Tipp edged out by Cork in Football League

GAA: Allianz Football League Division 3 Round 4

 

Tipperary     0-21

Cork               3-13

 

By Shane Brophy

 

Tipperary came up just short as Cork left Semple Stadium with the victory in round 4 of the National Football League this evening.

The rebels trailed by three at half time but two second half goals saw them hit the front and had to withstand a late Tipp rally with the help of a sin-binning to maintain their perfect start.

The home side included four players making their first senior starts, including Riain Quigley who scored with his first touch on seventy seconds while Sean O’Connor and Colman Kennedy did likewise inside nine minutes as Tipp raced into a five point lead before Cork opened their account on ten minutes from Mattie Taylor.

Cork managed to get back on terms by the 26^th minute with the help of a Ruairi Deane goal with John O’Rourke also influential.

However, Tipp responded well to the Cork rally and reeled off the next five points with Moloney, Evan Comerford and three from Jack Kennedy to go five in front going into injury time where O’Rourke and Cathail O’Mahony reduced the arrears to 0-12 to 1-6 at half time.

Tipp continued where they left off at the start of the second half with Jack Kennedy and sub Liam Boland on target but Cork got back into the game with a Luke Connolly penalty after Mattie Taylor was fouled.

Despite O’Brien and Boland responding for Tipp, Cork were slowly turning the screw and Luke Connolly’s goal on 49 minutes put them in front for the first time with sub Ciaran Sheehan stretching their advantage.

Cork went four clear when Sheehan went to the sin-bin on 64 minutes and it gave Tipp the impetus to fightback with Conor Sweeney (2 frees) and Jack Kennedy converting frees to cut the arrears to one but time ran out for the home side.

 

MATCH DIGEST

Man of the Match: Mattie Taylor (Cork)

SCORERS – Tipperary: Jack Kennedy 0-5 (3 frees, 1 45); Conor Sweeney 0-4 frees; Emmet Moloney, Riain Quigley, Liam Boland, Steven O’Brien 0-2 each; Colman Kennedy, Brian Fox, Sean O’Connor (mark), Evan Comerford (45) 0-1 each.

Cork: Luke Connolly 2-2 (1-0 pen, 0-1 mark); Cathail O’Mahony 0-5 (2 frees); Ruairi Deane 1-0; John O’Rourke 0-2; Sean Powter, Mattie Taylor, Cian Kiely, Ciaran Sheehan 0-1 each.

 

Tipperary: Evan Comerford; Alan Campbell, John Meagher, Tadhg Fitzgerald; Kevin Fahey, Robbie Kiely, Bill Maher; Steven O’Brien, Jack Kennedy; Emmet Moloney, Colman Kennedy, Brian Fox; Riain Quigley, Conor Sweeney, Sean O’Connor.

Subs: Liam Boland for C Kennedy (29 inj); Liam Fahey for K Fahey (44); Kevin O’Halloran for Quigley (58); Jason Lonergan for O’Connor (58); Jospeh Nyland for K Fahey (65).

Cork: Micheal Martin; Sean Powter, James Loughrey, Paul Ring; Tomas Clancy, Mattie Taylor, Cian Kiely; Ian Maguire, Killian O’Hanlon; John O’Rourke, Sean White, Brian Hartnett; Ruairi Deane, Cathail O’Mahony, Luke Connolly.

Subs: Liam O’Donovan for Taylor (blood 21-27); Ciaran Sheehan (0-1) for White (44); Liam O’Donovan for Kiely (50); Colm O’Callaghan for O’Mahony (57); Paul Walsh for Powter (61); Kevin O’Driscoll for O’Hanlon (65).

Referee: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).