Kerry find 'extra' gear to end U-20 footballers' All-Ireland dream
Roscommon midfielder, Niall Heneghan, shows his disappointment as his side are knocked out of the All-Ireland U-20 football championship by Kerry at FBD Semple Stadium on Wednesday evening. Picture: INPHO/Dan Clohessy
Roscommon’s magical journey in this year’s All-Ireland U-20 football championship came to an end at a bitterly cold FBD Semple Stadium on Wednesday evening.
The end scoreline was extremely harsh on the Connacht champions who showed incredible heart and resilience to bring the game to extra time — hitting the last seven points in the final 11 minutes and the six minutes of injury time to restore parity.
But three goals in the first four minutes of the second period of extra time from Player of the Match Daniel Kirby, Paddy Lane, and Tomás Kennedy propelled Tomás Ó Sé’s side into an unassailable position, giving a shellshocked Roscommon side no time to recover.
Roscommon were crippled by turnovers in the opening half, with all of Kerry’s scores coming from players in Primrose and Blue giving away possession.
The teams shared the first four points — John McGuinness and Niall Heneghan scoring for Roscommon inside the opening nine minutes, while a double by Paddy Lane accounted for Kerry’s scores.
But Roscommon wouldn’t trouble the scoreboard again for the remainder of the half as a physically stronger Kingdom hit the next six points — Lane, Gearóid White with a two-pointer, Daniel Kirby, Jack O’Sullivan and Tomás Kennedy leaving the Munster champions 0-8 to 0-2 ahead at the break.
Roscommon upped the ante in the third quarter but their shooting let them down, missing four two-point attempts, while Dean Casey drew a smart save out of Kerry goalkeeper Kacper Robak.
In the first 19 minutes of the new half, Kerry outscored their opponents by 0-3 to 0-2 to keep them at arm’s length, and lead 0-11 to 0-4 with 11 minutes remaining.
But Roscommon kept plugging away as a free from Charlie O’Carroll was sandwiched between two points from play by the excellent McGuinness.
Goalkeeper Patrick Gaynor nailed a ’45, and when O’Carroll nailed a two-pointer with a minute remaining after the ball was advanced by referee Seamus Mulhare when Eoghan Carthy was fouled, the comeback had taken flight.
Then, in the sixth minute of the injury time, substitute Ruairí Kilcline did brilliantly to maintain his balance to fire over the equaliser and send the Roscommon crowd among the 1,437 in attendance into raptures.
Both teams swapped frees through Lane and Kilcline before Kerry substitutes Jack Joy and Dara Hogan, and midfielder Daniel Kirby — with a superb score — left Kerry 0-15 to 0-12 ahead at the end of the opening half of extra time.
With the wind to come, the three-point deficit was manageable from a Roscommon perspective but no one could have foreseen the Kerry train that was coming down the tracks.
Within 39 seconds of the restart, Joy set up Kirby for the game’s opening goal.
McGuinness pointed for Roscommon with his fourth score of the evening, but rapid-fire goals from Lane and senior star Kennedy put the game to bed.
Conor Grogan (free), Kilcline and O’Carroll — with his second two-point free — replied for Roscommon, but the damage was done as Kerry set up a final rematch against Tyrone.
For Roscommon, the dream had died, but they exited centre stage with their heads held high and were warmly applauded off the field by their supporters afterwards.
KERRY: K. Robak; M. Lynch, G. Evans, D. Stack; E. O’Flaherty, A. Ó Beaglaoich, P. Walsh; E. Boyle, D. Kirby (1-3); J. O’Sullivan (0-1), G. White (0-3, one 0-2), M. O’Carroll; R. Carroll, T. Kennedy (1-3), P. Lane (1-4, two frees). Subs used: S. Ó Cuinn for O’Carroll (40 mins), M. McKivergan (0-1) for Walsh (46 mins), D. Hogan (0-1) for R. Carroll (52 mins), D. Sargant for O’Flaherty (57 mins), J. Joy (0-1) for O’Sullivan (60 mins), P. Finucane for Boyle (66 mins), J. Curtin for White (73 mins), I. Brosnan for Stack (74 mins).
ROSCOMMON: P. Gaynor (0-1, one ‘45); D. O’Higgins, M. Gillooly, N. Birzins; K. Kelly, E. Carthy, C. Murray; N. Heneghan (0-1), C. Enright; C. McKeon, D. Casey (0-1), E. Collins; J. Curran, C. O’Carroll (0-6, two frees, two 0-2 frees), J. McGuinness (0-4). Subs used: R. Kilcline (0-3, one free) for Curran (36 mins), D. Kennedy for McKeon (38 mins), K. Hester for Casey (49 mins), D. Higgins for Collins (51 mins), S. Tighe for O’Carroll (60 mins), C. Grogan (0-1, one free) for Murray (full-time), L. Finneran for O’Higgins (full-time), D. Casey for Tighe (70 mins), C. O’Carroll for Kennedy (73 mins).
Referee: S. Mulhare (Laois).
