Dr Crokes (Kerry) 3-15 Moyle Rovers (Tipperary) 0-8
An exhibition of forward play gave Dr Crokes the platform to get them on the provincial road in Ardfinnan as they proved comfortably too strong for Tipp champions Moyle Rovers in the Munster quarter-finals.
Full-forward Kieran O'Leary ended up with 2-2, the goals both opportunistic but well-taken efforts following defensive mistakes in the first half, while Tony Brosnan scored 0-7 and Micheál Burns chipped in with three from play to keep daylight between the teams.
Moyle Rovers opened brightly enough, attacking at pace in the early minutes and earning a couple of nice points through Richard Power and Liam Boland.
But three crucial incidents in that first half prevented them from keeping in touch with their more famous rivals by the interval. The first Crokes goal came in the 10th minute when Kieran O'Leary found the net after a defensive mistake and O'Leary had another green flag in the 28th minute, again benefitting from hesitation in the Rovers defence after a long Johnny Buckley ball saw him fist to the net, ensuring the Kerry champions led by 2-8 to 0-5 at half-time. In the meantime, Moyle Rover lost influential corner-forward Liam Boland to a black card, piling difficulty on difficulty.
When they lost Shane Foley to a straight red early in the second half, it gave them yet another problem and Dr Crokes were more than capable of capitalising in full.
Former Kerry star Colm Cooper entered the fray in the 40th minute, set up a couple of scores and scored a point himself after jinking through the defence, with the issue all but decided as the game entered the last quarter
Dr Crokes: S Murphy, J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald, D O'Leary, G White, S Doolan, J Buckley, D Casey (0-1), M Burns (0-3), G O'Shea, B Looney, D Shaw (0-1), K O'Leary (2-2), T Brosnan (0-7, 0-6 frees). Subs: C Cooper (0-1) for D Shaw (40 mins), M Potts (1-0) for D Casey (41), J Lyne for T Brosnan (48), M O'Shea for K O'Leary (51).
Moyle Rovers: C Kenrick, P Morrissey, A Campbell, M Irwin, D McGrath, R Mulcahy (0-1), L Boland, R Power (0-2), T Fitzgerald, D Ryan (0-2), S Quirke, A McGrath, L Boland (0-1), S Foley, D Owens. Subs: J Harney for P Morrissey (17 mins), D Foley for L Boland (b-c 18), R Quigley (0-1) for S Quirke (40), S Carey (0-1) for A McGrath (44), B Owens for L Boland (48).
Referee: James Bermingham (Cork).
