GAA Roundup: O’Neill lifts Tyrone; Donegal outduel Kerry

Appropriately, it was the game’s most inspirational player, Stephen O’Neill, who decided the issue with a penalty four minutes from the end. O’Neill finished with an excellent 1-5, while Sean Cavanagh kicked three points, but Cork know they could have, and probably should have, won the game as their second-half finishing let them down badly.

DONEGAL 1-10, KERRY 1-9
Donegal registered a first win and gave themselves some hope of avoiding relegation when they narrowly defeated Kerry at Ballybofey. Colm McFadden and Eoin Brosnan were on target for the game’s goals, but the key moment came in the 51st minute, when Paul Durcan saved from Dara O Cinneide, who was through on goal.

DUBLIN 0-11, WESTMEATH 0-9
It certainly wasn’t a thing of beauty at Parnell Park where Dublin ground out a victory over Westmeath. In fact, at the end of a particularly dour contest, the only flashpoint came afterward when an angry Westmeath manager Paidi O Se complained about an “unsporting gesture” from the Dublin management.
“I’ve been coming to Dublin for the last 30 years and no one has laid a hand on me, and no one will either,” O Se announced cryptically. As for the Dublin manager, Paul Caffrey, all he would say was that he had never been unsporting.
The result leaves Dublin in with a chance of the knockout stages.

MAYO 2-12, OFFALY 2-11
Mayo appear to be headed to the knockout stages as well after their tense victory over Offaly at Tullamore. With the teams level a quarter of an hour from the finish, James Gill opened the way for John Prenty to shoot home Mayo’s second goal, which finished off Offaly.
Conor Mortimer and Alan Dillon both scored four points for the Connacht county, while James Coughlan with 1-5 led the way for Offaly, who are now threatened by relegation after just one success from their four games.

DIV. 1B
LIMERICK 0-10, GALWAY 0-8
There was some redemption at last for beleaguered Limerick, who beat Galway at the Gaelic Grounds. With nothing to show before last weekend, Limerick were rejuvenated as Johnny Murphy with four points and Michael Reidy three surprisingly got the better of a fancied Galway.

SLIGO 2-13, WEXFORD 1-15
There was relief for Sligo, who got their campaign off to badly needed start with a narrow triumph over table-toppers Wexford at Markievicz Park. For once, it was the normally prolific Mattie Forde who was at fault as he was guilty of a glaring injury-time miss in front of an open goal.

OTHER RESULTS
In other games, Armagh edged out Down by 0-12 to 1-7 at Crossmaglen to join Wexford at the top, and Kildare defeated Laois by 0-13 to 0-8 at Newbridge.
Also, Longford held on to the top spot in Div. 2A despite only drawing 0-9 to 0-9 with Clare, but Fermanagh were convincing 4-13 to 1-12 winners over Roscommon. Carlow’s 1-15 to 0-6 win against Leitrim was their first of the campaign and Monaghan eased past London by 1-21 to 0-5.
In Div. 2B, Meath and Derry lead the way on seven points following wins over Wicklow and Waterford respectively, while Cavan, who defeated Antrim, are in third place. Tipperary failed to register their first points when they were beaten by 1-15 to 1-9 by Louth.

HURLING
The Kilkenny hurling machine keeps running smoothly, and if the cogs are not yet as finely tuned as in late summer, the Leinster county has already booked its place in the second phase of the National League following last Sunday’s 0-19 to 1-9 victory over Laois at Portlaoise.
With Laois fighting to stave off relegation from Div. 1A, they predictably put up stern resistance and Mark Rooney’s accurate ground shot for a goal gave them the ideal start. James Young’s freetaking kept Laois in the hunt as they trailed by 0-10 to 1-5 at the break, but Kilkenny turned on the power in the closing stages as Derek Lyng, Eddie Brennan and D.J. Cary piled on the points.
Like Laois, Dublin are without a win after three outings. A crushing 2-24 to 0-13 loss to Waterford at Walsh Park added more disappointment to Dublin’s campaign, and while they managed to make a match of it during the first half, Waterford soon turned the second half into a stroll.
The winners had goals from Eoin Kelly and Paul O?Brien, who both finished with 1-5. However, Dublin were overly reliant on their freetaker, David Curtin, who hit seven of his team’s points.
Galway moved up to join Waterford in second place on four points after their 3-11 to 1-13 success against Clare at Cusack Park. Clare never got off the ground, with manager Anthony Daly predicting his team would be “destroyed” by Kilkenny on Sunday if they reproduced the same sort of uninspiring performance.
Their goal came in the last minute from substitute Daithi O’Connell and a total of 12 wides had a disappointed Daly scratching his head. Galway, meanwhile, attacked with infinitely more pace and verve and in Damien Hayes, who scored 2-4, they had the most potent forward on the pitch. Ger Farragher struck a third goal from a penalty and added three more points for good measure.
Cork lead the way in the Div. 1B with maximum points from three games and the Leesiders could afford to rest many of the starting lineup as they eased past Antrim by 1-19 to 1-9 at Pairc Ui Rinn. Joe Deane yet again proved his worth with an impressive total of 1-7 as Antrim paid heavily for eight wides in the opening half.
Tipperary’s hopes of joining Cork at the top of the table were dashed when they went under to Wexford by 2-19 to 2-15 at Semple Stadium. With Paul Carley contributing 11 points including four from play, Wexford were celebrating a first win at Semple since 1984.
Crucially, Carley also hit three of Wexford’s last four points in the closing minutes after the teams had been level at 2-15 each.
“This was something really special,” said the winning manager Seamus Murphy.
Limerick recorded a first victory of the campaign when they hammered Down by 4-25 to 1-9 at the Gaelic Grounds. There wasn’t a whole lot to learn for newly-installed manager Joe McKenna as his side won far too easily, but he won’t have been satisfied with the unnecessary yellow cards shown to Donie Ryan and Brian Geary.
In Div. 2A, Offaly held on to top spot with a 1-21 to 1-14 win over Kildare, while Westmeath defeated Roscommon by 1-15 to 0-10. Carlow kept up their good form in Div. 2B with a convincing 3-15 to 0-8 success against Sligo, Meath edged out Kerry by 3-13 to 3-12 and Wicklow got the better of London by 0-17 to 0-12.