IT WASN’T THE dream victory that would have pushed them straight through to the Munster U20 final, but Clare did hand Tipperary their first defeat of this year’s campaign, and their 0-18 to 1-14 win – secured thanks to two late frees from Conor Whelan – means that they will enjoy home advantage for their semi-final clash with Cork next Friday night.
A win by seven or more would have seen them overtake Tipp at the top of the table and earn the automatic final slot, but there was no stage in this game where that looked likely.
Whelan had an incredible evening at Semple Stadium, shooting all bar two of the Banner County’s total. In the first half he was effectively unstoppable, scoring 0-10 out of Clare’s 0-11, with five points from play and five from frees.
Tipperary made a bright start, with both Oisín O’Donoghue and Paddy McCormack scoring from play as they moved 0-4 to 0-1 in front, but they could have been even more in front at that stage, with O’Donoghue firing over the bar when a goal was on, and another four attempts at goal didn’t hit the target.
Advertisement
When Clare started to get ball into the forwards, they were much more efficient, with Jack O’Neill and Michael Collins winning frees and helping to create the conditions that allowed Whelan to thrive.
An injury to McCormack blunted the Tipp attack slightly but O’Donoghue did find the net early in the second half and slowly, methodically, and largely on the back of Darragh McCarthy frees, they got their noses in front in the last ten minutes, and still led by one going into overtime.
Enter Whelan to flip the script once more.
There was nothing but pride at stake in the game between Limerick and Waterford at Rathkeale, where the home side came back from conceding the only goal of the game to Jack Twomey to sneak an 0-20 to 1-16 win.
Twomey’s wonderful solo score briefly helped Waterford to lead by four, but Limerick took over the for the remainder of the half with Vince Harrington, Shane O’Brien, Oisín O’Farrell and Cian Scully all scoring in their run to an 0-14 to 1-7 half-time lead.
Waterford were marginally the better side in the second half but they never got the second goal they needed and despite Patrick Fitzgerald scoring 0-11 (0-9f), they fell just short.
There was also action in the Connacht Minor Football Championship this evening, where Mayo did Galway a favour by edging out Sligo by 1-12 to 0-11, ensuring that Galway scraped into the knockout stages by virtue of their 2-17 to 1-10 win over Leitrim at Ballinamore.
Mayo were into the Connacht final with Roscommon assured of second spot regardless of results this evening, while Sligo would have advanced to take on the Rossies next Friday if they got a draw or better at Markievicz Park.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Clare hand U20 Munster-final bound Tipp first defeat as Mayo edge out Sligo in Connacht MFC
IT WASN’T THE dream victory that would have pushed them straight through to the Munster U20 final, but Clare did hand Tipperary their first defeat of this year’s campaign, and their 0-18 to 1-14 win – secured thanks to two late frees from Conor Whelan – means that they will enjoy home advantage for their semi-final clash with Cork next Friday night.
A win by seven or more would have seen them overtake Tipp at the top of the table and earn the automatic final slot, but there was no stage in this game where that looked likely.
Whelan had an incredible evening at Semple Stadium, shooting all bar two of the Banner County’s total. In the first half he was effectively unstoppable, scoring 0-10 out of Clare’s 0-11, with five points from play and five from frees.
Tipperary made a bright start, with both Oisín O’Donoghue and Paddy McCormack scoring from play as they moved 0-4 to 0-1 in front, but they could have been even more in front at that stage, with O’Donoghue firing over the bar when a goal was on, and another four attempts at goal didn’t hit the target.
When Clare started to get ball into the forwards, they were much more efficient, with Jack O’Neill and Michael Collins winning frees and helping to create the conditions that allowed Whelan to thrive.
An injury to McCormack blunted the Tipp attack slightly but O’Donoghue did find the net early in the second half and slowly, methodically, and largely on the back of Darragh McCarthy frees, they got their noses in front in the last ten minutes, and still led by one going into overtime.
Enter Whelan to flip the script once more.
There was nothing but pride at stake in the game between Limerick and Waterford at Rathkeale, where the home side came back from conceding the only goal of the game to Jack Twomey to sneak an 0-20 to 1-16 win.
Twomey’s wonderful solo score briefly helped Waterford to lead by four, but Limerick took over the for the remainder of the half with Vince Harrington, Shane O’Brien, Oisín O’Farrell and Cian Scully all scoring in their run to an 0-14 to 1-7 half-time lead.
Waterford were marginally the better side in the second half but they never got the second goal they needed and despite Patrick Fitzgerald scoring 0-11 (0-9f), they fell just short.
There was also action in the Connacht Minor Football Championship this evening, where Mayo did Galway a favour by edging out Sligo by 1-12 to 0-11, ensuring that Galway scraped into the knockout stages by virtue of their 2-17 to 1-10 win over Leitrim at Ballinamore.
Mayo were into the Connacht final with Roscommon assured of second spot regardless of results this evening, while Sligo would have advanced to take on the Rossies next Friday if they got a draw or better at Markievicz Park.
The42 is on Instagram! Tap the button below on your phone to follow us!
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Clare GAA Connacht MFC Mayo GAA munster u20 hurling championship Sligo GAA Tipperary GAA Wrap