Next Sunday promises a feast of Gaelic games for GAA followers as our footballers entertain Longford in round four of the Allianz National Football League at 1pm while later at 3pm the hurlers take on Clare in their third match of the campaign. Both games take place in Semple Stadium.

Michael Ryan’s men will be on a mission to continue their great form having already accounted for Dublin and Waterford while Liam Kearns’ team will be anxious to continue their push for promotion to division two.

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Pts Diff	Points
Louth	3	3	0	0	4-40	0-33	19	6
Tipperary	3	2	0	1	4-44	3-37	10	4
Armagh	3	1	1	1	5-38	6-34	1	3
Sligo	3	1	1	1	4-35	3-38	0	3
Offaly	3	1	0	2	0-47	4-32	3	2
Longford	3	1	0	2	4-31	3-32	2	2
Antrim	3	1	0	2	1-31	3-42	-17	2
Laois	3	1	0	2	3-30	3-48	-18	2

 

Tipperary defeated Antrim (2-12 0-13) in round one but disappointingly lost out to Sligo (1-16 2-14) the next day out. However last Saturday, with a much improved performance, they got their promotion drive back on track, accounting for Laois 1-16 1-10.

 

Longford however, will be tricky opponents, as they put a massive dent in our promotion hopes in the corresponding fixture last year when they won by six points in Pearse Park, 1-17 to 1-11.

Brian Kavanagh put in a fine performance that day ending the match with a personal tally of 0-8 while he was ably assisted by James McGivney and Darren Gallagher. For the Premier both Michael Quinlivan and Conor Sweeney were superb but couldn’t do enough to thwart the hosts.

Scorers for Tipperary: C Sweeney 0-6 (3f), M Quinlivan 0-4, (2f), J Longeran 1-1.

Scorers for Longford: B Kavanagh 0-8 (5f), J McGivney 0-5, L Moran 1-0, D Gallagher, B McKeon, L Connerton, M Hughes 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: C Kendrick; D Leahy, A Campbell, C McDonald; J Feehan, R Kiely, S Leahy; A Moloney, M Dunne; J Keane, P Acheson, J Longeran; C Sweeney, M Quinlivan, P Austin.
Subs: C O’Shaughnessy for D Leahy (31), I Fahey for J Keane (ht), L Casey for C Sweeney (45 BC), K Fahey for J Feehan (50), B Hewitt for J Longeran (63).

LONGFORD: P Collum; CP Smyth, B Gilleran, D Masterson; D Brady, D McElligott, D Reynolds; D Gallagher, M Quinn; J McGivney, B Kavanagh, B McKeon; R Smyth, L Connerton, M Hughes.
Subs: L Moran for M Hughes (65), F Battrim for D Reynolds (67); B Farrell for R Smyth (67), R Connor for L Connerton (69), S Kenny for M Quinn (69 BC).

Referee: S McLaughlin (Donegal)

Surprisingly Tipperary and Longford have only crossed swords twice in championship action at all grades in both codes.

The first occasion was on July 1, 2006, when Tipperary travelled to Pearse Park and were on the receiving end of a 1-23 to 1-10 beating. However the second occasion provided much happier memories when Peter Creedon’s charges inflicted a 17-point hammering (2-17 0-6) in Semple Stadium on July 5^th, 2014.

Michael Quinlivan and Peter Acheson both found the net as former Dublin footballer, Jack Sheedy, looked on helplessly as his Longford side simply had no answer for Tipperary. Leading 1-8 to 0-4 Tipperary were expecting a much sterner test as Longford had accounted for Derry in the previous round but this time out they failed to perform.

Conor Sweeney led the way scoring 0-8 (5f) while our defence were in unforgiving mood restricting their opponents to 0-3 from play in the entire match.

Tipperary: P Fitzgerald; G Mulhair, P Codd (0-01), C McDonald; C O’Riordan, R Kiely, J Coghlan; S O’Brien, G Hannigan; P Austin, P Acheson (1-02), B Fox; C Sweeney (0-08, 5f), M Quinlivan (1-00), B Grogan (0-04, 3f).

Subs: B Mulvihill (0-01) for Quinlivan (13), C Kennedy (0-01) for Austin (53), S Flynn for Grogan (64), I Fahey for Acheson (66), A Campbell for Mulhair (69).

Longford: D Sheridan; D Brady, B Gilleran, F Battrim; C.P. Smyth, E Williams (0-01), S Mulligan; K Diffley, B O’Farrell; M Quinn (0-01), F McGee, P Barden (0-01); S McCormack (0-01f), B Kavanagh (0-02f), A Rowan.

Subs: S Doyle for McCormack (40), N Mulligan for Diffley (48), M Hughes for Rowan (48), R McEntire for McGee (60), P Brady for Battrim (69), P Gill for Williams (70+2).

Referee: P O’Sullivan (Kerry).

In other news we welcome the under-16 footballers and their mentors from Clonakenny/Moneygall to Semple Stadium this Sunday. They were in O Moore Park last Saturday night and they made plenty of noise as they cheered Tipperary onto victory. Same again please this week lads!

The Friends of Tipperary Football will be selling membership outside the stadium this Sunday. Membership, which costs €20, enters people into the following fantastic draws:

Two All Ireland Final Football tickets 2017
Two All Ireland Final Hurling tickets 2017
Two Tickets for each Tipperary Senior Football Championship matches 2017
Two All Ireland Club Final tickets 2017
Two National Football League tickets for each Tipperary League match 2017

Alternatively you can join online at www.friendsoftipperaryfootball.com/join or click Join at the top of this page.