Tipperary secured their first All-Ireland minor football title since 1934 when a late Colman Kennedy goal grabbed a 3-9 to 1-14 win over Dublin in the Croke Park final.

The unfancied Munster side looked out of contention at halftime but came back with a storming second half performance to cap a sensational win.

“I suppose at halftime we were up against it, just like the Kerry game,” said manager David Power afterwards.

“But there is fighting spirit and steel in this team. They never give up and that showed in the last two minutes when we got that goal. It’s just fantastic just fantastic.”

Power also joked with reporters afterwards that his heart was in his mouth when Kennedy prepared to shoot for that match winning goal.

“To be honest I was going to kill him if he missed but Colman Kennedy scored a goal like that against Kerry so I wasn’t that surprised in the end,” laughed Power, himself still only 28.

“Eighteen of this panel of 34 is able to play again next year and I know that doesn’t mean anything but we’re just going to enjoy this because we’ve worked so hard for this.”
 

McIntyre Resigns

John McIntyre has accepted the inevitable and resigned as manager of the Galway senior hurling team.

McIntyre told the Connacht Tribune, “In my hearts of hearts, I knew the game was up for John McIntyre and this management team when we fell so disappointingly to Waterford in Thurles.

“It was a dispiriting defeat, there are no excuses, but I would say that the players did not go out to perform badly.

“I almost resigned that evening, but I was anxious to let things settle for a few weeks and take stock of the situation to ensure my original hunch was the correct one. Obviously, nothing has happened in the interim to alter that opinion.”

Galway under-21 boss Anthony Cunningham is favorite for the job.
 

GAA Shorts

Mayo star Andy Moran won’t play again this year after breaking his leg during a training session with the Ireland Compromise Rules squad.


Galway forward Michael Meehan is out for six months after a shoulder operation.


Sports Shorts

ATHLETICS: Alistair Cragg broke Mark Carroll’s 13-year-old Irish 5000m record at the Memorial van Damme in Brussels last Friday as he finished fifth in a time of 13 minutes 3.53 seconds.

RUGBY: Gordon D’Arcy and Paul O’Connell are rated as doubtful for Ireland’s next World Cup game, against Russia this Sunday, after damaging their hamstrings in the win over Australia last Saturday.

GOLF: Paul McGinley captained the Great Britain and Ireland team to a win over Continental Europe in the Vivendi Seve Trophy in France on Sunday.

GOLF: Padraig Harrington has confirmed that he will test out his new swing at the Austrian Open next week.

SOCCER: Eoin Doyle scored the only goal as Sligo Rovers repeated their FAI Cup final win over Shamrock Rovers in Monday night’s quarterfinal at the Showgrounds. St. Patrick’s Athletic are also through to the semifinals after a 1-0 win in Cork while Bohs and Dundalk played out a scoreless draw.

SOCCER: Teenager Denise O’Sullivan scored both goals on her debut as Ireland’s ladies team kicked-off their European Championship campaign with a 2-0 win in Wales.


Lennon Worried

Celtic manager Neil Lennon has admitted he is concerned by his team’s start to the season after his first Ibrox defeat as boss in the Old Firm derby.

Lennon could have few complaints after Sunday’s 4-2 reversal at the home of Rangers in a game that saw defender Charlie Mulgrew sent off for two yellow card offences.

Champions Rangers looked hungrier than their city rivals in the decisive second half exchanges as they secured a four-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premier League.

Goals from Gary Hooper and Badr El-Kaddouri had helped the visitors to a 2-1 interval lead, but they never looked comfortable at the end of a week that also saw them lose to Atletico Madrid in the Europa League on Thursday night.

The first derby of the season saw Stephen Naismith open and closed the scoring for the Gers with Nikica Jelavic and Kyle Lafferty also on target in a punishing second period.

“It is a concern because we have lost two games already this season,” said Lennon afterwards. “It’s not good enough. We got our tails in front and looked okay and composed and we didn’t show any of that in the second half.

“Obviously we lost our discipline by getting a player sent off and we lost our positional discipline at times which was very disappointing from my point of view.”

“It is frustrating. We were pleased to be in front at halftime, that was a bonus, but I would have been pleased even if it had been 1-1 because I felt comfortable.

“We made the players very wary of what to expect at the start of the second half but we didn’t deal with it very well. I felt if we could have stayed in front for 10 or 15 minutes of the second half we could probably have caused them a few more problems at the other end but we never got out of the blocks in the second half.”

Lennon added, “I am angry, full stop, with our overall performance. I wouldn’t like to question their character but I had to ask that after the game.

“I don’t know if there was any fatigue from the game on Thursday night against Atletico Madrid but we were second best a lot of the time and in games of this caliber you have to be physical, you have to win second balls, you have to battle and scrap and there was not a lot of that on show in the second half.

“We didn’t compete and it was almost as if the players went out for the second half thinking the game was already won.”

Celtic suffered another blow when skipper Scott Brown aggravated a recent ankle injury and will now be rested for a number of weeks in a bid to cure the problem.

Brown said, “I managed to hurt myself just a little bit but hopefully I will be okay.”
Lennon, however, is adamant his captain must rest.

“Scott’s ankle has gone again unfortunately. He got us playing in the first half, he was instrumental in both of our goals so it was a blow losing him,” he said.

“He felt fine before the game, he trained before the game and looked great for an hour. We don’t know how long he is going to be out for now.

“It looks as if he is going to be shut down for a while until we can let it settle and get it right.”
 

Keane Scores

Ireland striker Robbie Keane was on target again for the LA Galaxy in their 3-0 MLS win over Vancouver at the Home Depot Center on Saturday, his third goal since signing for the club.

With the Galaxy already qualified for the season-ending playoffs, Keane may be released from their fixture away to the New York Red Bulls just three days before Ireland’s vital Euro clash in Andorra.