Win over Kerry returns Tyrone to All-Ireland under-20 decider

All-Ireland Under-20 Football semi-final: Tyrone 2-14 Kerry 0-14

Tyrone’s twin striking force of Ruairi McCullagh and Eoin McElholm reeled off 1-13 to inspire the All-Ireland under-20 football champions to another final appearance as they edged out Kerry at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.

But it was a defensive tour de force, with Ben Hughes, Joey Clarke and Callum Daly at its heart, that inspired this latest win for a county chasing a third title in four years.

Now it’s Mayo or Louth who will stand in the way of a Red Hand bid for another title in a couple of weeks time.

“I know we’ve had a lot of talk all along about great forwards, but people can see we have some fantastic defenders,” said Tyrone manager Paul Devlin.

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“They just found it hard to break us down right through, but I want to give a lot of credit to Kerry.

“They have some great players but they couldn’t break down our fantastic defenders.”

Tyrone's Eoin McElholm with Kerry's Daniel Kirby. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

Both sides had goal chances in the opening 10 minutes, with McElholm denied by Michael Tansley’s brilliant save, while at the other end, Ben Hughes executed a terrific block on Evan Boyle as he pulled the trigger.

But it was Tyrone who were making the most of chances created in an evenly contested opening quarter, going 0-5 to 0-1 ahead with McCullagh landing a 45, a free and a point from play, the others sent over by McElholm.

It was McElholm who smashed home a brilliant 18th-minute goal to give them a massive boost, but Kerry began to rain ball down on full forward Tomas Kennedy, who won a string of frees that Paddy Lane tapped over.

They closed the gap to two, thanks to a couple of Kilian Dennehy gems, but a second goal, blasted to the top corner of the net by Noah Grimes on the half-hour, sent the Red Hands in with a 2-8 to 0-9 interval lead.

Kerry's Eddie Healy dejected after the game. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

Eddie Healy, Daniel Kirby and Donagh O’Sullivan gave the Munster champions a midfield platform from which to push forward, but time and again they were frustrated by a well organised defence in which sweeper Callum Daly was exceptional and skipper Clarke equally effective.

The two front men maintained Tyrone’s relatively comfortable lead, but Kerry fought back to cut the gap with another couple of Lane frees, before Kennedy narrowed it down to three.

The danger was there, but the champions defended collectively to weather the storm and closed it out with another volley of scores from McElholm and McCullagh.

TYRONE: C McGarvey; F Nelis, B Hughes, Conor Devlin; C Daly, J Clarke, C Donnelly, Conan Devlin, C O’Neill; C Sheehy, E McElholm (1-0-4, 1f), M Quinn; N Grimes (1-0-0), R McCullagh (0-1-7, 4f, 1tpf, 1 45), L Óg Mossey.

Subs: S Broderick for Conor Devlin (23 mins), S McDermott (0-0-1) for Grimes (48), E McDonagh for Sheehy (51), D Donaghy for Mossey (58).

KERRY: M Tansley; A O Beaglaoich, G Evans, M Lynch; L Evans, D O’Connor, B Murphy; E Healy (0-0-2), D Kirby (0-0-1); C Collins, E Boyle, K Dennehy (0-0-3); P Lane (0-0-6, 5f), T Kennedy (0-0-1), D O’Sullivan.

Subs: R Carroll (0-0-1) for Collins (42 mins), E Daly for Boyle (46), J Murphy for O’Sullivan (55), J O’Sullivan for Kirby (57), O Ferris for Lane (58).

Referee: B Judge (Sligo).