Munster MFC: Banner top Tipp to complete semi-final line-up
April 26, 2017
Clare and Tipperary will meet in Ennis today
Clare are through to the last four of the Munster minor football championship after beating Tipperary by 0-10 to 0-5 at Ennis this evening.
Full forward Gavin Cooney (0-5) was the difference between the teams as Seamus Clancy's charges got the better of youthful opposition with surprising ease to advance towards the business end of the competition.
The winners - who led from start to finish - are now within an hour of the All-Ireland series and they will face neighbours Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds on Wednesday, May 10th for a place in this year's provincial decider, with big guns Cork and Kerry colliding in the other 'semi' on the same night.
That game in a fortnight will be surprise packet Clare's fourth outing in this year's somewhat-protracted Munster minor football championship as they were beaten at the quarter-final stage two weeks ago before bouncing back with victory over Waterford in the first-round play-off last week.
The steady Banner boys registered five frees and recorded seven wides as they dominated a lacklustre first half to assemble a 0-5 to 0-2 interval lead.
Three pointed frees had the winners ahead by 0-3 to no score at the midway stage in the first half. A Padraig Kelly score inside the first minute got the hosts off to a flying start and Cooney stole a few yards before slotting over a second Banner point from another free in the tenth minute.
The hero of Clare's victory over Na Deise seven days ago, Gearoid Cahill found himself in a one-on-one situation with Jack Dolan in the twelfth minute but the Tipp goalkeeper made a fantastic save to keep his goal intact before Cooney grabbed his second successive score from the edge of the D.
The victors also had four wides and dropped one effort short inside the first quarter as they controlled proceedings and they were punished when Conall Kennedy punctuated a rare Premier County attack with their opening point.
Kelly nailed his second free in the 19th minute and a right-footed Ryan Lambe '45' seven minutes from the break presented Tipp with their second point before home captain Dermot Coughlan stuck over a fifth Clare free deep into first-half injury time to give his team a three-point advantage at the break.
A third successful Kelly free increased the gap upon the restart and Moyle Rovers' Riain Quigley replied from a 36th-minute free following a foul on Adam McGrath. Kennedy took a pass from Commercials colleague Lambe and chipped the ball up before processing it between the posts to reduce the arrears to just two points with 21 minutes left. But Cooney replied in the 40th minute with the Banner County's first score from play - 0-7 to 0-5 - as the match finally threatened to catch fire.
Both sides were guilty of missing presentable scoring opportunities and McGrath seemingly set up a grandstand finale when he pointed to make it a two-point game on 50 minutes; but the Banner mustered three unanswered points inside as many minutes to end the game as anything remotely resembling a contest.
Again, they found the perfect response to that McGrath score with an excellent Cooney point in the 51st minute and another Kelly free left it at 0-9 to 0-5 with eight minutes left to play.
The superb Cooney made it double scores with his fifth point - a delightful left-footed strike from play - and Clare deservedly advanced as Tipp exited on the back of a second straight defeat (having been comprehensively beaten by Cork in the quarter-final round).
Clare - M Lillis; J Miniter, J O'Sullivan, J Sheedy; D Ryan, F Donnellan, C McNelis; C McMahon, D Griffin; D Coughlan (0-1f), P Kelly (0-4f), S Rouine; R O'Doherty, G Cooney (0-5, 2f), G Cahill. Subs: K White for C McMahon, C O'Donoghue for R O'Doherty, R Considine for G Cahill, A McNamara for D Griffin, B Clancy for D Coughlan.
Tipperary - J Dolan; J Harney, J Flannery, D Mulcahy; D Bolger, P Devlin, J Ryan; S Grogan, S Ryan; R Quigley (0-1), R Lambe (0-1), C Boland; A McGrath (0-2), C Kennedy (0-1), M Stokes. Subs: D O'Leary for J Flannery, C O'Sullivan for C Boland, M McFadden for D Bolger, D Tynan for M Stokes, J Flannery for R Quigley.
Referee - E Walsh.
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