McGrath Cup Senior Football Preliminary Round – Tipperary 2-13 LIT 3-8

Hotshot Grogan turns tide for Tipp

Tipperary 2-13 Limerick IT 3-08

By Jackie Cahill for the Irish Examiner newspaper

ON an afternoon when young Michael Quinlivan offered a glimpse into the future for Tipperary football, it was a more established forward who eased the Premier County into the McGrath Cup quarter-finals. Quinlivan, who starred at full-forward for the Tipp minors during last year’s historic march to All-Ireland glory, showed up well on his senior debut at the Clonmel Sportsfield and was rewarded for his endeavour with a late point. But it was the introduction of last year’s captain and leading marksman Barry Grogan that turned this preliminary round meeting with Limerick IT decisively in favour of the hosts.

Grogan’s first touch after coming on with just over 20 minutes remaining saw him pop over the first of his four successive points as Tipp, who came from two points down to level at 2-7 apiece, turned up the heat to move into a five-point lead. LIT pulled a goal back in stoppage time through Joe Dowling but it was a mere consolation as Tipperary boss John Evans watched his charges get their 2012 competitive season off to a winning start. Tipp, who haven’t won this competition since 2003, will meet Waterford IT in the last eight, with the winners to play Limerick or UCC in the semi-finals on January 22.

Tipp did it the hard way, however, as LIT led by 2-6 to 2-5 at half time, having trailed by eight points on two separate occasions. Goals from Conor Sweeney and Philip Austin, from a penalty, had Tipp in cruise control and leading 2-5 to 0-3 before Eoghan O’Connor and Seamus Carroll netted for LIT. Evans admitted: “I was quite worried to be honest. They [LIT] have a good bit of work done. Coming in, trying to get your lads together in one week and trying to get them playing football [is difficult]. It’s grand to talk about it in theory but different in practice. “They came out and looked like they would pull away from LIT very easily but LIT were good and fit. “They came back at us and made us work very hard. But it was good to go in at half time a point down and get our fellas to focus a bit. We’ll need another two or three weeks to get it right.”

Evans handed senior inter-county debuts to Clonmel Commercials starlet Quinlivan, John O’Callaghan from Ballyporeen and the Ryan brothers from Kilsheelan-Kilcash, Thomas and Eoghan.

Scorers for Tipperary: P Austin 1-2 (1-0 pen, 0-1f); B Grogan 0-4; C Sweeney 1-0; P Acheson 0-3; H Coghlan, S Carey, B Fox & M Quinlivan, 0-1 each.

Scorers for Limerick IT: J Dowling 1-1; E O’Connor & S Carroll 1-0 each; J Burke 0-3f; D Heffernan, S Malone, M Hallissey (1f) & K Larkin, 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; A Morrissey, P Codd, D Lynch; J O’Callaghan, T Ryan, L Egan; E Ryan, H Coghlan; S Carey, P Acheson, B Fox; C Sweeney, M Quinlivan, P Austin.

Subs: B Jones for Carey (ht), B Grogan for O’Callaghan (49), B O’Brien for Sweeney (58), D Butler for E Ryan (60), E Connolly for Morrissey (69).

LIMERICK IT: D Clohessy (Clare); S Bolton (Clare), B Hartnett (Clare), N Gaughan (Sligo); S Malone (Clare), D O’Sullivan (Cork), C Talty (Dublin); T McCarthy (Limerick), D Heffernan (Offaly); M Hallissey (Kerry), K Larkin (Clare), J Dowling (Clare); E O’Connor (Limerick), J Burke (Clare), S Carroll (Limerick).

Subs: E Lenihan (Kerry) for Hallissey (60), G O’Gorman (Clare) for Burke (60), S Leneghan (Cork) for Bolton (68).

Referee: J Lynch (Kerry).

Grogan breaks deadlock

From the Irish Times newspaper

Tipperary 2-13 Limerick IT 3-8: BARRY GROGAN scored four points after coming on as a second-half substitute against Limerick IT yesterday to book Tipperary’s place in the quarter-finals of the McGrath Cup. Prior to Grogan’s 49th-minute introduction, the sides had been level at 2-7 apiece but he produced a remarkable run of scoring to send his team four points clear. Michael Quinlivan, full-forward on the Tipperary minor team that won the All-Ireland last year, then marked his senior intercounty debut with a well-taken point.

There was still time for Joe Dowling to hit 1-1 before the finish for Limerick IT but Tipperary held out to set up a last-eight meeting with Waterford IT next Sunday, again at the Clonmel Sportsfield. Tipperary, with Peter Acheson in good form, did it the hard way, however, as LIT led by 2-6 to 2-5 at half-time having trailed by eight points on two separate occasions. Goals from Conor Sweeney and Philip Austin, from a penalty, had Tipperary in control and leading by 2-5 to 0-3 before Eoghan O’Connor and Séamus Carroll netted for LIT to send them a point clear at the midway point before ultimately being reined in.

TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; A Morrissey, P Codd, D Lynch; J O’Callaghan, T Ryan, L Egan; E Ryan, H Coghlan (0-1); S Carey (0-1), P Acheson (0-3), B Fox (0-1); C Sweeney (1-0), M Quinlivan (0-1), P Austin (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-1f). Subs: B Jones for Carey (ht), B Grogan (0-4) for O’Callaghan (49), B O’Brien for Sweeney (58), D Butler for E Ryan (60), E Connolly for Morrissey (69).

LIMERICK IT: D Clohessy (Clare); S Bolton (Clare), B Hartnett (Clare), N Gaughan (Sligo); S Malone (0-1) (Clare), D O’Sullivan (Cork), C Talty (Dublin); T McCarthy (Limerick), D Heffernan (0-1) (Offaly); M Hallissey (0-1, free) (Kerry), K Larkin (0-1) (Clare), J Dowling (1-1) (Clare); E O’Connor (1-0) (Limerick), J Burke (0-3, frees) (Clare), S Carroll (1-0) (Limerick).

Subs: E Lenihan (Kerry) for Hallissey (60 mins), G O’Gorman (Clare) for Burke (60 mins), S Leneghan (Cork) for Bolton (68 mins).

Referee: J Lynch (Kerry)

For the Record

McGrath Cup Senior Football 2012

Preliminary Round (Extra time)

Sunday January 8th

@ WIT Sportsgrounds                      Waterford v IT Tralee                                    @ 2:00pm

@ Doonbeg                            Clare v UL                                                      @ 2:00pm

@ Clonmel Sportsfield                     Tipperary v LIT                                               @ 2:00pm

Quarter-Finals (Extra time)

Sunday January 15^th

@ TBC                                               CIT v Waterford or IT Tralee             @ 2:00pm
@ Pairc Ui Rinn                                Cork v Clare or UL                                        @ 2:00pm
@ TBC                                               WIT v Tipperary or LIT                                  @ 2:00pm
@ Michael Neville Park                    Limerick v UCC                                             @ 2:00pm

Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 22^nd

Final (Extra time)

Sunday January 29^th

McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends

Clare have contested 6 Finals since 2000, winning the title in 2000, 2002 and 2008.

Since the Third Level Colleges were allowed to take part in the McGrath Cup competition in 2005, only the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) and UCC have qualified for the final. CIT lost the 2005 Final to Limerick by 2-10 to 1-3 while UCC lost to Kerry by 1-11 to 0-9 in the 2010 Final.

The record of the Third Level Colleges in the McGrath Cup since entering in 2005 is Won 18, Lost 38. No College team won a game in 2011.

Waterford won the first McGrath Cup title in 1981, captained by Michael Coffey. This is their only McGrath Cup title to date.

From 2000 through 2011, 84 matches were played in the McGrath Cup. Limerick have won the most games in this period, a total of 15 against 9 defeats. Clare have 14 victories since 2000 while Cork recorded 13 victories during 5 campaigns.

Since 2000, Kerry have taken part in the McGrath Cup on 4 occasions (2005, 2006, 2010 and 2011), losing just twice in 13 matches (to Tipperary in the 2005 Quarter-Final and to Cork in the 2006 Final).

The Waterford Institute of Technology have yet to win a McGrath Cup match in their 7 years taking part in the competition. IT Tralee won their first match in 2005 and have lost their last 5.

McGrath Cup Senior Football Roll Of Honour

Clare (10) – 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008

Limerick (5) – 1985, 1987, 2001, 2004, 2005

Cork (5) – 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2009

Tipperary (3) – 1989, 1993, 2003

Kerry (3) – 1996, 2010, 2011

Waterford (1) – 1981

London (1) – 1988

Visit the Munster GAA web site History section to view the complete Roll of Honour since the competition began in 1981 – https://munster.gaa.ie/history/mcgrath-cup-football/

McGrath Cup

Presented by Joe McGrath on June 21st, 1981 for the promotion of Senior Football in Munster