’s lead.

A ball in by Jackie Horgan was safely gathered by Tipperary keeper Laura Leenane but great pressure by Amy O’Sullivan saw a ‘45’ conceded and duly converted by Jackie. Just one point in it again – an obdurate Kerry were well in this and surprising a few of the Tipperary supporters with their resilience.

That was as good as it got for Kerry. Tipperary did have that slightly sharper cutting edge and it came to the fore as a battling

Jill-Anne Quirke managed to cleverly lay off to Emma Flanagan, who raced towards goal and drew a foul. Goalkeeper Laura Leenane came up for the penalty and gave her Kerry counterpart Aoife Fitzgerald no chance with a stinging drive.

With ten minutes left, Tipperary were leading by 1-9 to 0-8. It got worse instantly as from the puck-out, one of too many turned over by Tipperary, Eva O’Dwyer won a free and her long range speculative effort somehow evaded everyone in a crowded square and slipped into the net.

Kerry never gave up, far from it, but all they could muster was one more free from the outstanding Jackie Horgan, and it wasn’t enough as Tipperary were crowned Munster Intermediate champions. A tough one for Kerry, who were right in this game until the last ten minutes, but they don’t have long to lick their wounds as they have to prepare for the visit of Antrim next weekend for the start of their All Ireland Intermediate campaign.

Darcy wasn’t surprised at the quality of Tipperary but his focus now turns to the All-Ireland Championship and next week’s game against Antrim.

“We knew they were a good team and, full credit to Tipp they showed it out there. I’m from that neck of the woods myself and I know a good few of them. That is their second team, but they have a good few former seniors and a couple of players who will be going on to the senior team. We knew they were going to be a big challenge but look, that’s the kind of challenge that we are up for. The final result is disappointing, of course, but we saw a lot of positives out there.”

“I haven’t had a chance to do a full assessment but as far as I know we didn’t pick up any injuries. Games will be coming thick and fast now so it’s about controlling the tempo and managing your training load. Fitness is key, It’s all about getting them right and giving them the best chance to express themselves on the field. We’ll get back to things on Tuesday night and get ready for Antrim next weekend.” TIPPERARY: Laura Leenane 1-0 (pen), Lorna Ryan, Ciara Ryan, Tara Hoare, Orla O’Brien, Sophie Pembroke, Lily Fahle, Amy Quinlisk (0-1), Anna Fahle, Emma Flanagan, Jill-Anne Quirke (0-1), Ciara Brennan, Laura Shinners, Sineád Meagher (0-1), Jenny Grace 0-9 (5f). Subs: Eva O’Dwyer for Laura Shinners (39), Maria Connolly for Tara Hoare (52)

KERRY: Aoife Fitzgerald, Rachel McCarthy, Niamh Leen, Michelle Costello, Áine O’Connor, Sara Murphy 0-1 (f), Aoife Behan, Caoimhe Spillane, Ciara O’Sullivan, Ruth O’Connor, Kate Lynch, Annmarie Leen, Amy O’Sullivan, Jackie Horgan 0-8 (6f, 1 ‘45’), Norette Casey. Subs: Amy McCarthy for Norette Casey (44), Laura Collins for Kate Lynch (44), Ellen O’Donoghue for Ciara O’Sullivan (50)

REFEREE: D O’Callaghan (Limerick)