Tipperary minor footballers advance after the comeback to beat all comebacks

Tipperary 1-14 Clare 1-12

Dylan McCormack scored an injury time penalty goal for Tipperary to give the Premier County boys a dramatic win over Clare in Round 3 of Phase 1 of the Electric Ireland Munster Minor Football Championship at Templetuohy on Monday evening.

Nine points down at half-time, and still nine behind coming up to the last quarter, Tipperary staged the most exciting of comebacks to snatch the honours in a thriller, which sets up a rematch between these sides in the Phase One Daryl Darcy Cup final at a venue to be decided next Wednesday evening, May 5, before going on to face either Cork or Kerry in the semi-final the following week.

After a surprise loss to Limerick in Round 2, Tipp went into this game needing a win, and even with that the result of the Limerick v Waterford third round tie would come into play if Limerick won. Limerick did win but Tipp’s scoring difference was better, so they qualified for the final against Clare, who were unbeaten going into Monday evening’s game.

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Nobody would have given the Tipp lads a snowball’s chance in hell at half-time. They trailed 0-3 to 1-9, having being outplayed by their rivals, who did have the aid of the breeze. Tipp looked way off the pace as Clare, with corner forward Conor Burke outstanding, picked off their scores confidently, building quickly from defence to attack.

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Burke scored 1-6 in that period, one a two-pointer. His goal came after 25 minutes, when a Tipp attack broke down, and Clare swept upfield in a rapid exchange of passes, Burke applying the finishing touch. To add to a frustrating period for Tipp, they had full back Daniel Charles black-carded in the 29th minute. Tipp scored only one point from play in the half, that from Sean Burke, with Ned O’Meara kicking the other two from frees.

It looked game over for Tipp at that stage and not much changed in the third quarter, with Tipp now restored to fifteen players, but making little significant inroads into the Clare lead. A pointed free by Ned O’Meara, followed by further white flags from Luke McKeogh, Darragh Bresnan and Killian Smith, had Tipp trailing 0-9 to 1-11 after 53 minutes, with the Banner boys still looking likely winners.

Tipp were in full flow now and further points from Ned O’Meara (two) and Ruben Grace left them a goal down after 62 minutes. The fourth official had signalled four additional minutes. Clare were rattled but time was against Tipp. Ned O’Meara pointed in the 33rd minute to cut the lead to two points. A draw would not have been enough for Tipp so they went all out for a goal and their bravery was rewarded when Dylan McCormack, driving for goal, was fouled. From the resulting penalty, after 66 minutes, he calmly slotted the ball home for as dramatic a win as one could ever imagine.

Not surprisingly there was jubilation in the Tipp camp afterwards, particularly as it emerged that the Limerick result had also gone their way, prompting joint manager Shane Hennessy of Loughmore to claim that this result would give his charges a lot of self-belief.

“We were nine points down at half-time but we knew there was something in these lads. We were making small mistakes and like the game against Limerick, we got punished every time. In the last quarter we threw everything at them and this win will give the lads a lot of self-belief,” he said.

So Tipp go forward to the Daryl Darcy cup final, their reward for a fine Phase One campaign, and an opportunity to further blood these young players before hopefully taking on Munster big guns Kerry or Cork. The lacklustre first half and third quarter will give the management some food for thought as they plan ahead but on this night the displays for Darragh Bresnan, Sean Griffin, Aaron McAndrew, Killian Smith and Daniel Charles will give them encouragement.

Clare’s Conor Burke looks a real prospect for the future for them, with colleagues Ruben Fallon, Donncha O’ Dwyer, Danny Lyne, Shane Cahill and Aidan O’Connell also having big games.

Tipperary scorers: N O’ Meara (0-6, all frees), Dylan McCormack (1-1, 1-0 penalty), K Smith, S Burke, A McAndrew, R Grace, L McKeogh, D Brennan (0-1 each).

Clare scorers: C Burke(1-8, 0-4fs), L Casey, C McNamara, J O’Loughlin, O Sherlock (0-1 each).

Tipperary: James O’Brien (Moyle Rovers); Cormac McInerney (Cashel King Cormacs), Daniel Charles (Clonmel Commercials), Aaron Brazil (Lattin/Cullen); Darragh Bresnan (Arravale Rovers), Conor Hurley (Moyle Rovers), Jack Kearney (Ballyporeen); Sean Griffin (Upperchurch/Drombane), Aaron McAndrew (Moyle Rovers); Sean Burke (JK Brackens), Ned O’ Meara (Mullinahone), Sean Cleary (Knockavilla/Donaskeigh Kickhams); Killian Smith (Clonmel Commercials), Dylan McCormack (Clonmel Óg), Dara Maher (Clonmel Commercials).

Subs: Luke McKeogh (Ballina) for Brazil (h/t), Niall Delaney (JK Brackens) for Cleary (h/t); Andy Williams (Killenaule) for Maher (52 mins), Cillian Morrissey (Moyle Rovers) for Kearney (55 mins), Ruben Grace (Galtee Rovers) for Burke (59 mins).
Clare: Oisin Tierney; Cian Corry, Aidan O’Connell, James Rafferty; Eoin Murphy, Shane Cahill, Ajay Daly; Donncha Dwyer, Ruben Fallon; Liam Keane, Jack O’Loughlin, Danny Lyne; Conor Burke, Liam Casey, Cathal McNamara.

Subs: Aaron Kelly for McNamara (40 mins), Ollie Sherlock for O’ Loughlin (47 mins), Sean Hegarty for Lyne (51 mins), Garreth Murphy for Keane (55 mins).

Referee: Jack Bray, Waterford.