Draw rules Kerry and Tyrone out of semi-final mix
Monday April 02 2007
Tyrone 0-9
KERRY and Tyrone served up a thrilling encounter as they strove to avoid the lower divisions next season at Austin Stack Park on Saturday night.
It was a game that was open in the first half, with Tyrone on top, but dour in the second as the referee struggled to keep control. Neither manager wanted the draw as it rules both out of the semi-finals.
Kerry boss Pat O'Shea was disappointed with the result.
"A point does not help us, we needed to get the win but it just did not happen. I am disappointed that we did not manage to put away those late chances.
"We had enough chances to win the game because normally we would kick them over and it just did not happen tonight.
"We only scored five points in the opening half and they amassed eight, while it took over 20 minutes of the second half before we got a score. It was a perfect night for football, the pitch was in great nick, you would be expecting a bigger score."
He added: "Winning the league was never our objective because we were going to use it for blooding new players. Some have done well and it has worked out for them while others will know that more work will have to be done.
"It was a tough physical game but that will stand to the lads so we will working now towards the summer and getting all our players back. We're disappointed we didn't win as it would have given us extra games."
His Tyrone counterpart Mickey Harte was equally disappointed with the result.
"The draw suits us less than Kerry because we have an inferior points difference. It could have gone either way. The second half was a war of attrition and the crowd seemed to love it. That was a great advertisement for the game."
Others might beg to differ as Kerry picked up eight yellow cards while Tyrone had four and a red.
Kerry made one change from the team announced during the week, with Donnacha Walsh coming in for Paul Galvin, while Tyrone boss Mickey Harte made four changes in personnel, with the return of out-of-favour Eoin Mulligan the most significant.
Niall Gormley opened the scoring for Tyrone after two minutes as Kerry got off to a slow start.
Tommy Griffin picked up an early yellow card, and Daniel Bohane followed him into the referee's notebook on 10 minutes as Declan Quill punched an equaliser over, but Colm McCullagh and Ray Mulgrew restored Tyrone's lead.
Bryan Sheahan closed the gap with a long-range free, but Joe McMahon doubled Tyrone's lead to 0-4 to 0-2 midway through the first half. Kerry were level (0-4 to 0-4) by the 20th minute but four unanswered points from Gormley, McCullagh and Owen Mulligan pushed Tyrone to a 0-8 to 0-5 half-time lead.
Paul Galvin replaced Donncha Walsh after the break as the exchanges became tense. Galvin became Kerry's sixth yellow card.
In the 55th minute Quill got the first score of the half, and he levelled with 10 minutes left. Marc Ó Sé then surged up field and fired Kerry into the lead for the first time, but Colm Cavanagh equalised again.
McCullagh saw red after an altercation with Galvin.
SCORERS - Kerry: D Quill 0-4 (1f), B Sheehan 0-3 (3f), M Ó Sé, S Scanlon 0-1. Tyrone: N Gormley, C McCullagh (2f) 0-2 each, Joe McMahon, M Penrose, R Mulgrew, C Kavanagh, O Mulligan 0-1.
Kerry: D Murphy; M Ó Sé, T O'Sullivan, P Reidy; T Ó Sé, A O'Mahony, D Bohane; D Ó Sé, T Griffin; B Sheahan, E Fitzmaurice, D Walsh; D Quill, S Scanlon, MF Russell. Subs: D O'Sullivan for Griffin, P Galvin for Walsh, S O'Sullivan for Russell, P O'Connor for Russell, M Lyons for P Reidy.
TYRONE - P McConnell; R McMenamin, P Donnelly, C Gourley; D Harte, C Gormley, Justin McMahon; Joe McMahon, R Mellon; B Dooher, M Penrose, R Mulgrew; N Gormley, C McCullagh, O Mulligan. Subs: C Kavanagh for Penrose, D McCaul for Gourley, T McGuigan for Mulligan, C Holmes for Joe McMahon.
REF - P McGovern (Galway).
