Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Quarter Final – Tipperary 2-11 UL 0-12

Kelly shows class as Tipp seal Cork date

Tipperary 2-11 UL 0-12

By Jackie Cahill for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Tipperary manager Declan Ryan is relishing the prospect of an early season joust with old rivals Cork next Sunday in what could be an early season dress rehearsal for a Munster semi-final in the summer. The counties will lock horns in the semi-finals of the Waterford Crystal Cup in Clonmel, with both teams in experimental mode ahead of the Allianz Hurling League campaign. Tipp stuttered past University of Limerick in heavy conditions at Nenagh’s MacDonagh Park on Saturday, with former captain Eoin Kelly showing flashes of enduring class during an impressive 18-minute cameo appearance. Tipp just about coped better with the heavy pitch as they recorded a five-point victory against a UL team lining out with ten starters from last week’s Fitzgibbon Cup stalemate against Limerick IT. Tipp raced into a 2-4 to 0-0 lead by the 17th minute, with Pa Bourke goaling from a 20m free in the 13th minute before impressive full-forward Brian O’Meara netted four minutes later.

But Tipp fell asleep from there until half-time as UL, inspired by the free-taking of Clare’s Conor McGrath, halved the deficit and went in at the break 2-4 to 0-5 adrift. Despite playing with the breeze in the second half, the students could never quite get close enough to mount a serious challenge to the Munster champions and Kelly settled any nerves by shooting three points from play after coming on as a 52nd minute sub. “He made a serious contribution when he came in and we’re delighted to see him in that kind of form,” said Declan Ryan smiled.

Cork now stand between Tipp and a place in the Waterford Crystal final and Ryan reflected: “It will be a good test. Cork are trying out plenty of players as well. “They’re getting ready for the league – the same as ourselves.” Ryan also insisted his panel remains open to any player showing good form for his club as the season progresses. And the three-time All-Ireland SHC medallist admitted cutting seven players from an extended squad last week wasn’t a pleasant task. “It’s tough – that’s the tough side of the job but unfortunately you can’t carry everyone. If people are showing form, we’ll hold onto them but if people are not showing form, well, they’re going to struggle to stay on the squad.”

Scorers for Tipperary: P Bourke 1-3 (1-2f), B O’Meara 1-0, E Kelly 0-3, A Ryan, J O’Neill, G Ryan, J O’Brien, J Woodlock 0-1 each.

Scorers for UL: C McGrath 0-7 (6fs), P Kelly 0-2, L Ryan (f), M Heffernan, P Walsh 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: D Gleeson; D Maher, P Curran, M Cahill; S Maher, C O’Mahony, J Coghlan; D Young, B Maher; G Ryan, A Ryan, P Bourke; J O’Neill, B O’Meara, J O’Brien.

Subs: C O’Brien for D Maher (ht), J Woodlock for Young (46), T Stapleton for Coghlan (46), E Kelly for A Ryan (52), S Curran for G Ryan (64).

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK: T Lowry (Tipperary); P Stapleton (Tipperary), Michael Walsh (Kilkenny), K Fox (Tipperary); L Ryan (Kilkenny), B Bugler (Clare), Martin Walsh (Kilkenny); S Golden (Clare), L Markham (Clare); B Beckett (Kilkenny), J Gallagher (Tipperary), P Walsh (Kilkenny); M Heffernan (Tipperary), P Murphy (Tipperary), C McGrath (Clare).

Subs: P Kelly (Tipperary) for Golden (ht), T O’Brien (Limerick) for Murphy (43), C Fogarty (Kilkenny) for Heffernan (52), P Flanagan (Clare) for Beckett (57), M Boran (Kilkenny) for P Walsh (63).

Referee: C Lyons (Cork)

For the Record

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling 2012

Preliminary Round

Sunday January 22^nd

@ Dolla                                              Tipperary 2-24 Limerick Institute of Technology 1-16

Sunday January 29^th

@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney       Kerry 1-20 IT Tralee 1-15

@ Sixmilebridge                               Clare 3-25 WIT 0-5

Quarter-Finals (Extra time)

Saturday February 4^th

@ MacDonagh Park Nenagh          Tipperary v University of Limerick               @ 2:00pm

@ Pairc Ui Rinn                                Cork v Kerry                                                   @ 3:00pm

@ Sixmilebridge                               Limerick v Clare                                            @ 7:00pm

Sunday February 5^th

@ WIT Sportsgrounds                      Waterford v UCC                                          @ 2:00pm

Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday February 12^th

@ TBC                                               Cork or Kerry v UL or Tipperary
@ TBC                                               Limerick or Clare v Waterford or UCC

Final (Extra time)

Sunday February 19^th

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling – Odds and Ends

Tipperary won their first 6 home matches in the Waterford Crystal Cup from 2006 to 2009 before losing their first round matches in 2010 (v Clare at Borrisoleigh) and in 2011 (v WIT at Clonmel).

Tipperary hold the record for the longest winning streak in the Waterford Crystal Cup since the competition began under that guise in 2006 when they won 10 consecutive matches between 2007 and 2009.

The University of Limerick is the only third level college to have a winning record in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006 – winning 7 games and losing 6.

39 players scored in the three matches played in the preliminary round.

Waterford have won 11 of their last 13 matches in the Waterford Crystal Cup, including a current winning streak of 7 matches.

Clare are the only team who have won at least one game each year since the Waterford Crystal Cup competition began in 2006.

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006 is Won 18, Lost 37, a 33% success rate. Since the Third Level Colleges entered the McGrath Cup (Senior Football) in 2005, their success rate is 32%.

Limerick won the first Waterford Crystal Cup title in 2006, winning four matches in the process. Since then, in three appearances in the competition they have failed to win a game.

IT Tralee is the only team not to win a game in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006, losing their first match in the last 5 seasons.

None of the five teams who take part in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship have a losing record in the Waterford Crystal Cup since 2006.

Waterford Crystal Cup

Waterford Crystal began their sponsorship of the Munster pre-season hurling competition in 2006. Prior to this, the competition was played in different formats dating back to the early 1990’s and was most popularly known as the South Eastern Hurling League which also included county teams from Leinster.

Waterford Crystal Cup Senior Hurling Roll Of Honour

Waterford (2) – 2010, 2011

Tipperary (2) – 2007, 2008

Clare (1) – 2009

Limerick (1) – 2006

Waterford Crystal Cup – 2012 Scorers