Munster U16 Championship Round 3

Kerry 1-09 -v- Tipperary 0-06

Kerry booked their place in the Munster U16 Championship Final following a hard-fought win over Tipperary played in ideal conditions in Arravale Rovers with the wind in the first half giving neither side any advantage over each other. Tipperary got off to the perfect start with a point from play from captain Ciara O’ Hora. Kerry opened their account in the seventh minute with a free from Aideen O’Brien and then took the lead in the twelfth minute with a point from play by Clara Daly. Both sides exchanged points from Aideen O’Brien & Ciara O’Hora to see Kerry remain in the lead in what was turning out to be a low scoring affair. Both sides defences were making it difficult for the forwards to gain any foothold in the game. The final score of the half coming from Kerry centre forward Lisa Slattery to see the Kingdom go in at the break Kerry 0-04 Tipperary 0-02. Kerry took stock of things at half time and came out much stronger in the second half. They took the game by the scruff of the neck and scored 1-02 without reply inside the first seven minutes of the second half to open up a seven-point lead with the wind now favouring the Kerry forwards. The goal came from Rachel Creedon after her shot which looked like an attempted point saw it deceive the Tipperary keeper Chloe Shorley and end up in the back of the net. The two points coming from frees from full forward Aideen O’Brien. It was all Kerry at this stage as Tipperary responded with a free from Ava Wall. Kerry had now made a number of substitutions as both sides exchanged points from Aideen O’Brien and Ciara Shelly. The premier county added another point by Ciara Shelly to reduce the deficit to five with seven minutes remaining. At this stage of the game the home side had nothing to lose and began to throw everything they had at the Kerry defence. The Kingdom withstood everything the Tipperary team threw at them over the remaining minutes of the game as both sides exchanged points in the closing stages to see Kerry book a place in the final where they will meet neighbours Cork on April 30th. The game will take place in Mallow with a 3pm throw in

Tipperary

C Shorley (0-1f), C Redmond, P Quirke, N O’Farrell, S Maher, C Shelly, E Franklin, A McCormack, S O’Carroll, A Reddan, A Wall (0-1f), M Gilmartin, E Dwan, C O’Hora (C) (0-2 1f), C Shelly (0-2)

Subs: L Flannery for M Gilmartin, E Dolan for L Flannery, K O’Connor for A Wall, E Smith for C Redmond

Kerry

K Fitzgerald, S Colleran, L O’Sullivan, E Costello, L O’Connor, É Ní Laighin, S Scanlon, K Enright, H O’Brien, A Curtin, L Slattery (0-1), R Creedon (1-0), C Daly (0-1), A O’Brien (0-7 4f), S O’Donovan

Subs: A Murphy for H O’Brien, K Doe for L O’Connor, L O’Connor for A Curtin, S Corkery for L Slattery, M Mulvihill for S Scanlon