Dr Crokes (Kerry) 0-15; Loughmore-Castleiney (Tipperary) 1-06
No one was surprised at the outcome where a Kerry football team beat a Tipperary foe easily in the end, but credit double county champions Loughmore-Castleiney for the spirit and resolve they showed before bowing the knee at Mallow in the Munster SF club final on Sunday last.
It was Dr Crokes ninth Munster title and they can thank a very impressive second half display for finally getting away from their doughy opponents who had stuck might and were close to them for the entirety of the first half. Although wind-backed, the losers turned over only a point in arrears at 0-4 to 0-3 and with their style of game, it looked like they might be able to go the distance with the men from the Kingdom.
In the end it was the class players that Crokes possessed in their ranks who were the difference between the two sides. If the Tipp lads had the likes of Tony Brosnan or Micheál Burns in their ranks, undoubtedly they would be the ones celebrating this week.
On a day when scores were hard earned, both those players managed to kick 0-5 each to help their club complete a pretty unique year which saw them winning the Kerry league, club, county, and Munster titles.
Loughmore had earned plaudits both in winning the senior hurling and football title in Tipp this year and in getting to a Munster final but with all but two of the starting 15 over 30, it was perhaps not unsurprising that they ran out of legs in the second half.
In that moiety, the winners found a rhythm which saw them kick points from all angles and were eight to the good before Phillip O’Connell got in for a consolation green flag in the 62nd minute - a score that added a little more respectability to the scoreboard which was the least the Tipp men deserved for their sterling efforts on the day.
Dr Crokes: S Murphy; E Looney, F Fitzgerald, M Lynch; C Keating, G White, B Looney (0-1); M O’Shea, M Potts; M Burns (0-5, 0-2f), G O’Shea, T Doyle (0-2); T Brosnan (0-5), D Shaw, C McMahon Subs: K O’Leary (0-2) for McMahon (45), D Naughton for Keating (54), D Casey for Shaw (58), A Hennigan for Doyle (58), M Cooper for Potts (60+2).
Loughmore-Castleiney: J Hennessy; L Egan, J Ryan, W Eviston; E O’Connell, T McGrath, J Meagher; J McGrath, L Treacy (0-2); T Maher, B McGrath, Eamon Connolly; L McGrath (0-2f), Ciarán McGrath, N McGrath Subs: P O’Connell (1-0) for C McGrath (h-t), C Connolly for J McGrath (46), A McGrath (0-1) for T McGrath (52), D McCahey for Ryan (52), Ed Connolly for Maher (52).
Ref: C Lane (Banteer).
