O'Connor must plan without Ó Sé after dismissal

Munster SFC First round - Kerry 2-16 Tipperary 0-11:KERRY, WITHOUT ever hitting top gear, won an ill-tempered quarter-final at a blustery Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney, yesterday in front of 9,500 spectators. Tomás Ó Sé was involved in an off-the-ball incident with Hugh Coghlan in the 33rd minute which the linesman saw and referee Maurice Condon issued a red card. Ó Sé now faces an eight-week ban.

Kerry manager Jack O’Connor said: “I think it’s the within the timescale of 48 weeks (since he was last sent off) and there’s a good chance he’ll be out for two months.”

Tipperary won the early midfield exchanges and the sides were level on 0-4 after 20 minutes with Declan O’Sullivan, Aidan OMahony, Colm Cooper and Darran O’Sullivan on the mark for Kerry but they missed goal-scoring chances with Tipp goalkeeper Matthew O’Donnell making a double save to deny Declan O’Sullivan in the 11th minute.

However, once Micheal Quirke came in as a blood substitute for Séamus Scanlon, Kerry started to win ball at midfield and Cooper was at his best as Kerry moved 0-9 to 0-5 in front before the Ó Sé incident.

In the second half with Kerry leading by that score, they were awarded a penalty when Kieran Donaghy was dragged down and Bryan Sheehan tucked the spot-kick away. Sheehan followed with a long-range free within two minutes for a 1-10 to 0-5 lead.

Two pointed frees from Barry Grogan and points from Conor Sweeney and Brian Mulvihill closed the gap to 1-13 to 0-10. Then in the 57th minute Barry Grogan had a goal disallowed and in the 63rd minute Philip Austin struck the foot of the Kerry post.

Cooper and Declan O’Sullivan steadied the Kerry ship and it was left to Sheehan to score his second goal in injury time.

KERRY: B Kealy; K Young, M Ó Sé, T O’Sullivan; T Ó Sé, E Brosnan (0-1), A O’Mahony (0-1); S Scanlon, B Sheehan (2-1, 1-0 pen, one free); Darran O’Sullivan (0-3), Declan O’Sullivan (0-3), D Walsh (0-1); C Cooper (0-5, two frees), K Donaghy, K O’Leary (0-1). Subs: M Quirke for S Scanlon (26 mins), P Galvin for K O’Leary (53 mins), BJ Keane for Darran O’Sullivan (60 mins), D Bohan for A OMahony (63 mins), S Enright for T O’Sullivan (63 mins), A O’Connell for E Brosnan (69 mins).

TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; A Morrissey, P Codd, C McDonald; C Dillon, L Egan, C Aylward; G Hannigan (0-1), B Jones; B Fox (0-1), P Austen (0-2), H Coghlan; C Sweeney (0-1, free), S Grogan, B Grogan (0-3, two frees). Subs: P Mulvihill (0-1) for S Grogan (43 mins), P Acheson (0-1) for C Sweeney (56 mins), J Cagney for B Jones (66 mins), S Hahessy for P Austin (70 mins).

Referee: M Condon (Waterford).