Sport

Kildare flying

Tipperary had no answer to the power and precision play of a well organised newlook Kildare in this one-sided match at Clonmel…

Mon Oct 30 2000 - 00:00

Tipperary had no answer to the power and precision play of a well organised newlook Kildare in this one-sided match at Clonmel yesterday.

Making good use of the strong breeze, Kildare got off to a flying start with two points apiece from Johnny Doyle and Michael Browne and a flurry of scores from David Early, Tadgh Fennin, Jarlath Gilroy and Colm O'Reilly had the visitors eight points to the good after 18 minutes.

Further points from Gilroy and Fennin were to follow before corner-forward Damien O'Brien opened Tipperary's account in the 22nd minute with a well taken point. O'Brien hit two more points on the trot and Michael Wright responded for the Leinster champions to lead 0-10 to 0-3 at half-time.

Gilroy had his second point for Kildare 20 seconds into the second-half and when corner-forward Fennin grabbed the only goal in the 44th minute, the game ended as a contest.

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Full forward Benny Hickey scored three second-half points for Tipperary while Colm O'Reilly, Gilroy, Fennin and Dermot Earley tagged on further points for Kildare to leave Tipperary 15 points adrift at the final whistle.

Leading by 13 points at the interval, Fr Murphy's had to withstand a determined second half rally by favourites Sean Treacys to win their first London senior hurling championship title at Ruislip yesterday. Fr Murphy's hung on to win 2-10 to 2-7.

The turning point of the game came midway through the first half when a long range free by Ian Rocks caught goalkeeper Denis Laffan unawares. The resulting goal gave the champions an 8 points lead which they defended successfully.

KILDARE: C Byrne; J Bracken, R Quinn, P Mullarkey; D Hughes, W McCreery, M Wright (0-1); Dermot Early (0-2), K Brennan; M Browne (0-2), J Doyle (0-2), David Early (0-1); C O'Reilly (0-4), J Gilroy (0-3), T Fennin (1-3). Subs: T Rossiter for M Browne; A McHugh for J Doyle.

TIPPERARY: C McMenamin; B Walsh, N Kelly, D Hackett; K Maguire, S McDermott, D Gleeson; A O'Sullivan, E Hanrahan; T Connors, K Mulryan, D Lyons; J Power, B Hickey (0-3), D O'Brien (0-3). Subs: C O'Dwyer for K Maguire; C O'Brien for T Connors; M Connors for N Kelly; T Connors for D Lyons.

Referee: M McBrien (Fermanagh).