Munster U21FC: Easy for 13-man Kingdom

March 15, 2012

Tipperary's John O'Callaghan and Niall O'Meara close in on Kerry's Kieran Hurley during the Cadbury Munster Under 21 Football Championship Quarter-Final at Semple Stadium.
Kerry 0-11
Tipperary 0-5

Stephen O'Brien kicked four points from play as Kerry made light of the dismissal of two players to ease past Tipperary's challenge in a disappointing Cadbury Munster U21FC quarter-final at Semple Stadium last night.

The home side, who fielded three of last year's All-Ireland winning minor team, proved no match for the Kingdom, for whom full forwards Kieran Hurley, Conor Cox and O'Brien scored 10 points between them. Indeed, Tipp failed to score in the second half, despite the visitors losing half forward Michael Brennan and midfielder James Walsh to red cards.

Brennan was sent off on a second yellow nine minutes after the restart, while Walsh was also dismissed following a second bookable offence with five minutes remaining.

This defeat was another setback for under-pressure Tipp manager John Evans, whose senior side are still without a win in the Allianz Football League. Eamonn Fitzmaurice's Kerry team raced into an early 0-5 to 0-0 lead, but Tipp battled back to trail by just two points, 0-5 to 0-7, at the break.

But Kerry hit four unanswered points in the second half to ease to victory.

Kerry - P O'Sullivan; P Galvin, M Griffin, F McNamara; P Kilkenny (0-10, J Sherwood, P Murphy; D O'Sullivan, J Walsh; M Brennan, C Brady, S O'Carroll; K Hurley (0-2), C Cox (0-4), S O'Brien (0-4). Subs - I Galvin for Hurley, D Culhane for Galvin, T Morley for Kilkenny, M Reen for Brady, E O'Connor for Cox.

Tipperary - E Comerford; G Mulhaire, J Ryan, D Kearney; D Leahy (0-1), N O'Meara, J O'Callaghan; A Campbell, A Matassa; S Leahy, A Cleere (0-1), B Hewitt; L Treacy (0-1), M Quinlivan (0-1), L McGrath (0-1). Subs - I Fahey for Hewitt, L Boland for Matassa, P O'Meara for Treacy, P Murphy for Campbell, S O'Meara for Cleere.

Ref - C Lane (Cork).

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