Cork Minor Footballers set up Munster final with Kerry;
Electric Ireland Munster MFC Semi-Finals
Cork 1-13 Clare 0-8
Kerry 2-19 Tipperary 2-5
By Stephen Barry
Kerry and Cork will meet for their third consecutive Electric Ireland Munster minor football final on Monday after seeing off Tipperary and Clare in the semi-finals.
The Kingdom were left worried when brought level early in the second half before going through the gears, while the Rebels could afford to coast having done the hard work early on.
At FBD Semple Stadium, Tipp were sensing a shock at the brea, but once the defending champions penned them in, starved them of possession, and transformed this into an open contest, that was it.
They reeled off the next 1-8 without reply and didn’t miss a shot until the last kick. By that time, they had racked up 2-13 from 15 efforts. Incredible accuracy.
As against Cork, Kerry had nine different scorers, led by Jack Joy (1-3), while Éanna Murphy netted off the bench.
Charlie Walsh kicked all but one point for Tipp. His eye-catching 2-4 tally was the home highlight. As the fourth-ranked team in Munster, they will now head into tier 3 of the new All-Ireland series.
The Premier’s early pressure did slow Kerry’s progress, but three overcarrying frees coughed up possession for three points. Joy celebrated a lovely outside-of-the-boot point, Gearóid White added a routine placed ball, and Ben Murphy whistled a goal chance inches over after a quickly-taken free.
Tipp came with a late flurry. Gavin Neville’s rob turned a misplaced kick-out into an attacking opportunity which ended in a soaring Dylan Cotter point.
A flowing Kerry move produced a Joey McCarthy score in response but Tipp finished with a goal.
From a short dropped short, they countered down the right and a dangerous ball from Danny Morris was palmed to the net by Walsh. 0-6 to 1-2 at the break.
Walsh’s free levelled proceedings and Tipp could’ve even edged ahead before Kerry wrestled back control and stormed ahead.
After a White free, Ruairí O’Connell’s sweet dinked pass with his first touch found Joy to execute a sidestepping finish. 1-7 to 1-3.
Scores streamed from there with seven points in the next eight minutes, including two from White and one each from the midfield pairing of Ben Murphy and Killian Dennehy, who scored with his final act before being called ashore.
With five minutes to go, they added a goal with a smart passing move across the 21 involving three subs and ending with Joy feeding Éanna Murphy.
Tipp hit right back with Jack Garrett’s perfect set-up play allowing Walsh to find the corner. 2-14 to 2-4.
Two stylish Horan scores were the standouts from there to the finish.
In Quilty, Danny Miskella’s second goal in back-to-back games helped Cork to a 1-5 to 0-0 head start inside 11 minutes.
Dylan O’Neill added a pair of points and like their western neighbours, numbers 8 and 9 both scored in Ben O’Shea and Harry Cogan.
Seán Fennell registered Clare’s sole point of the half as Cork moved 1-7 to 0-1 clear. The hosts were further hampered by a straight red card for Aidan Weaver in the 22nd minute.
The team with 14 did keep fighting to outscore their opponents in the second half by 0-7 to 0-6. Conor Burke hit the target with five points while O’Neill kicked three in reply. The Carbery Rangers corner-forward ended with 0-6 across the hour.
Clare, owing to their Darrel Darcy Cup victory over Tipp last week, will enter tier 2 of the new All-Ireland series, while Cork will advance with Kerry to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.
