TIPPERARY 0-7 KERRY 2-18
Killian Spillane scored 10 points in Thurles last night as Kerry walloped Tipperary to book a place in the Electric Ireland Munster minor football championship final on July 6th.
Spillane, son of former Kerry player Tom and nephew of Pat, was the star turn in a team managed by former All-Ireland SFC winning manager Jack O’Connor.
Spillane scored seven of his points after half-time as Kerry, playing with the breeze at their backs, kicked for home.
The visitors led by 2-3 to 0-4 at half-time, with Tomás Ó Sé and Jordan Kiely netting the first half goals.
Pounced
Ó Sé struck within 15 seconds of the throw-in and Kiely pounced from close range in the 11th minute after Micheál Burns rattled the Tipperary crossbar with a brilliant effort.
Trailing by five points at the break, Tipp were still in the hunt but Kerry were ruthless in the second half.
A 17-point victory was a far cry from the last two Munster finals contested by the two teams, which were closely contested affairs.
And on this evidence, Kerry are a smart bet to annex a second successive provincial crown next month – with O'Connor eyeing All-Ireland glory further down the line.
TIPPERARY: J Brady; D Owens, P Murphy, C O'Shaughnessy; W Connors (0-1), L Fahy, J Skehan; T Nolan (0-1), S Quirke; E Maloney, P White (0-1, free), A Tynan (0-1); J Bergin (0-1), J Kennedy (0-1), P Maher (0-1). Subs: R Peters for Bergin (40), C O'Mahony for Skehan (40), T Lowry for Murphy (46), D McGrath for Quirke (51), P Gavin for Maloney (56), J Delahunty for White (60+1).
KERRY: S Ryan (0-1, 45); J Morgan, B Begley, T O'Sullivan; D O'Donoghue, A Barry, B Sugrue; B O'Sullivan, M O'Connor; M Flaherty (0-2), B Rayle (0-1), M Burns (0-1); J Kiely (1-0), K Spillane (0-10, three frees), T Ó Sé (1-1). Subs: C Coffey (0-1) for O'Donoghue (47), S O'Sullivan (0-1) for Burns (47), S Cronin for Sugrue (54), L Kearney for O'Connor (54), P Clifford for Kiely (54), J Foley for Begley (58).
Referee: Kevin Murphy (Cork).
