Congratulations to our Senior Footballers who defied all the odds with another massive performance at the Kingspan Breffni Park Cavan on Saturday last where they ended Derry’s unbeaten run in the All Ireland Football qualifiers by the minimum margin with a 1-21 to 2-17 score line victory.
Going into the game having reeled off three wins over Louth, Meath and Cavan, hot favourites Derry must have really fancied their chances of progressing to the last eight but it was Tipp who held all the aces with a never say die performance to carry them over the line and the prize of a first ever spot in the All Ireland Quarter Finals at the final whistle.
While Derry were first off the mark, from the throw in Tipp were generating a huge amount of possession and showed their intent opening up Derry time and again with searing runs through the centre and both wings which led to Mikey Quinlivan, Kevin O’Halloran, Phillip Austin and Conor Sweeney all keeping the score board ticking over.
However Derry were there on merit and fought their way back to regain the lead to go three up but Tipp produced the perfect response cutting the deficit to a single point before the break.
The second half saw Tipp introduce Alan Moloney with Mikey Quinlivan going to mid field and in a superb second period they upped the ante with a string of scores to go five clear but Derry as they showed against Meath and Cavan in the closing minutes weren’t going away and hit back to recapture the lead with the clock ticking down to the 70th minute.
But as they proved against Cork in the Munster Semi Final, Tipp weren’t ready to buckle either and in a nerve wrecking last three minutes threw everything at Derry with the boot of Conor Sweeney, Josh Keane and Kevin O’Halloran all paying dividends and along with O’Halloran’s flying tackle (black card) guaranteed a famous victory for Tipp and put paid to Derry’s involvement in this years championship.
History in the making for Tipp and can now look forward with a degree of confidence to their first ever All Ireland Football Quarter Final and a clash with Galway in Croke Park this Sunday July 30th, throw in 4pm.
Tommy Fitzgerald, Tipperary Football PRO
