Tyrone see off Kerry again in U20 semi-final

Tyrone close in on a third All-Ireland U20 title in just four years

Eoin McElholm of Tyrone in action against Kerry players Daniel Kirby, left, and Darragh O'Connor during the Dalata Hotel Group GAA Football All-Ireland U20 Championship semi-final match between Kerry and Tyrone at Laois Hire O'Moore Park in Portlaoise, Laois. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile

All-Ireland U20 FC semi-final: Tyrone 2-14 Kerry 0-14 

Tyrone find themselves just one hour away from a third Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 title in just four years after inflicting yet more pain on the Kingdom in this competitive last four meeting in Portlaoise.

A repeat of last year’s decider in this same venue, the reigning champions led from the first score to the last minute, but they were made work for their passage by a Kerry side that was missing some key players, including captain Cormac Dillon, through injury.

Kerry manager Tomás O Sé had pinpointed Tyrone’s intensity prior to the game, both in last year’s final and in their slog through Ulster just to get to this stage. The Kingdom, by comparison, had a more leisurely journey to the midlands.

Sure enough, Tyrone tore into them from the first whistle. The reigning champions were 1-5 to a point in front through the first quarter and it could have been worse for Kerry who were thankful to Aodhna O Beaglaoich’s goalline block early on from Eoin McElholm.

The Tyrone attacker was a constant danger. So too was Ruari McCullagh and between them, and others, they were doing serious damage. Much of it came from the two first-half goals, both sourced from the same simplistic route.

Niah Grimes got the second, on the stroke of half-time. Like McElholm’s effort, it derived from a breaking ball behind the Kerry midfield from a Tyrone kickout. Oceans of space opened up and Tyrone are too good on the counter not to take full advantage.

The irony is that Kerry were largely dominant in the air. They absolutely destroyed Tyrone in the midfield battles through the middle of that opening period and it told in the second quarter on the scoreboard.

At one point, they had claimed seven points broken by just a two-pointer from McCullagh. All told, a five-point deficit must have been hard to take for the Munster champions but they kept plugging and plugging away.

Yet again enjoying an amount of possession, they couldn’t get quite close enough to the frontrunners with Ben Murphy twice engineering superb openings for himself but the Austin Stacks man was unable both times to find a finish past goalkeeper Conan McGarvey.

The closest Kerry got was three points, twice, but Tyrone came up with the last three scores to embellish the scoreboard in their favour. They now meet the winners of Mayo and Louth who face off next Friday.

Scorers for Kerry: P Lane (0-7, 5 frees); K Dennehy and D Kirby (both 0-2), E Healy, L Evans and R Carroll (all 0-1).

Scorers for Tyrone: R McCullagh (0-9, 0-1 mark, 0-1 ‘45’, 0-3 free, 1 2-pt); E McElholm 1-4 (1-2, 0-1 ‘45’); N Grimes (1-0); S McDermott (0-1).

KERRY: M Tansley; A O Beaglaoich, G Evans, M Lynch; L Evans, D O’Connor, B Murphy; E Healy, D Kirby; E Boyle, D O’Sullivan, K Dennehy; C Collins, T Kennedy, P Lane.

Subs: R Carroll for Collins (43); E Daly for Boyle (47); J Murphy for O’Sullivan (56); J O’Sullivan for Kirby (58); O Ferris for Lane (58).

TYRONE: C McGarvey; F Nelis, B Hughes, Conor Devlin; C Daly, J Clarke, C Donnelly; Conan Devlin, C O’Neill; C Sheehy, L Og Mossey, M Quinn; R McCullagh, E McElholm, N Grimes.

Subs: S Broderick for Conor Devlin (24); S McDermott for Grimes (49); E McDonagh for Sheehy (53); D Donaghy for Mossey (59).

Referee: B Judge (Sligo).