Walsh the wizard in Munster cruise

KERRY teenage sensation Tommy Walsh was the name on everyone’s lips following Munster’s victory Leinster in a low-intensity M Donnelly Interprovincial Football semi-final at Fermoy on Saturday.

Walsh gave more than a glimpse of his prodigious talents. Stationed at full forward, the tall and physically powerful 19-year-old was a huge presence in the heart of the Munster attack and, while unlucky not to get on the score-sheet, the son of Kerry legend, Sean, provided the final, subtle passes for both of Munster’s game-turning, second half goals.

It was also a memorable day for Cork’s contingent, who provided all bar one point of Munster’s total with Fintan Gould and Conor McCarthy landing a litany of splendid points and Pierce O’Neill and John Miskella scoring the goals.

The second half recovery was initiated by Graham Canty (moved from full back at the start of the second half) and Seamus Scanlon who began to get the better of Shane Ryan and Ronan Sweeney.

Two splendidly taken goals from Pierce O’Neill and John Miskella – with Walsh the instigator — helped turn the tide in Munster’s favour and the Leinster challenge faded.

Munster manager Seán Geaney, was naturally delighted with the result that sees Munster through to an October 27 meeting with either Connacht or Leinster under lights at Croke Park and a tilt at bringing a first title to the province in eight years.

“For a team that came together on the day, they really played as a team,” said Geaney. “They threw the ball around and they fought hard for each other and got their just rewards.

“They didn’t pull away from us so we were always in with a shout. At one stage there was four points between us, but we pegged it back point by point and all of a sudden we were only a point down and the lads saw they had a chance here and in fairness finished very strongly.”

Leinster manager Val Andrews had no complaints afterwards: “The game was being played at half pace by everybody. Munster took the two goals, two good chances and we had no answer. We had a poor performance, Munster came back and they did well and they won.

“I thought Munster were more clinical in front of the goal. We kicked five balls into the goalkeeper’s hand in the first 15 minutes. Our finishing was poor, we weren’t cohesive. Munster were better on the day and fair play to them.”

Geaney was forced to field a side without Limerick’s best players, who boycotted the Munster team because of the provincial council’s decision to scrap the Open Draw system.

Still, the Kerry man is looking forward to the final. “I’d like to prepare properly for the final and hopefully we can get one or two sessions together. It’s 1999 since Munster won it last and it was 1982 before that. That’s crazy when you think of the number of All-Irelands that have come to Munster between Cork and Kerry. Hopefully we can put that right later in the month.”

Leinster began impressively with Shane Ryan leading the charge from midfield, and the visitors stormed into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead inside 20 minutes with Dessie Dolan, Mark Carpenter and Paul Barden finding the range.

Alan Quirke did well to deny Barden a goal in the 24th minute while at the other end Paul Casey did brilliantly in protecting Damien Sheridan’s net, after Liam O Lionáin lofted the ball over the Leinster goalkeeper.

Fintan Gould led Munster’s temporary fight-back with two well-taken points but Leinster finished the half strongly with Niall McNamee and Dolan landing good scores to leave it stand 0-7 to 0-4 at the break.

Graham Geraghty landed the first of two Leinster points just after the interval but then the Meath man got sent off with Aidan O’Mahony after the pair got entangled in a minor punch-up near the side line in front of referee Gearóid O Conámha.

Gradually Munster clawed their back with four successive Conor McCarthy points to reduce to margin to the minimum.

There was a brief respite from Leinster before Walsh took a grip of proceedings, aiding Cork men O’Neill and Miskella to two well-executed goals in the 58th and 60th minutes respectively.

Leinster’s challenge faded then and Munster grew in confidence with Ger Spillane and David Moran adding late points.

Scorers for Munster: C McCarthy 0-5 (0-3 frees); J Miskella 1-1; P O’Neill 1-0; F Gould 0-3 (0-1 ‘45’); G Spillane, D Moran 0-1 each.

Scorers for Leinster: D Dolan 0-5 (0-4 frees); P Barden and G Geraghty 0-2 each; M Carpenter, N McNamee and B Brogan 0-1 each.

MUNSTER: A Quirke (Cork); T O’Gorman (Waterford), G Canty (Cork), T O’Sullivan (Kerry); K O’Connor (Cork), G Spillane (Cork), A O’Mahony (Kerry); S Scanlon (Kerry), M Aherne (Waterford); F Gould (Cork), P O’Neill (Cork), J Miskella (Cork); L O Lionáin (Waterford), T Walsh (Kerry), C McCarthy (Cork).

Subs: C O’Neill (Cork) for Ó Lionáin (ht); D Moran (Kerry) for Aherne (57); E Sexton (Cork) for O’Neill (59).

LEINSTER: D Sheridan (Longford), D Henry (Dublin), C Evans (Offaly), D Reilly (Longford); P Casey (Dublin), C Moran (Dublin), C King (Meath); S Ryan (Dublin), R Sweeney (Kildare); M Carpenter (Carlow), P Barden (Longford), G Geraghty (Meath); B Kavanagh (Longford), D Dolan (Westmeath), J Doyle (Kildare).

Subs: N McNamee (Offaly) for Evans (inj 12); B Brogan (Dublin) for C Moran (blood 12-18); Brogan for B Kavanagh (blood 29-35); B Brogan for Sweeney (62) and G Dolan (Westmeath) for Barden (62).

Referee: G Ó Conámha (Galway)