Three In A Row Titles For Masters

Sunday 17.09.2023

Interviews

Tyrone Masters made it three All Ireland titles in a row following their 0-12 to 0-6 win over Kerry at the home of Naomh Brid in Roscommon on Saturday afternoon. Inspired by the defensive strength of Conor Gormley and Aidan Brady, the midfield workrate of Barry Collins and Marty Mc Grath and the subtlety and style of Stevie O’Neill and Mickey Anderson Tyrone were deserving winners and if truth be told could possibly have won by more.

Kerry played wind assisted in the first half but the Tyrone defence kept them under a short leash and restricted them to pot shots from distance. Aidan O’Mahony opened the scoring for Kerry with a fine point but Tyrone settled to the task and points from Niall Gormley, Mickey Anderson and Damien Kelly had them two ahead after twenty three minutes.

However points from Kevin Lynch and Mark Crowley tied the scores as half time approached. Tyrone thought they had scored a goal when a  Stevie O’Neill pass was punched to the net by the industrious Martin Grimes. The referee consulted with his umpires and surprisingly disallowed what appeared to have been a perfectly good goal. Tyrone did however go in a point to the good after Niall Gormley converted his second free of the day to leave the half time score 0-4 to 0-3 in favour of Tyrone.

The second half saw Tyrone very much on top with centre forward Stevie O’Neill outstanding as his passing accuracy set up his team mates for six points in a row to enable Tyrone to establish a seven point lead. Marty Mc Grath had opened the scoring before man of the match and birthday boy Michael Anderson fired over five points in a row.

Kerry dug deep and three unanswered John O’Connor points gave them hope. However strong defensive play from substitute Marty Brannigan, Conor Gormley and Damien Kelly ensured there would be no further Kerry scores. Tyrone finished the game with points from Kelly and O’Neill to claim the title and make it three in a row for Joe Leanord’s and Eugene Bradley’s team.

Tyrone Scorers: Mickey Anderson 0-6, Niall Gormley 0-2, Damien Kelly 0-2, Marty Mc Grath 0-1, Stevie O’Neill 0-1

Kerry Scorers: John O’Connor 0-3, Kevin Lynch 0-1, Mark Crowley, 0-1, Aidan O’Mahony 0-1