The Tipperary U20 footballers.
Dalata Hotel Group Munster U20 Football Championship phase 1 round 3
Tipperary 2-17 (2-1-15) Waterford 1-7 (1-1-5)
Clare 0-16 (0-4-8) Limerick 0-11 (0-1-9)
By Stephen Barry
Tipperary and Clare secured their places in phase 2 of the Dalata Hotel Group Munster U20 Football Championship with respective victories over Waterford and Limerick.
Paddy O’Keeffe kicked 2-3 to send the Premier through as table-toppers with three consecutive wins, while the Banner progress based on their superior score difference (+1) over Waterford (-12) and Limerick (-14).
The latter pair will contest the B final on Tuesday, April 1, while Tipp host Kerry and Clare welcome Cork that same evening.
At Clonmel Sportsfield, Tipp opened with a two-point free from corner-back Billy Tierney before a Daithí Hogan brace.
Paddy McCarthy responded with a two-point free into the wind. After a Hogan free, Waterford added another pair from a Joe Brennan give-and-go and Conor Keating.
In between, McCarthy slipped in Brennan for a shot at goal but Robbie McGrath extended his right leg to save.
A wind-assisted 0-5 to 0-4 scoreline didn’t appear an imposing lead after 20 minutes but Tipp tagged on seven of the final eight points from there to the break.
Moyle Rovers pair O’Keeffe and Killian Butler led their charge by sharing five points for a 0-12 to 0-5 half-time lead.
A Brennan free and McCarthy’s fourth cut the deficit to five but Waterford wouldn’t raise another white flag in the remaining 27 minutes.Tipp reeled off the next 1-4 as Hogan notched a pair off his allegedly weaker left boot.
Darragh O’Connor then won a kick-out and fed the overlapping JP Mbokha Tansia, who supplied O’Keeffe to blast to the far corner. Substitute Liam Freaney and Hogan’s sixth stretched the lead to 1-16 to 0-7.
O’Keeffe was black-carded for a trip in the 50th minute and when a Simon Burns 45 dropped short moments later, Diarmuid Mackle gathered to dribble a shot across the line.
But Tipp finished the stronger. Freaney scored his second point and O’Keeffe returned in stoppage time to find the net after Ben Carey turned over a short kick-out.
Meanwhile, at Miltown-Malbay, Clare were dominant with the wind to build up an 11-point half-time lead.
They kicked four two-pointers, including three Conor Fennell frees and a Daire Culligan effort from play, for a 0-15 to 0-4 cushion.
With Tom Ryan (0-6, including a two-point free) in good form, Limerick landed the first six points of the second half. They thought they had a seventh to bring the gap back to four only to have it chalked off for a 3v3 infringement.
Instead, Conor Fennell benefitted with a tap-over free for his seventh point and the insurance score for Clare.
