GAA Talk

Galway 1-14 Tipperary 1-17

It is left to the men from the Premier County, Tipperary, to take on Kilkenny in the Division One final after they beat Galway in a tight encounter at Pearse Stadium Galway on Sunday 5th April.

The first-half was scrappy, with Tipperary slightly edging it to lead by two points at half-time. Galway had an outstanding spell early in the second-half and boosted by Niall Healy’s goal, they led by four points at one stage.

However, Tipperary goaled themselves through Lar Corbett and they showed the greater resilience in the final stages to come away with a two-point win.

Healy and Tony Scroop traded the first two points for the two sides but Tipp moved into a 0-3 to 0-2 lead thanks to a brace from the outstanding Corbett. The attacker had missed an early goal chance when he smashed into the side-netting from close range but he was showing well in the early stages and causing the Galway defence a lot of trouble.

Tribesmen goalkeeper Colm Callanan kept things tight with his team’s second point when he powered over a terrific placed ball from a gargantuan distance.

Corbett continued to be a threat for Tipp but he was aided by the burgeoning talent of Seamus Callanan, who knocked over his first point to edge the Premier County further into the lead.

Joe Canning was kept relatively well-shackled in the first half and Tipperary led 0-8 to 0-6 at the break.

Canning grew greatly in influence after the restart and a superb ‘65 narrowed the gap. Galway clearly had been given a rollicking by John McIntyre in the dressing room because they had an added impetus and they moved into the lead with Healy’s goal on 42 minutes.

Niall Hayes stormed through on goal, and though Darren Gleeson blocked the initial effort, the sliotar fell to Healy who had an easy task to flick it home.

However, Galway seemed to rest on the laurels of their comeback and they allowed Tipperary back in again. Corbett and Callanan were the architects, Corbett firing in a decisive goal and Callanan plundering a variety of points from play and frees.

Callanan hit the point which eventually put Tipperary ahead with a few minutes left and Corbett extended the lead to two before another Callanan effort, his tenth in all, seemed to put paid to the day’s offering from Galway.

They tried to grab a late goal with a couple of late frees heaped into the area but all they could get was a Joe Canning point which wasn’t enough.

Dublin 0-15 Clare 0-15

A late point from Dublin captain Stephen Hiney confirmed Clare’s relegation as the sides drew 0-15 apiece on Sunday afternoon.

Having lost all five games played before this, the Banner were odds on to taste the drop anyway and despite some well taken scores on the day they had to concede defeat in their battle to stay in the top flight, their own former hero Anthony Daly in charge of the side that eventually sealed their fate.

The Dubs began the scoring at Parnell Park, Shane Durkin driving the ball over the bar before Alan McCrabbe began what turned out to be a one-man effort for the rest of the half when doubling the home advantage.

Debutant Conor McNamara and Caimin Morey quickly levelled matters before McCrabbe hit two more for the Dubs, soon cancelled out by wing back Patrick Donnellan and Morey.

Mike McNamara’s men had raised their game now with two Jonathan Clancy points and another from early substitute Alan Markham seeing them go 0-7 to 0-4 clear. McCrabbe continued to keep Dublin in touch, scoring 0-7 in the first half, but another score from Morey meant his side were 0-10 to 0-8 in front at half-time.

It was again McCrabbe who started the scoring for Dublin after the break. Niall Gilligan got the first of four successive Clare points from his hurl to restore the gap to two and got the second of those to cancel out a Durkin point soon after.

Gilligan’s double then made it 0-14 to 0-10 but the Dubs hit back with David O’Callaghan, McCrabbe and John McCaffrey all pointing to leave just one in it.

Dubin goalkeeper Gary McGuire made two fine - and ultimately crucial saves - as Clare then chased a goal, only for their own stopper Patrick Kelly to reply in kind to deny O’Callaghan. However, a subsequent point from ‘Dotsy’ had the two sides all square.

Donnellan put Clare in front again to keep their survival hopes alive, but Hiney then hit a smashing effort from halfway to split the posts and more importantly end Clare’s stay in Division One.

Limerick 2-14 Waterford 1-13

Limerick produced a battling display to see off Waterford in a lively encounter at the Gaelic Grounds.

The Treaty County had raced into an early five-point lead courtesy of a Niall Moran goal. Waterford chipped away at that lead for much of the rest of the game and for most of the second-half the two sides were level.

In the end, substitute Donie Ryan’s goal proved vital as Limerick clinched a white-knuckle victory.

The blistering start from the home side came about through Moran and James Ryan. Moran knocked over a fine opening point from a free, then goaled after being released by Ryan before Ryan clipped over a point himself.

Waterford eventually roused themselves with points from John Mullane and Eoin Kelly but Moran knocked over his second point to keep the lead at four points.

Waterford were always growing into the game as the half wore on and Kelly was behind almost all of their good work, eventually smacking in the goal from a free which put two points in it at 1-5 to 1-3. Moran continued to excel for Limerick from play and placed balls and he had racked up 1-4 by the end of the half as his side went in 1-7 to 1-5 ahead.

Kelly knocked one over for Waterford at the start of the second-half to add to his tally and shorten the deficit to one.  Indeed the tide seemed to be turning fully in the Deise’s favour because after Gary Hurney’s levelling point for the visitors, Limerick had captain Brian Geary sent off.

Somewhere though, Limerick found the resolve to eke out the win. Ryan struck sweetly to the net shortly after his introduction and it was a blow that Waterford could not recover from.

Although they brought on Dan Shanahan, who scored a late individual point, Limerick ended up winning by four points.

And it was primarily the efforts of Moran, who finished with 1-9, that gave Limerick the win.