Munster club SFC: Cooper leads Crokes into final

November 13, 2016

Dr Crokes' Colm Cooper is tackled by Noel McGrath of Loughmore-Castleiney.
©INPHO/Cathal Noonan.

Dr Crokes (Kerry) 1-12

Loughmore-Castleiney (Tipperary) 0-9

Colm Cooper bagged 1-3 as Dr Crokes overcame Loughmore-Castleiney at Lewis Road to reach their first Munster club SFC final in three years.

The Killarney outfit will face Waterford champions The Nire in the decider in a fortnight's time after an indifferent performance in front of their own fans. Cooper's seventh-minute goal was the key score as the Tipperary kingpins finished the game with 13 players following the late dismissals of Tomas McGrath and John Ryan on second yellow cards.

After Liam McGrath had given the visitors the lead in the third minute, Cooper raised the only green flag after being set up by Kieran O'Leary. Loughmore battled back to restore parity at 0-3 to 1-0 by the 12th minute, but Crokes went on to lead by 1-5 to 0-5 at the interval thanks to scores from Gavin O'Shea, Daithi Casey, Gavin White and Cooper.

Liam Treacy reduced the gap to two points straight after the restart, but the Tipp men wouldn't score again from play as Cooper and Casey (free) extended Crokes' advantage. Treacy and Fionn Fitzgerald (Crokes) both picked up black cards as the Kerry men progressed without setting the world alight.

Dr Crokes - S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald; D O'Leary, A O'Sullivan, G White (0-1); A O'Donovan, E Brosnan (0-1); J Buckley (0-1), D Casey (0-2f), B Looney (0-1); K O'Leary, C Cooper (1-3, 0-1f), G O'Shea (0-1). Subs: M Burns for B Looney, L Quinn for F Fitzgerald (BC), J Kiely (0-1) for G O'Shea, T Brosnan (0-1) for J Buckley, M Milner for A O'Donovan, B O'Shea for K O'Leary.

Loughmore-Castleiney - D Brennan; L Egan, J Meagher, W Eviston; J Ryan, A McGrath, J Hennessy (0-1); N McGrath, L Treacy (0-1); A McGrath, E Sweeney, T McGrath; J McGrath (0-1), B McGrath, L McGrath (0-6f). Subs: D Kennedy for L Treacy (BC), T Maher for E Sweeney, E Connolly for B McGrath.

Referee - J Bermingham.


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