Tipperary staged a dramatic second half performance to overcome a six-point deficit at Kingspan Breffni Park in round 2B of the All-Ireland senior football championship qualifiers

Tipperary 2-15

Cavan 0-18

 

In 1972 Lou Reed wrote one of his most famous songs, the brilliant Perfect Day. The lyrics are believed to suggest simple romantic devotion. For Tipperary GAA fans there’s certainly no doubt that today was our very own perfect day as our devotion to our various teams was richly rewarded with wins for our senior footballers and hurlers in the qualifiers, our ladies football team retained their Munster intermediate title while our under-14 footballers won the Jim Power tournament in Dungarvan and our under-15s captured the shield in Cork.

Our footballers travelled to Kingspan Breffni Park determined to make amends for the defeat to Cork in the Munster semi-final and that they certainly did with a second half performance that enthused the many fans who had made the trip to Ulster however it was Cavan that owned the first-half.

Tipperary started brightly with two early points from Conor Sweeney and Jack Kennedy but the Breffni men responded in kind through Geariod McKiernan and Caoimhin O’ Reilly before Martin Reilly put the hosts in front for the very first time in the 14^th minute. Cavan began to assert themselves on proceedings and hit an impressive four points in five minutes to open the gap out to five.

While Tipperary were finding scores hard to come by it looked as if they had earned a dramatic respite when Jimmy Feehan forced his way towards goal before finding Brian Fox with a superb fisted pass and the captain was unfortunate to see his fierce drive ricochet back off the post.

Sweeney added another pointed free to leave the sides separated by six points at the break, Cavan 0-12 Tipperary 0-6.

At this stage it was hard for Tipperary fans to remain positive as Cavan were completely dominant all throughout the park and kicked some wonderful scores but this Tipperary team simply do not know when they are beaten.

At half-time Philip Austin, returning from injury, replaced Colm O’ Shaughnessy and the Borrisokane man added much needed pace and drive into the forward division. Kennedy, Kevin O’ Halloran and Sweeney all scored three early points after the resumption to narrow the gap to three and suddenly it was the Premier men that were doing all the running.

Michael Quinlivan made a welcome return to action in the 47^th minute and his presence and skill added another dimension to the Tipperary attack which had Cavan in all sorts of bother.

Austin levelled proceedings before being taken down for a decisive penalty which Conor Sweeney brilliantly netted. Six minutes later the substitutes combined again to set up the impressive Robbie Kiely for a smashing goal and moments after Quinlivan pointed to open the gap out to six.

Cavan did not give in without a fight and picked off three points of their own through Seanie Johnson, Thmoas Galligan and Padraig Faulkner and put the Tipperary defense under sustained pressure but the experience of last year stood to them and they refused to relent and try as they might Cavan could not force a goal opportunity and Tipperary held out for an impressive three-point win.

Tipperary: C Kenrick; C O’Shaughnessy, A Campbell, E Moloney; B Maher, R Kiely (1-01), J Feehan; L Casey, G Hannigan; J Keane, K O’Halloran (0-02, 1f), B Fox (0-01); J Kennedy (0-03, 2f), C Sweeney (1-05, 1-0 pen, 5f),  L Boland.

Subs: D Foley (0-01) for Boland (0-02), P Austin (0-01) for O’Shaughnessy (h-t), M Quinlivan (0-01) for Hannigan (47), L McGrath for O’Halloran (67), K Bergin for Maher (73)

Cavan: R Galligan; P Faulkner (0-01), K Clarke, J McLoughlin; J McEnroe, N Murray, C Moynagh (0-01); G McKiernan (0-03, 1f), T Corr (0-02); C Mackey (0-01), M Reilly (0-02), C Brady; C O’Reilly (0-02), L Buchanan, D McVeety (0-01).

Subs: N McDermott (0-02, 2f) for Brady (12), R Connolly for Buchanana (h-t), T Galligan (0-01) for Corr (47), J Dillon for McDermott (56), S Johnston (0-02, 1f) for O’Reilly (59), N Clerkin for McVeety (BC 60)

Referee: F Kelly (Longford)

Startin to like comin to Breifni for games!! Good pitch for @TipperaryGAA footballers #gaa #qualifiers #bringonnextround

— brian fox (@brianfoxtipp) July 8, 2017

Congratulations to our Senior footballers @TippfootballGAA, Senior hurlers and @TippLadiesFB on great wins today 👏🏻

— Tipperary GAA (@TipperaryGAA) July 8, 2017

Round Three

Tipperary are now through to round three where they will face one of Armagh, Cavan or Monaghan. This draw will take place on Monday morning at approximately 8.35am live on RTE Radio One. These next round of fixtures are expected to take place on Saturday next.

 

Under-14, Under-15 & Under-16

We extend our congratulations to the Tipperary under-14 side which captured the Jim Power tournament in Waterford today after an impressive 6-10 to 0-7 win over North Cork in the final. This side went undefeated in all their group games also which bodes well for the future of Tipperary football.

Our under-15s were also in action today and they captured the Munster shield while the under-16s reached their cup semi-final.

Ladies Football

We also extend our congratulations to the ladies team who won the Munster intermediate final in impressive fashion. Like the men they had to overcome a large first half deficit as they trailed Clare by nine-points. Their second half performance was superb as they restricted the Banner to just four-points and ran out winners 4-9 to 1-14. For a full match report please click here.