There has been plenty of action already in the 2006 ESB minor football and hurling championships, with some excellent fare served up to date across the provinces. In the Munster MFC, the semi-finalists are known. Kerry will face Limerick at Tralee on June 28, with Cork and Tipperary due to clash at Limerick the following day. The final takes place on July 9. Cork, Limerick and Kerry all progressed to the last four by winning their first-round matches against Clare (1-13 to 1-7), Waterford (2-11 to 2-4) and Tipp (2-10 to 2-7) respectively in late March/early April. The three losers played off for the fourth semi-final berth. Clare thumped Waterford by 2-13 to 1-5 at Ennis on April 26 but Tipperary subsequently claimed the remaining place in the last four. Underdogs Tipperary made Kerry fight all the way for a 2-10 to 2-7 victory in the first round at Newcastlewest on Wednesday evening, April 26. The Premier boys got off to a perfect start when David Keogh finished to the net after Kerry goalkeeper Tomas Mac an tSaoir had saved Brian Jones' initial effort. The Kingdom had to wait until the 19th minute to open their account through Gary Sayers. Three minutes later, Paddy Curran - in his third year as a county minor - converted a penalty to put them in the boss seat. Kerry hit a purple patch which yielded points from David Moran, O'Driscoll, Curran and Sayers to lead by 1-6 to 1-2 at the break. When James Doolan added a second Kerry goal in the 52nd minute, six points separated the sides. However, inspired by centre back Paddy Codd, Tipperary refused to throw in the towel and David Keogh's second goal had the Kingdom hanging on for victory. Not to be denied a semi-final berth, Tipperary bounced back a fortnight later with a narrow win over Clare, 0-11 to 1-7, despite a late comeback by the Banner at the Gaelic Grounds on Wednesday evening, 10th May. Points from the impressive Sean Carey and David Keogh helped Tipp take a 0-6 to 0-3 lead at half time. Tipp continued where they left off in the second half and another Carey point stretched their lead to four points. It was 0-10 to 0-4 midway through the second half and it looked as if Tipperary would cruise to victory. However, a goal by Kieran Cahill cut the deficit and Clare knew that they could close the gap. Though the Premier County could only manage one further point, it was enough to see them through to the semi-finals, despite a gutsy Clare onslaught. In Leinster football, four quarter-finals have taken place and Laois, Dublin, Meath and Offaly have all squeezed through to the last four. All the matches in the province have been extremely close thus far. Peadar Andrews' younger brother Paddy tormented the Westmeath backline as Dublin progressed to the semi-finals of the Leinster MFC after a hard fought 1-11 to 0-11 victory at Cusack Park. The Dubs looked to be in trouble early on as a succession of early scores saw Westmeath move into a promising 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 14 minutes. Dublin levelled the game with points from Cathal Morley and Andrews before the visitors were awarded a penalty which Andrews had no problem dispatching to the net. Two Westmeath points narrowed the gap before a Paddy O'Connor free left Dublin leading 1-5 to 0-6 at the interval. The second half was a tight affair and Dublin were indebted to the performance of substitute Barry O'Rourke who fired over three fine points after his introduction. Wicklow finished second in the preliminary group but met their match in Offaly, 2-11 to 1-9. Ken Casey's accuracy was instrumental in firing the Garden County through to the last four. The Garden County seemed set to benefit from their match practice as they surged into a 1-4 to 0-3 lead after ten minutes of play. However, a second-half Casey goal allied to the dismissals of goalkeeper Damien Darcy and midfielder Michael English stopped the Wicklow challenge in its tracks. Louth had topped the preliminary group and were unfortunate to be pipped by holders Laois in O'Moore Park on Saturday May 13, 0-14 to 1-10. The winners looked to be home and hosed at half time before Louth staged a dramatic comeback which just fell short in Portlaoise. The Leinster champions, with Eddie Kelly in prolific form, totally overpowered their opponents in the first half and were deservedly 0-10 to 0-3 ahead at the break. Louth received a perfect tonic on the restart when Kevin McArdle tapped over a point and then drilled home a penalty to leave just three points between the sides. Laois responded well with scores from Kelly and Diarmuid O'Flaherty before they lost wing back Richard Ryan to a second yellow card. Louth deployed their extra man well and four successive points left just a solitary score between the sides with time running out. Kelly gave Laois some breathing space with a neat score before McArdle hit back for Louth before the referee's final whistle ended any hopes of a draw. The same weekend, Meath held on to a narrow half-time advantage to record their second Leinster MFC win over Kildare in two years, 0-11 to 0-9, thanks in no small part to the accuracy of Alan Nestor. The Royal County led by 0-6 to 0-5 at the break and restricted the home side to just four points in front of the Newbridge crowd in the second half. Nestor was a key player for the Royals, notching six points over the course of the hour. Kildare had Joe Kavanagh red-carded late on but somehow the player stayed on the field and nearly hit a match-winning goal in added time! Meath face Laois at the semi-final stage, while Dublin will come up against Offaly. The two quarter-finals have been played in the Leinster minor hurling championship. On May 6. Carlow caused a 'minor' sensation when they recorded a magnificent 2-12 to 0-11 victory over traditional power Wexford. This was one of the biggest upsets in hurling circles for a number of years and full credit to Carlow for their excellent performance at Dr. Cullen Park. The composed, confident Carlow lads were full value for their seven points win with full-forward Padraig Amond in inspirational form. Amond turned the game in favour of the underdogs with two brilliant goals in the 21st and 26th minutes. Thanks in part to Amond's goals, the homesters led at the interval by 2-4 to 0-7. Powered forward by centre back Dwayne Kavanagh, Carlow stayed in front by picking up some terrific long range points in the second half. In the other quarter-final on the same day, Dublin kept up their recent impressive underage form with a 2-12 to 0-11 win against Laois. Dublin advanced to the semi-finals of this year's Leinster MHC despite having a player sent off just before half-time. Including ten of the Dublin colleges side which claimed the All-Ireland colleges title, Dublin made life hard for themselves by having corner back Michael May sent off two minute from the interval. However points in injury time from Shane Murphy and David Treacy saw the Dubs go in at the break 1-5 to 0-7 to the good. Dublin never let their lead slip thereafter with Paul Ryan firing over four second half points. The Metropolitans wrapped up the game with two minutes left to play when Treacy netted his side's second goal. The Munster hurling championship has the same format as the football, with three first-round winners advancing directly to the semi-finals. Waterford had no difficulty disposing of Kerry at Killarney on April 1 (6-21 to 0-7); Tipperary beat Clare at Limerick on April 5 (2-13 to 1-8); and Cork got the better of Limerick at the same venue the following day (2-17 to 1-3). Clare proved too strong for Kerry in the first play-off but were caught out by Limerick at Ennis - 1-15 to 0-13 on April 19. The semi-final draw produced the following pairings: Cork V Waterford and Tipperary V Limerick. These games were staged on May 3, with Cork eliminating Waterford at Dungarvan (1-15 to 1-8) and Tipperary recording a comfortable victory over Limerick in Thurles, 2-23 to 3-8. Thus Cork and Tipp will collide in the 2006 Munster MHC final on June 25. The Ulster MFC opened with a sensation as Cavan knocked out the All-Ireland champions Down in the preliminary round - 1-16 to 1-13 at Casement Park on May 7. Unfortunately for the Breffni boys, they were unable to reproduce that form in the first round proper against Donegal at Brewster Park on Saturday May 27, where they were well beaten, 0-12 to 0-6. There was no luck for Monaghan either as, at Clones on May 14, they lost to defending Ulster champions Armagh by the minimum margin, 0-10 to 1-6. Meanwhile, a goal from Damien McDermott was enough to guarantee Tyrone a 1-10 to 0-10 victory over Derry in the Ulster MFC at Omagh on Sunday, May 28th. Captain Gareth Devlin was one of those in top form for the Red Hands. A personal tally of six points included the last two scores of the match as Tyrone finished strongly. The first half of the game was a much different affair. Although Tyrone managed only one score from play in the first half, they faced a deficit of just two points at half-time. In the second half Devlin scored a point from a free to put just the minimum between them. When McDermott netted, Tyrone were two points in front. Another point put a goal between them but Derry refused to lie down. Points from Shane Barton, James Kielt and Niall McNicholl restored parity before scores from Toner and two from Devlin put three between them again. Derry had a late goal chance when Niall McNicholl's shot was saved by Michael O'Neill. Tyrone held on and Derry defender Danny Mulholland was dismissed for two yellow cards. There was another sensation at Brewster Park on May 21 when Antrim recorded their first MFC win in eight years. The Saffrons held off a late Fermanagh rally to claim a 0-9 to 0-8 win. Seamus O'Prey's side led 0-6 to 0-5 at the interval and points from Sean O'Neill, Conor McGourty and Aaron Thompson then extended the Saffron lead to four. Points from Cathal Beacom and Darryl and Cathal Beacon gave Fermanagh hope but the Erne boys were held scoreless for the opening 24 minutes of the second half and couldn't recover. In Connacht football, there was an unexpected interruption when the first round meeting of Galway and Sligo at Salthill on May 21 had to be called off at half time due to a waterlogged pitch. Galway led by 0-6 to 1-1 at the time but the disruption had little effect on them as they cruised to victory in the rematch at the same venue six days later, 0-12 to 0-3. The semi-final pairings in the province mirror the SFC: Galway V Roscommon and Mayo V Leitrim. In the Ulster minor hurling championship, Antrim had a facile 3-22 to 0-4 victory over Down at Casement Park on May 14. Antrim are managed by former stars Terence 'Sambo' McNaughton and Dominic McKinley and are eyeing another good showing in the All-Ireland series. However, they won't have it all their own way against Derry in the Ulster final at Casement Park on Sunday June 4. The Oak Leaf, managed by Joe McGurk, ran the Glensboys close in the Ulster league (3-13 to 2-12) and hope to play their part in another thriller. Tweet

Most Read Stories