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McGrath Cup Senior Football Quarter Final – UCC 1-19 Limerick 0-10
UCC defeated Limerick by 1-19 to 0-10 in the McGrath Cup Senior Football Quarter Final on Sunday at Michael Neville Park Rathkeale.
Limerick suffer as UCC give Sigerson warning
UCC 1-19 Limerick 0-10
By Brendan Buckley for the Irish Examiner newspaper
UCC sent out a chilling warning ahead of the defence of their Sigerson Cup title at this end of this month with an emphatic victory over Limerick in Rathkeale’s Mick Neville Park. The Cork students had a Marc Collins 25th minute goal to thank for a 1-5 to 0-5 lead. But on the turnover, the UCC men took control and five successive points in the opening eight minutes after the restart laid the foundations for an easy victory. “I thought we started brightly and were sharp but the goal knocked the stuffing out of us,” said a disappointed Limerick manager Maurice Horan. “It is difficult when you are missing so many experienced players when the floodgates opened in the second half and it was one-way traffic in the end.
They are getting ready for their championship competition and are looking towards the Sigerson in a couple of weeks and we have to go back to training on Tuesday and try and get ready for our league opener in three weeks. Playing with the wind in the second half, UCC outscored Limerick 0-14 to 0-5 in the second period to book a McGrath Cup semi-final place against Tipperary. In all 10 different players found the target for the Cork side with Paul Geaney helping himself to four points and Mark Reen kicking three in the second period. A largely experimental Limerick relied heavily on Ger Collins and free-taker Mike Quilligan for scores but they never troubled the college side, who led from start to finish with Kevin O’Driscoll and Geaney getting them off the mark with scores inside the opening two minutes. Indeed the winning margin could have been greater but for three superb saves from Limerick’s Brian Scanlon.
Scorers for UCC: M Collins 1-3 (1free), P Geaney 0-4, M Reen 0-3, B Coughlan, B O’Driscoll (1free) 0-2 each, K O’Driscoll, JB Spillane, D Nation, J O’Sullivan, A Greaney 0-1 each.
Scorers for Limerick: G Collins (1free), M Quilligan (3frees) 0-4 each, J Riordan, G O’Connell 0-1 each.
UCC: D Farry (Cork), J O’Sullivan (Cork), E O’Sullivan (Cork), S Enright (Kerry), P Crowley (Kerry), N Daly (Roscommon), B Daly (Cork); K O’Driscoll (Cork), D Nation (Cork); M Reen (Kerry), M Collins (Cork), JB Spillane (Kerry); B O’Driscoll (Cork), B Coughlan (Cork). P Geaney (Kerry).
Subs: A Greaney (Kerry) for Crowley (52), J O’Sullivan (Kerry) for Nation (52), S Beston (Cork for Spillane (59), L Jennings (Cork) for O’Sullivan (59), D O’Sullivan (Kerry) for Collins).
LIMERICK: B Scanlon; M McCorkack, J McCarthy, L O’Dwyer; E Barry, J Riordan, P Ranahan; E Joy, P Kinnerk; D Treacy, M Quilligan, P Maloney; G Collins, G O’Connell, D Kelly.
Subs: S Buckley for Kinnerk (28), J Cooke for Kelly (40), J O’Meara for Maloney (44), C Coady for McCormack (48), S Nix for Buckley (58).
Referee: D O’Mahony (Tipperary)
Team News
Limerick Senior Football team to play UCC
1. Brian Scanlon (Gerald Griffins)
2. Mike McCormick (Mungret)
3. Johnny McCarthy (St. Kieran’s)
4. Lorcan O’Dwyer (Palllasgreen)
5. Eoin Barry (Drom-Broadford)
6. John Riordan (Fr. Casey’s)
7. Pa Ranahan (Ballysteen)
8. Eoin Joy (Fr. Casey’s)
9. Paul Kinnerk (Monaleen)
10. Darragh Treacy (St. Kieran’s)
11. Mike Quilligan (Newcastlewest)
12. Philip Maloney (Glin)
13. Ger Collins (Monaleen) Captain.
14. Dinny Ahern (Kilteely-Dromkeen)
15. Donnagh Kelly (Fr. Casey’s)
For the Record
| Limerick | UCC | |
| 2011 McGrath Cup Performance | Lost to Cork by 3-11 to 1-12 in the first round at the Gaelic Grounds Limerick | Lost to Clare by 1-13 to 0-13 in the Preliminary round at Cooraclare |
| Number of McGrath Cup Senior Football titles | 5 | 0 |
| Last McGrath Cup Senior Football Title | 2005 | N/A |
| McGrath Cup Senior Football Record since 2000 | Played – 24 Won – 15 Lost – 9 Drawn – 0 |
Played – 13 Won – 6 Lost – 7 Drawn – 0 |
McGrath Cup Senior Football 2012
Preliminary Round
Sunday January 8th
@ WIT Sportsgrounds IT Tralee 2-14 Waterford 0-14
@ Doonbeg Clare 0-18 University of Limerick 1-8
@ Clonmel Sportsfield Tipperary 2-13 Limerick Institute of Technology 3-8
Quarter-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 15th
@ CIT Sportsgrounds CIT v IT Tralee @ 2:00pm
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Cork v Clare @ 2:00pm
@ Clonmel Sportsfield WIT v Tipperary @ 2:00pm
@ Michael Neville Park Limerick v UCC @ 2:00pm
Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 22nd
CIT or IT Tralee v Cork or Clare @ 2:00pm
WIT or Tipperary v Limerick or UCC @ 2:00pm
Final (Extra time)
Sunday January 29th
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 (including the 2012 preliminary round) is Won 19, Lost 40. 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 2012 to date, 87 matches were played in the McGrath Cup. Limerick have won the most games in this period, a total of 15 against 9 defeats. Clare also have 15 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 lost their next 5 before defeating Waterford in the preliminary round of the 2012 competition.
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
