27 July 2009
All Ireland Senior Football qualifiers
Saffrons summer of fun ended by Kerry in Tullamore thriller.
Kerry 2-12 Antrim 1-10
Antrim’s great summer adventure came to an end at Tullamore on Sunday when they were beaten by Kerry in the final round of qualifiers in the race for the Sam Maguire Cup.
Leading by a point at half-time, and by two early in the second-half, Antrim were overhauled by the aristocrats of gaelic football as the game progressed and in the end a goal by Kerry’s Paul Galvin killed off their hopes of making it to the quarter-finals, and what would have been a clash with Dublin.
After a shaky start in which they fell 1-2 to 0-1 behind Antrim hit back brilliantly and a point by Tomas McCann followed by a brilliant goal by Tony Scullion had them level.
Kerry regained the lead with a point from Tommy Walsh but in a fantastic finish to the half Paddy Cunningham leveled and Ciaran Close edged them in front to send them in at the break leading by 1-4 to 1-3.
Indeed Antrim will look back at the final ten minutes of the first half as a time when they should have gained a decided advantage on the scoreboard for in a spell when they ran Kerry ragged they could, and probably should, have added a further goal and two points.
However with wind advantage in the second-half things looked good when Tomas McCann turned inside his marker to kick a great point and increase the lead to 1-5 to 1-3 five minutes after the restart.
Kerry then began to gain an advantage at midfield and the introduction of substitute Michael Quirke gave them an edge in this area. Kerry superstar Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper, who had been introduced as a substitute just before half-time, was also beginning to make his presence felt and his accuracy from frees helped Kerry open a three point lead.
Antrim regained their composure and Michael McCann hit four second-half points to bring his side level with just minutes left for play. The large Saffron following was in full cry but Galvin’s goal gave Kerry the shot in the arm they needed and the men from the Kingdom finished with a flurry to book a quarter-final spot against Dublin next weekend.
Despite the defeats to Tyrone and Kerry in the last two week’s it has been a great campaign for Antrim considering they started the season in Division 4. Their main aim for 2009 was to win promotion, and they done that with a bit to spare, going through the league campaign unbeaten, and despite their narrow defeat to Sligo in the Division 4 final the objective had been achieved.
However what defined 2009 for most of the fans was their championship run and those victories over Donegal and Cavan to reach their first Ulster final since 1970. Liam Bradley has his backroom team have lifted the football fortunes in this county to a level most of us didn’t imagine possible and for that they deserve our sincere thanks. The big challenge for 2010 is to continue on that upward curve and it is something we all look forward to immensely.
KERRY : 1 D Murphy; 4 T O’Sullivan, 21 K Young, 3 T Griffin; 7 A O’Mahony, 6 M McCarthy, 2 M Ó Sé; 8 D Ó Sé, 9 S Scanlon; 10 P Galvin (1-2) , 29 T Kennelly, 15 S O’Sullivan (0-1, free) ; 17 Darren O’Sullivan, 11 Declan O’Sullivan (0-1), 14 T Walsh (1-2). Subs: 13 C Cooper (0-4, frees) for S O’Sullivan (31 mins), 5 T Ó Sé for O’Mahony (43 mins), 12 D Walsh for Kennelly (43 mins), P O’Connor (0-2, frees) for D O’Sullivan (55 mins), 20 M Quirke for Scanlon (57 mins). Yellow-carded : Griffin (35 mins), M Ó Sé (38 mins).
ANTRIM : 16 J Finucane; 2 C Brady, 3 A McClean, 4 K O’Boyle; 5 T Scullion (1-0) , 6 J Crozier, 7 J Loughrey; 12 N McKeever, 9 A Gallagher; 10 T O’Neill, 19 C Close (0-1), 15 T McCann (0-2); 13 P Cunningham (0-3, two frees) , 14 K Niblock, 8 M McCann (0-4, three frees). Subs : 20 A Douglas for O’Boyle (12 mins, inj), 24 C Murray for Close (50 mins), 11 K Brady for O’Neill (54 mins), 17 S Burke for Niblock (65 mins). Yellow-carded : McCann (35 mins), O’Neill (38 mins), Gallagher (40 mins), McCann (50 mins), Brady (67 mins).
Referee: Jimmy White (Donegal).
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