MUNSTER SFC FIRST ROUND Kerry 2-18 Tipperary 2-6:NOTICE HAS been served. The All-Ireland champions are winding up for a big summer.
They met a young and terrifically spirited Tipperary team here and, although John Evans’ young team seemed to uncover a few vulnerabilities, there was nothing about this match to suggest that Kerry aren’t up for a long season.
For a county famed for its illustrious football past, Kerry never look behind. Old names, however great, are not long mourned. As ever, the emphasis was on the future, as Barry John Keane emphasised when he closed this show by clipping two fine points to add some polish to the Kingdom performance.
Kerry came here in businesslike mood. Mike McCarthy emerged from the deep freeze to roam the central lane and exercised the combination of control and physique that transformed the fortunes of his team a year ago.
Kieran Donaghy directed ball and traffic up front and Colm Cooper clearly relished the big man’s company. It wasn’t so much Cooper’s four points from play as the little feints and shimmies that hint the Killarney man is going to have a big summer.
Donnacha Walsh did much of the unfashionable ball-winning, always seemed available for the pass and Bryan Sheehan bagged both of Kerry’s goals – scores which he will probably acknowledge as being the most elementary of his intercounty career.
Still, the champions did not have it all their own way here.
They led by just three points after 50 minutes, looked somewhat shaky when their full-back line was isolated and led by just a single point at half-time.
The lead came courtesy of an injury-time point from Paul Galvin, who looped around Cooper before fisting the ball over the bar. Galvin had a strong match but was a more low-key influence than usual and was called ashore with Declan O’Sullivan in the last quarter. By then, Tipperary’s resilience was beginning to fade.
They had opened with thunderous conviction that did little to reflect the handsome respect that John Evans paid to the visitors during the week. There may have been an element of truth when Evans elaborated on the near impossibility of the task facing his team, but that didn’t prevent him from sending out a typically well-prepared side.
Ciarán McDonald boxed clever in shadowing Kieran Donaghy in the first half. The big Tralee man won plenty of possession and distributed with his trademark nonchalant cleverness, but McDonald played a smart game, staying on his feet, keeping goal-side of the forward and never giving into the temptation of the foul.
Elsewhere, George Hannigan battled hard with Séamus Scanlon and chipped in with a point under severe pressure. Tipperary’s big idea was to isolate the Kerry back line and set them the task of matching the swift local attackers Austin, Mulvihill and Grogan.
As early as the seventh minute, Tipperary reaped a fine reward, when Hugh Coughlan hand-passed a ball for Philip Austin, who had only one thought when he realised he had a clear path through on goal.
With Tom O’Sullivan breathing down his neck, the Borrisokane man let fly with a shot that is an early and realistic contender for the goal of the season.
It gave Tipperary something to both defend and build on and, although they played second fiddle in terms of possession, their attacks were purposeful and intelligent. There was a cohesion about Tipperary’s defence in the first half that future Kerry opponents would do well to take note of.
Midway through the first half, a murmur flashed through the crowd of 4,965 when Colm Cooper chased down the ball before it crossed the sideline, turned and collected it without any Tipperary challenge. But the home team had circled the wagons, allowing the Kerry men to weave attractive passes across the pitch without making any real inroads.
However, aided by the breeze in the second half, Kerry steadily gathered scores. Donaghy was the source for most of these and his majestic catch and pass to Sheehan’s 66th-minute goal will give many full backs around Ireland cause to fret.
There is a nagging sense, though, that Kerry will need Donaghy to start taking his own scores if they are to retain the All-Ireland.
Their next assignment against Cork will the first key test in that ambition and, on this evidence, they are giving the Munster championship full attention.
KERRY: 1 B Kealy; 2 M Ó Sé, 3 T Griffin, 4 T O'Sullivan; 5 T Ó Sé, 6 M McCarthy, 7 K Young; 8 S Scanlon (0-1), 9 M Quirke; 10 P Galvin (0-2), 11 D O'Sullivan (0-1), 12 D Walsh (0-1); 13 C Cooper (0-5, 1 free), 14 K Donaghy (0-1), 15 B Sheehan (2-05, three frees, one 45). Subs: P Reidy for T O'Sullivan (45 mins), A Maher for M Quirke (55 mins), D O'Sullivan for P Galvin (55 mins), A O'Connell for K Young (61 mins), BK Keane (0-2)for D O'Sullivan (61 mins). YellowCards: M Quirke (39 mins) K Young (58 mins) T Griffin (62 mins).
TIPPERARY: 1 P Fitzgerald; 3 N Curran, 4 C McDonald, 2 P Codd; 5 C Aylward, 6 R Costigan, 7 C McGrath; 8 K Mulryan, 9 G Hannigan (0-1); 10 P Acheson (0-1), 12 H Coghlan, 13 S Carey; 11 P Austin (1-0), 15 B Mulvihill (0-1), 14 B Grogan (1-3, one free). Subs: B Fox for B Mulvihill (45 mins), B Coen for S Carey (55), J Cagney for P Austin (60 inj), B Jones for C Aylward (66), 17 A Morrissey for C McGrath (69). Yellow Cards: N Curran, R Costigan (24 mins), G Hannigan (35), N Curran (42), C McGrath (48 mins), K Mulryan (52 mins), B Grogan (62, 68). Red Cards: B Grogan (69 mins),
Referee: D Coldrick(Meath).
