February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Mark Jones
Tipperary 2-16, Limerick 1-17
The white heat of the hurling championship on the hottest afternoon of the year. There were no cool heads at Pairc Ui Chaoimh for Sunday’s titanic Munster final, no clear thinking in those breathless last few minutes as two scores sealed Tipperary’s first provincial success since 1993.
"It had nothing to do with switches or managers or tactics in those 10 minutes at the end," said a mightily relieved Tipp manager, Nick English. "It’s just the heart to win the ball. If you were a manager or if you were Jesus Christ in the last moments, you couldn’t have made a difference."
A defiant Limerick were level a matter of seconds before full-time when Brian O’Meara and substitute John O’Brien swept over late points for the winners. Limerick could have earned a replay, they could even have snatched it — it was that tight throughout — but general consensus was that Tipp just about deserved this overdue win.
Losing manager Eamonn Cregan was making no excuses, offering no easy ways out of his team’s bitter disappointment. "It’s quite simple, really, if you don’t score when you’re on top, you don’t win," he said. "We had the chances, we didn’t take them and we paid a heavy price."
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Limerick remain afloat with the prospect of an All-Ireland quarterfinal in just over three weeks and this setback shouldn’t necessarily damage a revival which has already generated famous victories over Cork and Waterford. Certainly, the likes of Mark Foley, Ollie Moran, Brian Begley, Ciaran Carey, Brian Geary and Timmy Houlihan will relish another chance. Limerick are still capable of stepping through hurling’s back door.
As for Tipp, English will be keenly aware of the need for improvement. While his side was generally tidier than the opposition, especially at the back, where goalkeeper Brendan Cummins, Philip Maher, Paul Ormonde and Eamonn Corcoran defended superbly, question marks remain over the attack, which went off the boil for two protracted periods of the game. There wasn’t a single score from Declan Ryan and company for 15 minutes at the end of the first half, and then for 20 minutes during the second half all they had to show was one point from an Eoin Kelly free.
Turbocharged Tipp threatened to run away with the game early. It was 0-6 to 0-2 after just 10 minutes as six players found the target. But a pattern was soon established as Limerick came snarling back. Sean O’Connor, who was so impressive that his marker, All-Star John Carroll, had to be replaced midway through the second half, drove a pass from Begley into the net for the first goal.
O’Connor’s effort had been preceded by points from Mark Foley, Barry Foley and Moran, and suddenly Limerick were right back in the game, which typically lurched toward Tipp once again. A kicked goal by Declan Ryan, followed by a second which was inspired by O’Meara and finished by Lar Corbett gave the winners a five-point advantage, but Limerick were having none of it. Four Paul O’Grady frees and a point by O’Connor meant it was level 2-8 to 1-11 at the break.
Still, there was frustration in the Limerick camp at the concession of the two goals. "They were silly goals, the sort we shouldn’t be giving away," Carey said. "After that, we did everything but win."
Critically, both Begley and Moran couldn’t make the same impact in attack as they had in earlier matches, and Tipp moved up a gear when Eugene O’Neill replaced Eddie Enright. But any time they edged ahead, back came Limerick. For a couple of moments, a replay seemed on the cards when O’Meara and O’Brien hit their match-winning points.
Ulster semifinals
Both Ulster hurling semifinals were played off last weekend at Casement Park with provincial champions Derry coming through strongly in the end to defeat London by 1-24 to 0-12 with Oliver Collins and Geoffrey McGonigle scoring six points apiece.
Meanwhile, Down upset the formbook with an impressive 2-14 to 1-10 success against Antrim. The winners had to play for most of the game with 14 men following Mick Braniff’s sending off in the 20th minute, but they gradually ate into Antrim’s lead to record a famous victory.
Roscommon 2-10, Mayo 1-12
Want a cliché? How about, it’s never over until the final whistle. Hollow? Overused? Not if you were in Hyde Park on Sunday, where Roscommon triumphed with an injury time goal in one of the most dramatic Connacht football finals in GAA history.
This contest did look over. Mayo had just zig-zagged their way down the field with defense-splitting passes for substitute David Nestor to hammer in a goal. Cue raucous Mayo celebrations in the 30,000 crowd — a two-point lead in the second minute of added time, that would surely be enough to put the Connacht silverware beside the National League trophy.
For some reason best known to themselves, Roscommon set off on a last desperate attack. John Dunning grabbed a sideline kick from Alan Nolan and every second you expected a shrill blast from the referee. But Dunning made progress, and suddenly corner-back Denis Gavin found himself unmarked. Gavin intelligently passed to Gerry Lohan on the edge of the Mayo square and the low shot was drilled into the corner of the net. Roscommon, 10 years without a provincial title, were in dreamland.
"My mind was made up that I had to go for goal," said the 21-year-old Lohan, who had scored his team’s first earlier in the half. "The build-up seemed very slow, Denis Gavin was coming through and I felt certain the referee was going to whistle up. After I hit it and saw it go in, it was the most incredible feeling."
That feeling pulsed through the whole of the county and there are rumors that after so many near misses in recent seasons, the party is still going on.
Lucky that the thrilling finish materialized, because the spectators were served up an eminently forgettable first half, which, thankfully, wound up with Roscommon leading by 0-7 to 0-5. Despite the contributions of James Nallen and Ciaran McDonald for Mayo, and despite another fine peformance from Roscommon’s rising star, Seamus O’Neill, the contest was largely a negative affair.
There were a couple of other black spots after the interval with Mayo’s Ray Connelly being shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball challenge on Frankie Dolan and then Clifford McDonald of Roscommon also walked for a second yellow. But elsewhere the temperature soared as Lohan’s first goal put the winners three points clear with ten minutes remaining.
However, with subs Nestor and David Brady making big impressions for Mayo, McDonald and Maurice Sheridan both kicked points in the closing stages, before Nestor rifled home his goal. On another day, it would surely have been enough, but Roscommon and Lohan weren’t finished.
"It looked like we had it," mused losing manager Pat Holmes. "Maybe we lost our concentration in injury time." Mayo’s consolation is a place in the fourth round of the All-Ireland qualifying series, as for Roscommon, the journey to Croke Park has only started.
Qualifying series
Last season’s losing All-Ireland finalists, Galway, as well as Kildare, Armagh and Laois came through the second round of football’s qualifying series last weekend. Galway got the better of Wicklow at Aughrim by 3-12 to 1-9, with Ja Fallon, Kieran Comer and Alan Kerins scoring goals. They will meet Armagh, who defeated Monaghan 2-12 to 0-10, in the next round on Saturday.
Armagh were vastly superior to Monaghan in all departments and an early goal by John Toal set the pattern. Kildare just about survived against Donegal in a fascinating clash at Newbridge, where it finished 1-17 to 1-16. Donegal were eight points in front at one stage, but Kildare stormed back in the second half. Elsewhere, Laois were too good for Clare, coming through by 0-13 to 1-8 in Portlaoise.