THEIR SENIOR SIDE may have crashed to a dispiriting defeat in the Leinster championship on Saturday, but the Dublin minor side did give hurling supporters in the capital something to cheer about. They fashioned an excellent 1-12 to 0-10 semi-final win over Kilkenny to qualify for a third successive final in that grade. Paul Winters and Cormac Costelloe, corner-forwards on the Dublin side that reached last year’s All-Ireland minor final against Galway, demonstrated their experience by shooting 1-10 between them.
In the other semi-final of the Electric Ireland Leinster MHC, Wexford were far too strong for Laois as they triumphed by 1-24 to 0-10 with Tony French and Conor McDonald their chief marksmen with a combined haul of 1-12. The Martin Storey managed side now advance to face Dublin on July 8th in what will be the first final in the grade since 2005 not to feature Kilkenny.
Elsewhere in Connacht, Mayo booked their place in this year’s minor football final on July 15th with a 1-6 to 0-6 semi-final win over Sligo yesterday in Castlebar with Adam Gallagher grabbing the only goal of the game. In the other game in that competition over the weekend, Roscommon were far too strong for Leitrim on Saturday evening with their 4-15 to 2-3 success placing them on course for a semi-final meeting with Galway next Saturday in Tuam Stadium.
In Ulster there was success for the Monaghan minor footballers as they got the better of Down by 0-11 to 0-8 in their semi-final meeting in the Morgan Athletic Grounds. The win means Monaghan will participate in the county’s first provincial minor decider since 2008 and will be bidding for their first final win since 1945. There they will face Tyrone or Derry, as those two counties go head to head in Clones next Saturday at 2.45pm.
Meanwhile Tipperary qualified for this year’s Munster intermediate hurling final with a 3-18 to 2-16 semi-final victory over Cork in yesterday’s curtain-raiser to the senior clash in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Tipperary laid the foundations for their victory in the first-half as they lead 3-10 to 0-6 at the interval. Sean Carey, who has previously claimed silverware with the Tipperary U21 and senior footballers, David Butler, a county senior hurling medal winner with Drom-Inch last season, and Joe Gallagher, a Tipperary U21 last year, all raised green fags in the opening-half.
Cork did fight back in the second-half with Seamus Harnedy and Colm Casey, who featured on opposite sides for UCC and CIT respectively in this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup final, finding the net. But Tipperary prevailed and now have a chance to claim honours in this grade for the first time since 2002, when they face Clare in the final.
