Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final - Tipperary 1-10 Galway 0-6

Tipperary defeated Galway by 1-10 to 0-6 in the Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final on Monday August 3rd at O’Connor Park Tullamore.

Report – @TipperaryGAA defeated @Galway_GAA this evening in the All-Ireland MFC quarter-finals: http://t.co/dZwnzaC7bd #GAA

— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 3, 2015

All-Ireland MFC: Tipp stun Galway in quarters

ALL IRELAND MFC QUARTER FINAL: TIPPERARY 1-10 GALWAY 0-6

By Kevin Egan for GAA.ie

A plethora of missed goal chances either side of half time proved to be hugely costly for Galway this afternoon in O’Connor Park in Tullamore, as Tipperary became the only provincial final loser to secure a place in the All Ireland minor championship semi-finals; their clash with Kildare on August 30 secured thanks to a 1-10 to 0-6 win over the Tribesmen.

This was a ferociously competitive tie – perhaps lacking the fluidity and passing that was on show in the opening clash between Kerry and Sligo, but any dearth in that regard was more than compensated for by the intensity of tackling and running that was on show from both sides.

A positively claustrophobic opening half saw both sides drop plenty of tacklers back into defence and with space at a premium, scores were understandably scarce. Paudie McCormack was the pick of the Galway forward line and his hard running yielded a point from play and a free that was converted by Conor Marsden, while Tipperary enjoyed plenty of primary possession but spurned six of their first eight opportunities, and so trailed by 0-3 to 0-2 after 25 minutes.

Alan Tynan and Brian McGrath linked up well along the spine of the attack while Brendan Martin sent out warning to the Galway back line with a punched point that was set up by a blistering burst of pace, however during this phase it looked as if the Connacht champions were the far more likely winners in the race for the game’s first goal.
Two scores from Tynan – a ’45 and a wonderful solo score – gave Tipperary a narrow half time lead but the real drama was at the other end of the field, where Galway were narrowly denied what could have been a game-changing score on a few occasions.

Tadhg Fitzgerald was Tipperary’s hero in both instances, coming to the fore initially when he made a full length diving block to deny Ryan Forde, while another last gasp effort from the Moyle Rovers man was to prove crucial in the last minute of the opening half.

McCormack set up the second opportunity with a typically powerful run but Forde’s subsequent shot crashed against the crossbar, while Patrick Ó’Domhnaill looked certain to score from the rebound but then was denied by a goal-line block from Fitzgerald.

A lung busting run from Aidan Buckley set up a Tynan free at the start of the second half to double Tipperary’s lead, but Galway again drove at goal, with Forde this time getting blocked down by Emmett Moloney. Perhaps the greatest chance of all followed immediately after when McCormack cut in from the left corner and aimed for the bottom corner, but this time it was Liam Fahy who got a crucial touch to tip the ball onto the post.

Three scores in as many minutes from Tipperary put clean daylight between the teams and while Galway dug deep to cut the gap again, the final ten minutes belonged to the Premier County. Space, the rarest of commodities in the intercounty game, started to appear at the Galway end of the field as the Connacht champions chased down scores. Jack Kennedy was afforded 30 yards of open country down the left wing for a crucial score, then a break out of defence from Emmett Moloney led to a decisive strike from man of the match Alan Tynan.

Moloney looked to have several great options as he burst out of the back line, but it was no surprise that he looked to Tynan for inspiration. The Roscrea man, who already has a Leinster Schools Rugby medal, an All Ireland Colleges “C” hurling medal and a Munster hurling medal to his name this year, applied the coup de grace with a powerful run and exquisite low finish to effectively settle the tie with seven minutes remaining.

To Galway’s credit, they continued to push forward in search of goals however their race was run by now as Tipperary could flood the goalmouth, and the closest the Tribesmen came to hitting twine was when John Daly’s late free was pushed over the bar for the final score of the contest.
***
Scorers for Tipperary: A Tynan 1-5 (2f, 1 ’45′), B Martin 0-2, C English 0-1, J Kennedy 0-1, J Bergin 0-1

Scorers for Galway: C Marsden 0-2 (2f), J Daly 0-2 (1f), P McCormack 0-1, E Lee 0-1

TIPPERARY: C Manton; T Lowry, J Skehan, T Fitzgerald; E Moloney, L Fahy, D Owens; J Kennedy, T Nolan; R Peters, A Tynan, A Buckley; C English, B McGrath, B Martin.
Subs: M Kehoe for English (50), J Bergin for Peters (54), J Delahunty for Martin (58), M Connors for Buckley (59), G Whelan for Moloney (60+1)

GALWAY: R Ó’Beolain; C Mulry, D McHugh, I Kent; S Kelly, L Ó’Ceallaigh, J Daly; C Brady, C Ó’Braonáin; E Lee, F Ó’Laoí, M Boyle; R Forde, P McCormack, C Marsden
Subs: P Ó’Domhnaill for Ó’Laoí (14), C Ryan for Vaughan (38), C McDaid for Forde (55), D Conneely for Lee (56)
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Referee: Martin McNally (Monaghan)

Previews – @ElectricIreland All-Ireland MFC Q-Finals Derry v Longford, Kildare v Cavan, Kerry v Sligo, Galway v Tipp: http://t.co/RvERfNFFzX

— The GAA (@officialgaa) July 31, 2015