Tipperary cleaned out by Kerry U21s

Kerry 3-11 Tipperary 1-3: Liam Kearns was somewhat apprehensive making the trip home to Tralee. He knew the Kerry U21s had a fair amount of work done in preparation for their upcoming Munster championship campaign. He also knew how little work his own squad had done.

The end result was a 14-point trouncing where the visitors managed only one score in the second-half, that a 49th minute point from sub Jack Kennedy. Seven of the side which featured during last August’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Mayo were on show here and while Kearns was cognisant of their limited preparation heading into this McGrath Cup opener, no manager enjoys a 14 scores to four thumping.

“The boys gave me a rod to use on their backs and I will be using it,” he said. “You can’t hide away from it. That was a trouncing out there. We got our backsides spanked by an U21 team so perspective is perspective.”