February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Kerry 1-12
Tyrone 1-11
Tyrone were first on the board with a opening-minute Martin Penrose point. Kerry answered with points from Michael O’Shea and Dave McCarthy, but Kerry were oddly lackluster. Tyrone were the ones applying the pressure and a four-point burst gave the Ulster side a 0-5 to 0-2 lead.
Tyrone’s attack led by Barry McElduff, Brian McGuckian, and a pesky Ger Flanagan was stretching the Kerry defense as Bingo O’Driscoll and his running mates struggled to get untracked.
Tyrone’s midfield of Eamon Fennell and Danny Barr were breaking a lot of ball and McGuckian, Flanagan, and Martin Penrose were snapping up the loose balls. Two late McElduff points were countered by a Dave McCarthy point, and Tyrone surprisingly led at the interval 0-8 to 0-5.
Kerry opened the second half scoring with two O’Driscoll frees sandwiched around a Tyrone point from McElduff. Despite those two frees, O’Driscoll could never escape the attentions of Tyrone fullback Owen Devine whose tight marking left O’Driscoll frustrated and ineffective.
Shortly after the change over Kerry supremo Paddy Kearney made the switch that turned the match. After McGuckian’s point put Tyrone up 0-10 to 0-7, Kearney shuffled the deck. Michael O’Shea went to midfield and midfielder Kieran Brosnan went to the forty. Then the Kerry No. 11 McCarthy switched to O’Shea’s former spot on the wing, and it all worked.
O’Shea immediately pointed followed by a point from Brosnan. On the ensuing kick out O’Shea rose high and broke strongly to McGrath. McGrath raced through and fired a brilliant goal. O’Shea’s tough, intelligent play turned the match Kerry’s way as he and Kenneth Dillon put a vice grip on the midfield play.
McCarthy gave Kerry a 1-10 to 0-10 lead but McGuckian soon squashed that. The Tyrone dynamo took a Ger Flanagan feed and fired home the equalizer with eleven minutes still to play.
McGrath and McElduff exchanged points, as the Gaelic Park pitch seemed to shrink. Every ball was being contested fiercely. Eugene McGrath curled over what turned out to be the winning point with five minutes left to play. Tyrone had a couple of chances to tie or even go ahead but fell short.
Penrose missed a makeable free and then Danny Barr emerged from a crowd in the Kerry goalmouth with the ball after a great catch. The Kerry defense surrounded Barr and Kerry had hung on.
Man of the Match: Michael O’Shea.
Kerry: Kiernan Traynor, David Heasman, Barry Dillon, Paul Dillon, Sam Finn, Paddy O’Connor, Cathal O’Shea, Kenneth Dillon, Kieran Brosnan (0-1), Michael O’Shea (0-2), Eugene McGrath (1-2), Willie O’Donnell, Dave McCarthy (0-3), Bingo O’Driscoll (0-3, all frees), Edmund O’Sullivan (0-1). Subs: Derek Riney, Collie Fearon.
Tyrone: Terry Tracey, Barry Toal, Owen Devine, Darren Flanagan, Ray Hegney, Paul McKenna, Padraig Daly (0-1), Eamon Fennell, Danny Barr, Martin Penrose (0-1), Liam Briody, Brian McGuckian (1-3, 1 free), Pat McGuire, Barry McElduff (0-5), Ger Flanagan (0-1). Sub: Adrian Fox.