12-05-2025
Changed times but same result as Tyrone U20s see off Kerry in Portlaoise
Kerry 0-14 Tyrone 2-14
These are changed times. It's 13 years since the Kerry-Tyrone rivalry sank to an abysmal low with a massed brawl that marred an All-Ireland junior semi-final between Dromid Pearses and Derrytresk in this corner of the midlands.
There was no such undercurrent or outbreak in this U20 All-Ireland last four tie, just an engaging encounter between two sides renewing acquaintances after the Ulster champions had won the 2024 All-Ireland final - also played in Portlaoise - at Kerry's expense.
Denis 'Shine' O'Sullivan had played that day in January of 2012, when the consequences and recriminations bled into the weeks and months that followed. His son Donagh was on the starting team here.
This one ended with the entire Tyrone panel arriving in on the Kerry dressing-room en masse to exchange jerseys. And then roaring the Kerry hurlers onto the field for their Joe McDonagh Cup game against Laois.
The passing of the seasons was just as apparent in the sight of Daniel Kirby stationed in the Kerry midfield. His dad William, a two-time All-Ireland winner, had spent a year in school in Ballyfin College, just 15 minutes down the road from Portlaoise.
The younger Kirby was part of a dominant Kerry aerial performance around the centre of the park. Tomás O Sé's side went toe-to-toe with the favourites but they were left to rue two soft goals conceded in identical style and a pair of their own missed three-pointers.
They had twice as many wides in total as Tyrone despite missing a clutch of key players, captain Cormac Dillon among them, so there will be plenty of regrets and the temptation for lots of 'if onlys' as this one percolates in the coming days.
That said, this is a superb Tyrone side and they deserved their win.
Like Kerry, they had in and around a dozen of the players who featured in that 2024 final to call on here, but the Ulster champions had steeled themselves in the fire of seven provincial games before this. Their decider had gone to extra-time.
Kerry had enjoyed a far more leisurely road to this point, their toughest day being a win over Cork that had, according to their manager, been a tad sloppy. That disparity in lead-ins probably played a part in the opening exchanges.
In Ruairi McCullagh and Eoin McElholm, Tyrone have a pair of attackers who would torch many a senior inter-county team. They claimed 1-13 of their 2-14 on the day and they were never led from their third-minute opening score to the finish.
McCullagh, speaking afterwards to TG4, used the word 'ruthless' when asked what it is that manager Paul Devlin is looking to inject into his lads and, sure enough, they had streaked into a 1-5 to 0-1 lead after just 18 minutes of play.
The irony with the first goal is that it came from a kick-out where Kerry had been so dominant, the ball breaking behind the cover and Tyrone blitzing through the ocean of space until McElholm scored with a beauty.
Seventeen minutes later and we had an identical snapshot on the stroke of half-time when it was Noah Grimes appearing as the last piece of the jigsaw. That concession was all the worse for the work Kerry had done since absorbing the first.
The entire second quarter had been Kerry's. They outscored Tyrone six points to two, the only effort from the northern team a two-pointer from McCullagh, so the five-point deficit at the break was rough justice for all that reconstruction work.
Third quarters have been Tyrone's domain so far in the championship. Kerry more than held their own. The only problem, again, was that they couldn't maximise the return their effort deserved with two big second-half goal chances going a begging.
Ben Murphy did so well in the build-up to both of them, his jinking run to make the opportunity for the first spellbinding, but the Austin Stacks man couldn't find the finish with either one and so Tyrone were able to keep them at bay with a degree of comfort.
Twice Kerry got the deficit down to three points but the late siege never materialised. Tyrone rattled off the last three points to add some sheen to the scoreboard. Just one more hour of football separates them now from a third title in for years.
The winners of Friday's meeting of Mayo and Louth will do well to prevent that.
Scorers for Kerry: P Lane (0-7, 5 frees); K Dennehy and D Kirby (both 0-2), E Healy, L Evans and R Carroll (all 0-1).
Scorers for Tyrone: R McCullagh (0-9, 0-1 mark, 0-1 '45', 0-3 free, 1 2-pt); E McElholm 1-4 (1-2, 0-1 '45'); N Grimes (1-0); S McDermott (0-1).
Kerry: M Tansley; A O Beaglaoich, G Evans, M Lynch; L Evans, D O'Connor, B Murphy; E Healy, D Kirby; E Boyle, D O'Sullivan, K Dennehy; C Collins, T Kennedy, P Lane.
Subs: R Carroll for Collins (43); E Daly for Boyle (47); J Murphy for O'Sullivan (56); J O'Sullivan for Kirby (58); O Ferris for Lane (58).
Tyrone: C McGarvey; F Nelis, B Hughes, Conor Devlin; C Daly, J Clarke, C Donnelly; Conan Devlin, C O'Neill; C Sheehy, L Og Mossey, M Quinn; R McCullagh, E McElholm, N Grimes.
Subs: S Broderick for Conor Devlin (24); S McDermott for Grimes (49); E McDonagh for Sheehy (53); E Donaghy for Mossey (59).
Referee: B Judge (Sligo).
