GAA Roundup Tipp top Clare in classic

By Mark Jones

Tipperary 0-15, Clare 0-14

It was not so much the beautiful game as the glory game. Glory for Tipp and none for Clare, who bowed out of the Munster hurling championship at Pairc Ui Chaoimh last Sunday.

But if the artistry wasn’t ever-present during the 70 minutes, what a collision this was: a battle of wills pitched to such intensity that it would have been fairer if the counties had earned a reprise.

There is an undoubted acceptance now that Tipp took their chances and Clare missed too many of theirs. Only two of Clare’s forwards — Jamesie O’Connor and David Forde — scored from play, while five of Tipp’s frontmen raised a flag. As for wides: Tipp hit eight and Clare 12. When it’s unbearably tight, those sort of statistics count.

Then there were the sub-plots. Foremost was Clare’s frustration over several of referee Dickie Murphy’s decisions. During the white heat of the second half, Murphy gave a free against Ollie Baker after he had skillfully and legitimately flicked the ball off a Tipp hurl. Eoin Kelly duly pointed. Brian Lohan was harshly penalized for a challenge on Declan Ryan, and again Kelly pointed the resultant free. Then in the dying seconds, with Clare trailing by a point, Colin Lynch surged past a challenge in midfield and moved within scoring range, only to be controversially whistled back by Murphy for taking too many steps.

"You train hard five or six nights a week all year, and then you end up with this," Clare goalkeeper Davy Fitzgerald said. "I couldn’t understand some of the decisions against us. Having said that, I’ll be the first to congratulate Tipp; I’m not taking anything away from them, but I still feel we deserved to get a draw."

The losers’ manager, Cyril Lyons, was also upset by Murphy’s performance.

So it was slightly embittered Clare whose season came to a halt, and if their criticisms of the referee were entirely justifiable, they were to blame for certain inadequacies on the pitch. Those weaknesses in attack came back to haunt them and to compound the lack of threat, the Tipp defense delivered in a big way. The outstanding Philip Maher completely snuffed out the threat of Niall Gilligan and Paul Ormonde warmed to his task during the second half. Equally, Tipperary were able to spring David Kennedy from the bench to bolster the rearguard in the final quarter as Eamonn Corcoran moved to his customary wing berth.

As is now expected, Clare’s defense was magnificent, with Seanie McMahon, Brian and Frank Lohan breaking up attack after attack, but Tipp’s youngsters, Lar Corbett and Kelly, refused to be intimidated and their true championship baptisms will stand them in good stead for the rest of the summer.

"Clare had some of the greatest players who have ever played the game out there," said Tipp manager Nicky English. "They were never going to come down to Cork and lie down for younger Tipp players and that was as good as Clare can play right now. Both teams just went for the ball tooth and nail; it was nerve-wracking from the word go. From where I stood, just trying to make a change or what to do in the context of a game like that was just unreal."

And in victory, with a date against the winners of the Limerick-Waterford semifinal on July 1, English had a word for his county’s supporters, who made up a sizable chunk of the 42,000 crowd.

"There’s always debate," he said. "They worry about our backs, but we conceded no goal last year, just a free to Eugene Cloonan. In Tipp we’re a bit impatient, we don’t want to win the league and we don’t want to lose any game in it either. I haven’t figured that one out yet."

Roscommon 2-12, Galway 0-14

Anyone who was certain the Connacht football championship would come down to a two-horse race between Galway and Mayo had better think again. With their opponents still papering over the cracks after the Donnellan affair, Roscommon had been quietly confident that they could cause an upset, but last Sunday’s semifinal victory at Tuam turned out to be nothing short of sensational.

This was definitely one of Roscommon’s finest hours as a combination of sheer determination and no little skill opened the door to the final. Goals by Nigel Dineen and the brilliant Francie Grehan set the underdogs on their way as Clifford McDonald, Paul Noone, Seamus O’Neill, Conor Connelly, Fergal O’Donnell and Frankie Dolan all played their parts in a memorable success.

Apart from a brief period in the first half, Galway struggled to make a major impact on the contest. The absence through injury of both Derek Savage and Paul Clancy didn’t help and when Dineen struck for the first goal, it was clear that Roscommon’s long-ball tactics into the Galway defense were paying off. With John Divilly and Gary Fahey in trouble, another delivery from Connelly found Dolan and after evading the challenge of Tomas Mannion, he fired home goal number two to put the winners two points clear at the interval.

John Donnellan created an impression when he was introduced, but with 18-year-old O’Neill in inspirational form at midfield, Roscommon were able to press home their advantage and book a place against the winners of the Mayo-Sligo semifinal. A chastened Galway, meanwhile, go into the second stage of the qualifying series.

Meath 2-12, Westmeath 1-14

Some things never change. Down and out, Meath clawed their way back from the depths to clinch an audacious Leinster football quarterfinal win at Croke Park last Sunday. Their latest victims Westmeath just hadn’t the necessary know how to finish the job when they found themselves five points clear with 10 minutes remaining. Meath, by contrast, knew the territory only too well.

This time, though, the fightback was under way without the services of Anthony Moyles, who had been sent off. First, the excellent Ollie Murphy stole in between two defenders and fired home a goal, and then points by Nigel Nestor and Ray Magee left the sides level going into the last minute. Crucially, Westmeath full-back David Mitchell was given his marching orders for a second yellow card and then, to compound the losers’ heartbreak, Trevor Giles slotted a 35-yard free to settle the game. It was the first time Meath had been in the lead.

"You never lose faith and you never lose hope," was the Sean Boylan verdict, "but to be honest, I’d have been happy just to get a draw the way things were going."

For Westmeath, who have already won the Div. Two National League title, it was an agonizing experience after front-running for nearly all of the contest. Set on their way by a Ger Heavin goal in the first minute, they now have an away game against Wexford in the first round of the qualifying series on Saturday.

Meath live on to meet Kildare in the semifinal.

Kildare 0-19, Carlow 1-11

There wasn’t the same Great Escape theme in the other Leinster football quarterfinal at Croke Park, but Kildare still had to survive several jittery moments during the second half in order to book their place in the last four against Meath.

Five points clear at the break, the winners had Willie McCreery dismissed for an off-the-ball incident and then saw the lead reduced to just three before they put a stop to Carlow’s resurgence.

During the first half, Kildare did largely as they pleased with Ronan Sweeney and Anthony Rainbow in brilliant form, but when Willie Quinlan fired in a shock goal early in the second half, the balance shifted. It took some accurate free taking by Padraig Brennan to regain the initiative, and Kildare were able to introduce both Niall Buckley and Martin Lynch from off the bench, but they lost Glen Ryan with an ankle injury which could keep him out of the next game.

Derry 1-11, Antrim 0-9

Derry huffed and puffed in this Ulster football championship first-round game at Celtic Park last Sunday, but even in victory they hardly managed to blow a slate off Antrim’s roof. A Patrick Bradley goal just before the changeover was critical, but the winners still failed to press home their considerable advantage.

In fact, Antrim were able to close the gap late in the game with four unanswered frees by Paddy Logan. However, by then Tyrone’s opponents in the semifinal had been settled. Antrim now have a home game in the qualifying series against Leitrim.