Munster ease past Leinster in inter-pro semi-final

Munster 1-16 Leinster 1-13

A totally dominant first-half performance from Munster laid the foundation for this deserved win over Leinster in today’s M Donnelly Football inter-provincial semi-final.

Leinster did manage to summon up a Paddy Keenan-inspired second-half surge, but they’d left themselves too much ground to make up, and in the end Munster had enough of a buffer to see the game out.

There was great vigour and energy to everything Munster did, and after just two minutes they had already scored as many points through Clare-man David Tubridy and Cork’s Paddy Kelly.

Tubridy tacked on another free before Munster struck the first really decisive blow of the game – a goal from towering full-forward Gary Hurney when he left marker Kevin Reilly flailing and then angled a perfectly placed shot to the left corner of the net.

That slap in the face in no way stirred Leinster from their lethargy. They were still second to every breaking ball, and Munster looked dangerous every time they attacked.

Tomas O’Se kicked a fine point from play before Tubridy added another free to leave the scoreline reading 1-5 to no-score in Munster’s favour.

All of 20 minutes had elapsed before Bernard Brogan finally got Leinster off the mark with a pointed free, but it didn’t immediately signal a concerted fight-back as Munster continued to dictate the flow of the game and moved 1-9 to 0-2 ahead.

Leinster badly needed a goal to claw their way back into the game, and it came from an unlikely source. Diarmuid Connolly’s through ball found Mikey Conway, and when his well-struck shot was saved by Alan Quirke, Leinster corner-back Cahir Healy appeared from nowhere to poke the rebound to the back of the net.

Suddenly invigorated, Leinster added points from Paddy Keenan and Connolly, but Munster replied before the break with a brace of their own to leave the half-time score 1-10 to 1-4 in their favour.

Leinster manager, Sean Boylan, surely had a thing or two to say to his team in the dressing-room, and they certainly played with a lot more energy and application in the second-half.

Louth’s Paddy Keenan in particular really caught fire, and two points from him and a brace of frees from Bernard Brogan reduced the deficit to just two points.

Munster responded impressively though by scoring the next five points to move 1-15 to 1-8 ahead, with the pick of their scores coming from corner-back Stephen Lavin, who got on the end of a superb team move.

It looked like Munster might stroll from there to the final whistle, but, credit to Leinster, they fought right to the end, and an unbroken necklace of five points left just two between the teams again.

In the end though, Boylan’s team ran out of time and energy, and David Tubridy made the win safe for Munster with a fine point in injury time.

Scorers

Munster: D Tubridy 0-6 (3f), G Hurney 1-2 (1f), I Ryan 0-2, S Lavin, P Kelly, P Kissane, J Cooke, M Collins, T O’Se all 0-1

Leinster: B Brogan 0-6 (5f), P Keenan 0-5, C Healy 1-0, D Connolly, S Cluxton (f) both 0-1

Munster: A Quirke; A O’Mahony, J McCarthy, S Lavin; T O’Se, G Canty, P Kissane; G Brennan, S Scanlon; P Kelly, P Kerrigan, J Cooke; D Tubridy, G Hurney, I Ryan. Subs: M Collins for P Kerrigan (34), S Briggs for J Cooke (57)

Leinster: S Cluxton;G Molloy, K Reilly, C Healy; E Bolton, S McAnarney, L Glynn; MD McAuley, P Keenan; M Conway, A Brogan, B Quigley; B Brogan, D Connolly, K McManamon. Subs: K Nolan for E Bolton (14), K Lillis for M Conway (ht), B Murphy for MD McAuley (49), J Doyle for K McMcManamon (51), S McCormack for L Glynn (54)

Referee: M Higgins (Fermanagh)