By Eoghan Cormican
Tipperary 3-21 Louth 0-7
Tipperary comfortably accounted for a truly abysmal Louth effort in the opening game of the Thurles triple-header this afternoon.
The home outfit were full value for their 23-point win in this massively one-sided round 2B football qualifier clash.
Declan Byrne, Louth, in action against Liam Casey, Tipperary today. Picture: Sportsfile.
The writing was on the wall for Colin Kelly’s charges from very early in the second period, Colin O’Riordan’s goal on 41 minutes moving Tipperary 3-13 to 0-6 clear. O’Riordan’s speculative effort from 65-metres out slipped through the gloves of Louth ‘keeper Craig Lynch, summing up a truly miserable day at the office for the Wee County.
Kevin O’Halloran, Barry Grogan and Conor Sweeney landed points to swell the winners tally, with Louth failing to register a single score in the first 32 minutes of the second-half.
Having played against the elements in the first period, Tipperary had put themselves in a superb position come half-time, leading 2-10 to 0-6.
Ger Mulhaire, who earned a late call up at the expense of Brian Fox, stole through for a second minute goal, with Tipperary’s second green flag arriving on 27 minutes.
Tommy Durnin produced a foot-block to deny Conor Sweeney and referee Rory Hickey was in no hesitation awarding a Tipperary penalty. Sweeney dusted himself down to dispatch the place-kick.
Louth wasted two placed ball efforts approaching the break and, indeed, the visitors failed to add to their tally in the final 12 minutes of the first-half. For the home outfit, Peter Acheson landed two fine points from midfield, while Kevin O’Halloran was razor sharp from the dead-ball situation. The Portroe corner-forward finished the half with four points to his name.
Scorers for Tipperary: K O’Halloran (0-7, 0-4 frees, 0-2 ’45’s); C Sweeney (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1 free); C O’Riordan (1-1), G Mulhaire (1-0); R Acheson, P Austin, M Quinlivan (0-2 each); B Grogan (0-1 free), S Kennedy, L Casey, J Lonergan, B Fox (0-1 each)
Scorers for Louth: D Byrne (0-2); R Burns (0-1 free), C Judge (0-1 free), R Holdcroft, P Smith (0-1 each)
Tipperary: E Comerford; C McDonald, P Codd, J Feehan; S Kennedy, R Kiely, A Campbell; C O’Riordan, P Acheson; G Mulhair, C Sweeney, L Casey; K O’Halloran, M Quinlivan, P Austin.
Subs: B Fox for Mulhair (43), C O’Shaughnessy for Kennedy (44), J Lonergan for Casey (45), B Grogan for Austin (48), A Morrissey for Acheson (60), B Mulvihill for Kiely (62)
Louth: G Lynch; P Rath, D Finnegan, A Williams; D Byrne, D O’Hanlon, A Reid; T Durnin, J Cailiff; B Duffy, P Smith, C McKeever; R Burns, C Judge, R Holdcroft.
Subs: E O’Connor for C McKeever (24 mins), C Grimes for Judge (26), E Lafferty for O’Hanlon (HT), Jim McEneaney for Califf (43), D Maguire for Holdcroft (44), D McComish for Lafferty (51, bc).
Referee: R Hickey (Clare).