Goals from Thomas O\u2019Donnell and Darragh O\u2019Connor (Beaufort) fired Kerry to a season-opening victory over Tipperary in a Dillon Quirke Foundation fundraiser at Fethard Town Park.<\/p>\n
Both teams started a handful of last year\u2019s under-20s (Kerry six and Tipp five) as Niall Fitzgerald took his first game as Tipp senior manager following Philly Ryan\u2019s tragic passing.<\/p>\n
The Clonmel Commercials stalwart was remembered with a half-time presentation to his family from Fethard Town Park, where a tree has been planted in Ryan\u2019s honour.<\/p>\n
On the field, former Monaghan under-age goalkeeper Shane Garland, who featured at wing-forward for Kilsheelan-Kilcash in this year\u2019s county final, began between the sticks.<\/p>\n
As well as a scatter of U20s, Jack O\u2019Connor stationed Rathmore\u2019s Dan Murphy at full-back, David Roche of Milltown-Castlemaine at wing-back, and Liam Smith of Glenbeigh-Glencar at midfield.<\/p>\n
Backed by the breeze, the Kingdom put on a display of fine left-footed point-taking in the first half, including efforts from Donagh O\u2019Sullivan, Paddy Lane, Tom\u00e1s Kennedy, and Tadhg Morley.<\/p>\n
They created a couple of early goal chances, too, but Ruair\u00ed Murphy\u2019s shot smacked the crossbar before flying over. Then, Donal O\u2019Sullivan\u2019s final pass was picked off by Jack Harney.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n O\u2019Connor got through on goal for Tipp, only to pull his shot wide. They got back within one point before the Kingdom hit the net from a flowing passing move, walked into the net by Castlegregory forward O\u2019Donnell.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donnell and Donal O\u2019Sullivan added the final points of the half for a 1-8 to 0-6 lead, and Darragh O\u2019Connor (Beaufort) extended the advantage to six on the resumption.<\/p>\n
Darragh Brennan was a half-time sub for Tipp, and he caught fire with three points in four minutes.<\/p>\n
Se\u00e1n Broderick diverted over a Niall Heffernan goal chance, Se\u00e1n O\u2019Connor booted the game\u2019s only two-pointer, before Brennan started and finished a move for Tipp\u2019s goal to move 1-12 to 1-11 ahead. The Ballyporeen forward pulled up before the finish and limped off.<\/p>\n
Kerry came chasing a goal with Garland denying two of Kerry\u2019s three Darragh O\u2019Connors (from Beaufort and Kerins O\u2019Rahillys). The Beaufort O\u2019Connor returned for the 63rd-minute goal, and a Se\u00e1n O’Connell brace sealed the victory.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Tipperary: D Brennan (1-3); S O\u2019Connor (0-5, 1tp, 1 free); C Smith (0-4, 2 frees); L Boland, N Heffernan, M Barlow (0-1 each).<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Kerry: T O\u2019Donnell, D O\u2019Connor (Beaufort) (1-1 each); D O\u2019Connor (Kerins O\u2019Rahillys) (0-3, 2 frees); C Trant, Donagh O\u2019Sullivan (1 free), S O\u2019Connell (0-2 each); T Morley, R Murphy, P Lane, T Kennedy (0-1 each).<\/p>\n
\n TIPPERARY: S Garland; J Harney, E O\u2019Connell, J O\u2019Neill; C King, P Feehan (capt), L Boland; J Higgins, K Costello; K Butler, N Heffernan, B Comerford; C Smith, S O\u2019Connor, P O\u2019Keeffe.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: M McFadden for O\u2019Connell (h-t), D Brennan for Comerford (h-t), M Barlow for O\u2019Keeffe (55), D McVicker for Feehan (64), J Nevin for Harney (64), P Bradshaw for Brennan (70, inj), O\u2019Keeffe for Boland (70).<\/p>\n
\n KERRY (first half): M Tansley; E Healy, D Murphy, L Evans; A Heinrich, T Morley (capt), D Roche; L Smith, C Trant; Donagh O\u2019Sullivan, R Murphy, T O\u2019Donnell; P Lane, Donal O\u2019Sullivan, T Kennedy.<\/p>\n
\n Sub: J Nagle for Roche (33, inj).<\/p>\n
\n KERRY (second half): S Broderick; J Nagle, K O\u2019Sullivan, D O\u2019Connor (Kenmare Shamrocks); A Heinrich, E Healy, S O\u2019Connell; E Boyle, C Trant; Donal O\u2019Sullivan, R Murphy, G Hassett; D O\u2019Connor (Beaufort), D O\u2019Connor (Kerins O\u2019Rahillys), C O\u2019Grady.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: D Murphy for Healy (48), T O\u2019Donnell for Donagh O\u2019Sullivan (57).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: W Fitzharris (Tipperary).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Goals from Thomas O\u2019Donnell and Darragh O\u2019Connor (Beaufort) fired Kerry to a season-opening victory over Tipperary in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190400,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[6937,5582,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-190399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-kerry-gaa","tag-tipperary-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}