Munster SFC: Kerry ease through
June 15, 2008
.jpg)
Clare 'keeper Joe Hayes give Colm Cooper a piece of his mind during Kerry's Munster SFC semi-final win at Killarney
Kerry earned their place in the Munster final courtesy of a comfortable 12-point win over Clare at Killarney, but the sending off of Kingdom captain Paul Glavin was the main talking point of the match.
Kerry 1-14
Clare 0-5
Kerry manager Pat O'Shea will not be happy by the antics of his captain who was sent off for a second yellow card and on receiving his marching orders, the Finuge club man slapped the referee's notebook out of his hand before remonstrating with his team mate Tomas O'Se, which resulted in both players pushing and shoving each other much to the amazement of all present.
All eyes were on the talented Tommy Walsh who made his senior championship debut after Kieran Donaghy had failed to overcome a knee injury, while Galvin also returned to the starting line u[ having recovered from a hamstring injury that saw him miss all of the league campaign.
As expected Colm 'Gooch' Cooper was back in the side after he returned from his trip to the States, but wing back Killian Young missed out through injury and Tommy Griffin came in to fill the void.
Clare handed debuts to two players as Laurence Healy came in at corner back while Com, Dillon was named at full forward, but team captain Michael O'Shea who missed the quarterfinal win over Waterford through injury failed to make a recovery in time.
The Banner entered the match as massive underdogs and although Kerry manager Pat O'Shea stressed that his side would not be looking beyond this match, there was an air of inevitability to the occasion.
It was a good start to the day for Kerry as their junior team defeated Clare by 2-9 to 1-7, but the Kingdom started slowly although Brian Sheehan had the first two scores of the match from placed balls, although Rory Donnelly halved that deficit when he fisted over the bar when he possibly could have went for goal.
Kerry skipper Paul Glavin received the first yellow of the match as the defending All-Ireland champions took their time to settle with possession equally divided between the teams.
Clare were growing in confidence and two points from David Tubridy but the Banner in front. The talented forward raced through the Kerry defence and fisted over before converting a '45.
However, Kerry started to impose themselves more on the game and points from Eoin Brosnan, Sheehan and Declan O'Sullivan pushed them in front, but another point from Tubridy kept Clare in touch as they trailed by just one point as half time approached.
Walsh opened his account in championship football to put two between the sides and then Aidan O'Mahony scored Kerry's seventh of the match to leave it 0-7 to 0-4 at the interval. This was far from vintage Kerry, but it was generally felt that Pat O'Shea's charges would kick on in the second half.
And that was exactly what happened as Sheehan fisted over and points followed that score from Galvin and Darren O'Sullivan. Clare's failure to score during that period was compounded when a Kerry goal from Cooper left them 1-10 to 0-4 in front after 15 minutes of the second half.
Things only got worse for Clare as full back Conor Whelan was shown a red car for a rash challenge on Darren O'Sullivan and it was certainly one way traffic after this as the Kingdom turned the screw on their opponents.
Despite adding another two points to their tally, and cruising to victory, Kerry introduced a host of substitutes including Kieran Donaghy as the game wore on and it became evident that there was no way back for the Clare at this stage of the match as it finished 1-14 to 0-5. John Hayes received a second yellow late on, but it was the sending off of Galvin that was the main talking point of this encounter.
Kerry - D Murphy; M O Se, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy; T O Se 0-1, A O'Mahony 0-2, T Griffin; D O Se 0-1, S Scanlon; P Galvin 0-1, Declan O'Sullivan 0-1, E Brosnan 0-1; C Cooper 1-0, T Walsh 0-1, B Sheehan 0-5, 4f. Subs - Darren O'Sullivan 0-1 for Declan O'Sullivan, K Donaghy for Walsh, D Bohane for Griffin, S O'Sullivan for Sheehan, M Quirke for D O Se.
Clare - J Hayes; L Healy, C Whelan, G Kelly; N Considine, D Conole, J Hayes; G Quinlan, G Brennan; D Russell, S Hickey, S Collins; R Donnelly 0-2, C Dillon, D Tubridy 0-3, 1f. Subs - M O'Shea for Dillon, A Clohessy for D Tubridy, G Lyons 6 for O'Shea, M Tubridy for Considine, N White for Healy.
Ref - P Russell (Tipperary)
Most Read Stories