Munster Express Online

Munster Minor Football Championship Quarter-Final

Waterford 1-2
Kerry 2-21

Brian Flannery at Fraher Field

Kerry began their quest for a third successive All-Ireland minor football title with a facile 22 point victory over Waterford at Fraher Field on Wednesday last.

Powered by half a dozen members of the successful St. Brendan’s All-Ireland colleges winning team the men from the Kingdom stamped their authority on this game right from the throw-in.
By the 19th minute, the reigning champions were 0-12 to 0-0 ahead. If this was a competition under Queensbury rules the contest would have been halted there and then. Unfortunately the home side were not spared and had to endure a full 60 minutes of being totally outclassed.
An opening score finally arrived for Waterford after 21 minutes as Shane O’Meara converted a free out of his hands in front of goal.
Star forward David Clifford placed Ferdia O’Brien for Kerry’s opening goal in the 24th minute and the Munster champions held a 1-13 to 0-1 advantage at the break.
An error from a Waterford defender allowed Ferdia O’Brien to register his second goal just seconds after the restart. The procession continued unabated until the 44th minute when a rare Déise attack saw half back Cathal Curran shoot a fine goal to the top corner of the net.

Substitute Ciaran Walsh followed with a second point for the home side before normal service resumed with five successive Kerry points before game’s end.
The pick of these scores was a delightful point with the outside of his left foot from the silky David Clifford.
The wisdom of throwing Waterford minor footballers in against the likes of Kerry at such an early stage in the Championship was the main topic of conversation as the official attendance of 478 made heir way home from this opening round mismatch.
* Meanwhile, Waterford’s minor hurlers will take on Tipperary in their Munster Championship play-off at Walsh Park this Saturday at 2pm, a throw-in time hardly conducive to maximising the attendance for this make or break fixture.

Waterford: Aaron Beresford; Jake Mulcahy, Jack Shehan, Adam O’Sullivan; Cathal Curran, Maurice Daly, Conor Ó Cuirrín; Dylan Guiry, James Beresford; Billy Power, Sean Martin, Tom Barron; Ciárán Kirwan, Shane O’Meara, Paddy Prendergast.

Substitutes: Tony Collins for Adam O’Sullivan (26 mins), Ciaran Walsh for Conor Ó Cuirrín (46), Cormac Gough for Billy Power (51), Liam Connolly for Maurice Daly (53), Ryan O’Neill for Tom Barron (56) and Corey Kennedy for James Beresford (59).

Scorers: Cathal Curran (1-0), Shane O’Meara (0-1f) and Ciaran Walsh (0-1).

Kerry: Sean Ó Luing; Graham O’Sullivan, Niall Collins, Micheál Reidy; David Naughton, Daniel O’Brien, Micheal Foley; Mike Breen, Mark Ryan; Diarmuid O’Connor, Sean O’Shea, Dara Moynihan; Ferdia O’Brien, David Clifford, Brian Friel.

Substitutes: Michael Potts for David Naughton (26 mins), Bryan Sweeney for Mark Ryan (HT), David Shaw for Diarmuid O’Connor (36), Tomas O’Connor for Dara Moynihan (46), Darren Casey for Ferdia O’Brien (51) and Caolim Teahan for Michael Foley (55).
Scorers: Ferdia O’Brien (2-1), David Clifford (0-5; 0-2f), Sean O’Shea (0-4; 0-2f), Dara Moynihan (0-3), Diarmuid O’Connor, Brian Friel (0-2 each), Mike Breen, Michael Potts, Tomás O’Connor and Darren Casey (0-1 each).

Referee: David Grogan (Tipperary)