Tipperary 2-10 louth 1-12:GUTSY TIPPERARY clung on for their second ever qualifier win as Louth's penalty jinx struck again in Drogheda on Saturday night.
Trailing by six points at the break, and without a score in the first 10 minutes of the second half, the home team were thrown a lifeline when Tipperary’s Matthew O’Donnell hauled Colm Judge down with a high tackle.
The goalkeeper was shown a straight red for the dangerous challenge, but Louth passed up the opportunity to make the incident count on the scoreboard when JP Rooney shot narrowly wide from the spot.
It was the Reds’ fourth crucial penalty miss this season – from their third different taker – but to his credit, Rooney did convert one in the closing stages to set up a grandstand finish.
Louth’s revival was too slow in the making, however, and they didn’t make enough use of their numerical advantage, only managing to reduce the deficit to four points by the time Syl Doyle evened matters up with a second yellow card for centre back Derek Crilly at the end of the third quarter.
Tipp passed up three great chances to extend their lead soon afterwards, but struck a killer blow in the 60th minute when Philip Austin rounded Stuart Reynolds for his side’s second goal to make it 2-8 to 0-9.
The gap was still seven points with six minutes left on the clock, but Louth eventually found some consistency in front of goal and when Rooney made amends for his earlier penalty miss, there was just a goal in it – 2-9 to 1-9. Eamonn McEneaney’s men continued to press, but a superb Brian Coen free from 50 metres proved crucial as Tipp hung on through five minutes of injury-time.
Despite their back-to-back promotions, this was Tipperary’s first championship victory under John Evans and it was no more than they deserved after an impressive first-half showing.
They raced into an early lead only to be pegged back, but a fine goal from Barry Grogan sparked a superb purple patch that saw the Premier County score 1-5 in the final 10 minutes of the half, with just one in reply at the other end, to lead 1-8 to 0-5 at half-time.
TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; P Codd, C McDonald, C Higgins; C Aylward, H Coughlan, R Costigan (0-1); G Hannigan (0-1), K Mulryan; S Carey, P Austin (1-0), B Fox (0-1); B Mulvihill, B Coen (0-2, one free), B Grogan (1-5, three frees). Subs: P Fitzgerald for K Mulryan (45 mins); D O’Brien for S Carey (59); A Fitzgerald for P Austin (64); E Hanrahan for H Coughlan, A Moloney for B Mulvihill (both 70).
LOUTH: S Reynolds; D Finnegan, J O’Brien, P Rath; R Finnegan, D Crilly, G Hoey; P Keenan (0-1), B White (0-3 frees); A Reid, R Carroll (0-1), D Reid; C Judge (0-1), S Lennon (0-1), JP Rooney (1-3). Subs: A Hoey (0-1 free) for S Lennon (20 mins); P Smith for A Hoey (37); D Maguire (0-1) for D Reid, B McArdle for R Finnegan (both 60).
Referee: S Doyle (Wexford).
