Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 FC Final: Kerry outclass Tyrone

Dalata Hotel Group All-Ireland U20 Football Final

KERRY 0-21 TYRONE 1-10

By John Harrington at Croke Park

After a couple of early backfires Kerry eventually cleared the dirt from their petrol and accelerated to a highly impressive victory over Tyrone for their first All-Ireland in this grade since 2008.

This result didn’t look likely after a first quarter that saw Tyrone cut through the Kerry defence at their ease and surge into a 1-7 to 0-2 lead.

But the tide turned dramatically thereafter which was in no small part due to the extent with which Kerry midfielders Daniel Kirby and Evan Boyle took a vice-like grip on the game.

Their ability to dominate under high ball, drive their team forward with impressive athleticism, and kick some brilliant scores had a huge impact on the tie.

So too did the Gearóid White’s ability to weave through the Tyrone defence with his beautifully balanced running gait, and his accuracy from long-range frees was a massive weapon too.

Form the 20^th minute until the 65^th Kerry outscored Tyrone by 19 points to three which testified to their absolute dominance from the second quarter of the game on.

It was some turnaround because Tyrone started the match like a train, with Shea McDermott banging over a two-point free from 50 yards and Adrian McGurren sniping a lovely point after a jinking run.

Full-forward Peter Colton then knocked over another point for the Ulster champions before Daniel Kirby finally got Kerry off the mark.

It looked like they were warming to the contest when Eoin O’Flaherty swept forward from wing-back to kick their second, but then Tyrone struck the most decisive blow of the match yet when Shea McDermott scored a great goal.

The Errigal Ciaran man started the move that he finished, winning the ball on the arc and driving towards goal before laying it off. The ball went quickly through two pairs of Tyrone hands before it found its way to McDermott again who showed great positivity to continue his run.

His finish was lethal too, low and hard to the bottom left-hand corner.

Kerry were really struggling to cope with McDermott’s pace, power, and finishing, and they weren’t having much better luck with his fellow Tyrone inside-forward, Adrian McGurren who was a different type of threat.

All jinks and dummy solos, his ability to make space for himself was second to none, and his finishing was to-class too as two points from him sandwiched one from McDermott to push Tyrone 1-7 to 0-2 ahead.

At that point in the game the completely dominant reigning champions looked well positioned to win a fourth All-Ireland title in three years and third in a row, but then Kerry slowly started to get a grip on the game as Kirby and Boyle in the middle of the field came to the fore.

Converted frees by Tomás Kennedy and Gearoid White gave Kerry some badly needed oxygen, and they were breathing a lot more easily when Boyle then thumped over a fine two-pointer from play.

By now Killian Dennehy was on as a sub and he made an immediate impact, kicking a nice point and winning and carrying a lot of ball in the middle third.

Kerry were completely dominating the Tyrone kick-out now and that gave them the platform to kick two more points from Boyle and Kirby before the break to close the gap to two, 1-8 to 0-9.

Kerry were level by the 37^th minute thanks to points from Tomás Kennedy and Ronan Carroll, and from there the match was pretty much a procession with Tyrone unable to muster any sort of a response to Kerry’s dominance.

Daniel Kirby pushed Kerry ahead for the first time and then Gearoid White kicked the first of two two-point frees to really give his team some momentum.

Whenever Tyrone did manage to get their hands on the ball in the middle third they were swiftly turned over by ferocious Kerry pressure and tackling and the game kept flowing towards their goal.

A couple of Shea McDermott points in the space of a minute provide some very brief respite for Tyrone, but they wouldn’t score again as Kerry kicked the next six to finish the game with an impressive flourish.

Scorers for Kerry: Gearóid White 0-5 (2 tpf, 1f), Tomás Kennedy 0-4 (all frees), Daniel Kirby, Evan Boyle (1tp) both 0-3, Eoin O’Flaherty, Pa Walsh, Evan Boyle, Jack O’Sullivan, Killian Dennehy, Ronan Carroll all 0-1.

Scorers for Tyrone: Shea McDermott 1-6 (1tpf, 1f), Adrian McGurren 0-3, Peter Colton 0-1

KERRY: Kacper Robak; Michael Lynch, Gearóid Evans, Dara Stack; Eoin O’Flaherty, Aodhna Ó Beaglaoich, Pa Walsh; Daniel Kirby, Evan Boyle; Jack O’Sullivan, Gearóid White, Seán Ó Cuinn; Ronan Carroll, Tomás Kennedy, Paddy Lane. Subs: Killian Dennehy for Michael Lynch (24), Dara Hogan for Paddy Lane (34), Jack Joy for Ronan Carroll (46), David Sargent for Seán Ó Cuinn (52), Máirtín McKivergan for Jack O’Sullivan (60)

TYRONE: Oisín Watson; Seán Broderick, Luke Neeson, Michael McNamee; Aodhán Quinn, Conor Devlin, Brian Gallagher; Enda Donaghy, Conor O’Neill; Conall Sheehy, Leo Hughes, Turlough Muldoon; Adrian McGurren, Peter Colton, Shea McDermott. Subs: Ruairí McCullagh for Peter Colton (35), Jamie Concannon for Turlough Muldoon (53), Darragh Donaghy for Adrian McGurren (54)

Ref: Thomas Murphy (Galway)