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McGrath Cup Senior Football Semi Final – Cork 2-17 CIT 0-7
All too easy as Cork give CIT lesson
Cork 2-17 Cork IT 0-7
By Denis Hurley for the Irish Examiner newspaper
CORK easily booked their passage to the McGrath Cup final at Páirc Uí Rinn yesterday, a greater intensity playing a big part in their 16-point victory over Cork IT. While CIT’s priority is the Sigerson Cup, in which they meet DCU next week, they would still have been expected to challenge Cork here, especially after beating IT Tralee so comfortably in the quarter-final. Cork selector Terry O’Neill admitted he was surprised the Rebels were not pushed. “To be honest, I thought they were a bit disappointing, as CIT teams would go,” he said. “When you look through their team, they have a lot of current and former Kerry and Cork U21 players. Fellas lose sight of that as well, it’s a big, big step up from being a good U21 player to being a county senior player. The workrate of the players today and the strength that they’d have developed, it’s a different kettle of fish.”
Paul Kerrigan finished Cork’s top scorer with 1-6, his 13th-minute goal coming after he had scored three points in a row following an early switch into the full-forward line. After Micheál Ó Laoire, Kevin O’Sullivan and Patrick Kelly had linked well, Kelly’s handpass found Kerrigan in space and his finish past Brian Kelly was clinical as a 1-4 to 0-0 lead was opened up. The other point had come from Fintan Goold inside 17 seconds. Goold was named at full-forward but switched with Kerrigan in the opening few minutes but actually spent much of his time sweeping around the half-back line. It was a tactic that worked well, even if it did not receive a stress test. Whenever CIT gained possession in the Cork half, the ball-carrier found himself under heavy pressure from red jerseys, resulting in plenty of turnovers.
In contrast, when Cork were on the attack they moved the ball swiftly and with purpose and by the end of the opening half five of their six starting forwards had scored, profiting from the good work of Pearse O’Neill and Micheál Ó Laoire at midfield. Making his first start, Ó Laoire did not look out of place as he covered a lot of ground and his late point was reward for his efforts. By that stage the Naomh Abán man was operating as a wing-forward, following the introduction of Nicholas Murphy to midfield and Cork’s reduction to 14 men when Colm O’Neill suffered a hamstring injury after all five subs had been used and was taken off as a precaution.
Not hitting the heights of his 2-4 salvo against Clare the previous week, O’Neill was still strongly involved and his second point of the game, when he gathered an excellent left-footed Graham Canty pass from deep before shooting from out on the left, made it 1-11 to 0-1 at half-time, Jerry O’Connor with CIT’s solitary point in the 27th minute. Rory O’Sullivan was battling hard at midfield for the students and was he unlucky not to point on a couple of occasions, but even when CIT scored three of the first four points of the second-half a fightback was not a realistic proposition. Just in case there were any doubts, Paudie Kissane followed up his 45th minute point with a well-taken goal after a lovely one-two with Colm O’Neill to make it 2-13 to 0-4. Murphy could have had a third goal shortly after that but shot over the bar, however it made little material difference to the outcome.
Scorers for Cork: P Kerrigan 1-6 (0-3f, 0-1 45), P Kissane 1-1, C O’Neill 0-2, P O’Neill, M Ó Laoire, L Shorten, F Goold, K O’Sullivan, N O’Leary, F Lynch, N Murphy 0-1 each.
Scorers for Cork IT: R O’Sullivan, H Curran 0-2 each, J O’Connor, C Fleming, D Óg Hodnett (0-1f) 0-1 each.
CORK: D Lordan; E Cotter, R Carey, K Harrington; S Kiely, G Canty, P Kissane; P O’Neill, M Ó Laoire; P Kelly, P Kerrigan, L Shorten; F Goold, C O’Neill, K O’Sullivan.
Subs: F Lynch for Kelly (33, injured), M Shields for Kiely, N O’Leary for Canty, A O’Connor for P O’Neill (all half-time), N Murphy for O’Sullivan (46).
CORK IT: B Kelly; N Galvin, M Griffin, D O’Sullivan; J Walsh, S O’Donoghue, B Maguire; R O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan; W O’Mahony, B O’Regan, D Leahy; J O’Connor, D Óg Hodnett, H Curran.
Subs: C Fleming for O’Mahony (half-time), P Kilkenny for R O’Sullivan (44), J Dineen for Leahy (48), J Dennis for Griffin (50), J Cronin for O’Connor (52).
Referee: D O’Mahony (Tipperary)
Kerrigan shines for Cork
From the Irish Independent newspaper
Cork 2-17 Cork IT 0-7
Cork breezed into the final, where they will meet Tipperary, with a 16-point victory over CIT at Pairc Ui Rinn yesterday. From the off, it was one-way traffic, as Fintan Goold’s point inside 17 seconds set the tone for Cork and Paul Kerrigan — who would finish with 1-6 — added three more by the 11th minute. Kerrigan then added a goal, rounding off an excellent team move involving Micheal O Laoire, Kevin O’Sullivan and Patrick Kelly. Cork had added four more points before CIT opened their account through Jerry O’Connor in the 27th minute, as winners’ intensity was proving far too much.
By half-time, the score was 1-11 to 0-1, Colm O’Neill getting the final score of the half as he gathered an excellent Graham Canty pass before firing over. Although CIT scored three of the first four points of the second half, a quick blast of 1-1 from Cork wing-back Paudie Kissane stretched the lead to 2-13 to 0-4. From there it was a procession, despite Cork having to play the last 17 minutes with 14 men after Colm O’Neill went off with a hamstring injury.
Scorers — Cork: P Kerrigan 1-6 (0-3f, 0-1 45), P Kissane 1-1, C O’Neill 0-2, P O’Neill, M O Laoire, L Shorten, F Goold, K O’Sullivan, N O’Leary, F Lynch, N Murphy 0-1 each. Cork IT: R O’Sullivan, H Curran 0-2 each, J O’Connor, C Fleming, D Og Hodnett (1f) 0-1 each.
CORK — D Lordan; E Cotter, R Carey, K Harrington; S Kiely, G Canty, P Kissane; P O’Neill, M O Laoire; P Kelly, P Kerrigan, L Shorten; F Goold, C O’Neill, K O’Sullivan. Subs: F Lynch for Kelly (33), M Shields for Kiely, N O’Leary for Canty, A O’Connor for P O’Neill (all h-t), N Murphy for O’Sullivan (46).
CORK IT — B Kelly; N Galvin, M Griffin, D O’Sullivan; J Walsh, S O’Donoghue, B Maguire; R O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan; W O’Mahony, B O’Regan, D Leahy; J O’Connor, D Og Hodnett, H Curran. Subs: C Fleming for O’Mahony (h-t), P Kilkenny for R O’Sullivan (44), J Dineen for Leahy (48), J Dennis for Griffin (50), J Cronin for O’Connor (52).
REF — D O’Mahony (Tipperary)
Team News
Cork (McGrath Cup semi-final v CIT): D Lordan; E Cotter, R Carey, K Harrington; S Kiely, G Canty, P Kissane; P O’Neill, M Ó Laoire; P Kelly, P Kerrigan, L Shorten; C O’Neill, F Goold, K O’Sullivan.
For the Record
| CIT | Cork | |
| 2011 McGrath Cup Performance | Lost to Clare by 0-10 to 0-9 in the first round at Cooraclare | Defeated WIT and Limerick before losing to Kerry in the semi-final by 2-11 to 1-11. |
| Number of McGrath Cup Senior Football titles | 0 | 5 |
| Last McGrath Cup Senior Football Title | N/A | 2009 |
| McGrath Cup Senior Football Record since 2000 | Played – 13 Won – 6 Lost – 7 Drawn – 0 |
Played – 16 Won – 14 Lost – 2 Drawn – 0 |
Fixtures and Results
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
Sunday January 15th
@ CIT Sportsgrounds Cork Institute of Technology 2-16 IT Tralee 2-5
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Cork 2-14 Clare 0-7
@ Clonmel Sportsfield Tipperary 4-16 Waterford Institute of Technology 0-6
@ Michael Neville Park University College Cork 1-19 Limerick 0-10
Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 22nd
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Cork v Cork Institute of Technology @ 2:00pm
@ Clonmel Sportsfield Tipperary v University College Cork @ 2:00pm
Final (Extra time)
Sunday January 29th
Semi-Final winners @ 2:00pm
(See venue permutations below)
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Cork v University College Cork
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Cork Institute of Technology v University College Cork
@ Clonmel Sportsfield Tipperary v Cork
@ Clonmel Sportsfield Tipperary v Cork Institute of Technology
McGrath Cup – 2012 Scorers
| Barry Grogan (Tipperary) – 3-7 (0-1 free) Barry O’Hare (IT Tralee) – 1-9 (0-4 frees, 1 45) Colm O’Neill (Cork) – 2-4 Philip Austin (Tipperary) – 1-7 (1-0 penalty, 0-1 free) Gary Hurney (Waterford) – 0-10 (0-6 frees) Donal Óg Hodnett (CIT) – 1-6 (0-3 frees) David Tubridy (Clare) – 0-7 (0-4 frees, 0-1 45) Alan O’Donoghue (IT Tralee) – 1-4 Gary Brennan (Clare) – 0-7 Conor Sweeney (Tipperary) – 1-3 Mark Collins (UCC) – 1-3 (0-1 free) Michael Quinlivan (Tipperary) – 1-2 Hugh Curran (CIT) – 0-5 Joe Dowling (LIT) – 1-1 K O’Grady (WIT) – 0-4 (0-4 frees) Colin Dempsey (UL) – 0-4 (0-2 frees) Paul Geaney (UCC) – 0-4 Ger Collins (Limerick) – 0-4 (0-1 free) Mike Quilligan (Limerick) – 0-4 (0-3 frees) Mark Reen (UCC) – 0-3 Rory Donnelly (Clare) – 0-3 Ger Quinlan (Clare) – 0-3 Mikey Brennan (IT Tralee) – 1-0 Seanie Cahalane (Cork) – 0-3 Liam Shorten (Cork) – 0-3 Brian Mulvihill (Tipperary) – 0-3 Peter Acheson (Tipperary) – 0-3 Eoghan O’Connor (LIT) – 1-0 Seamus Carroll (LIT) – 1-0 Jerry O’Connor (CIT) – 1-0 G O’Driscoll (IT Tralee) – 1-0 J Burke (LIT) – 0-3 (0-3 frees) Edmund Walsh (UL) – 1-0 Brian Coughlan (UCC) – 0-2 Fiachra Lynch (Cork) – 0-2 Rory Deane (IT Tralee) – 0-2 Brian Fox (Tipperary) – 0-2 M O’Shea (Clare) – 0-2 (0-2 frees) Barry O’Driscoll (UCC) – 0-2 (0-1 free) |
Alan O’Connor (Cork) – 0-1 Pearse O’Neill (Cork) – 0-1 Hugh Coghlan (Tipperary) – 0-1 Sean Carey (Tipperary) – 0-1 S Murphy (WIT) – 0-1 C McDonnell (WIT) – 0-1 D Heffernan (LIT) – 0-1 S Malone (LIT) – 0-1 M Hallissey (LIT) – 0-1 (0-1 free) K Larkin (LIT) – 0-1 Barry O’Grady (IT Tralee) – 0-1 Andrew Hegarty (IT Tralee) – 0-1 S O’Hehir (Waterford) – 0-1 S Briggs (Waterford) – 0-1 Liam Ó Lionáin (Waterford) – 0-1 (0-1 free) G Nugent (Waterford) – 0-1 P Collins (Clare) – 0-1 Mark Cahalane (UL) – 0-1 J O’Donoghue (UL) – 0-1 Michael Geaney (UL) – 0-1 F Fitzgerald (UL) – 0-1 Steve O’Donoghue (CIT) – 0-1 Kevin Hallissey (CIT) – 0-1 Brian McGuire (CIT) – 0-1 P Daly (CIT) – 0-1 R O’Sullivan (CIT) – 0-1 B Poff (IT Tralee) – 0-1 D Kelly (IT Tralee) – 0-1 D Russell (Clare) – 0-1 G Quinlan (Clare) – 0-1 Kevin O’Driscoll (UCC) – 0-1 JB Spillane (UCC) – 0-1 David Nation (UCC) – 0-1 James O’Sullivan (UCC) – 0-1 A Greaney (UCC) – 0-1 J Riordan (Limerick) – 0-1 G O’Connell (Limerick) – 0-1 |
McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends
76 players have scored in the 7 matches to date in 2012 McGrath Senior Football competition to date with Tipperary’s Barry Grogan top of the charts with 3-7.
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 21, Lost 42. No College team won a game in 2011.
Clare have contested 6 Finals since 2000, winning the title in 2000, 2002 and 2008.
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, 91 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 14 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 8 years taking part in the competition.
Cork Institute of Technology Football Panel
The Cork Institute of Technology panel for the 2012 McGrath Cup includes the following players broken down by county –
Cork (15) – Aidan Walsh, Andrew O’Donoghue, Brian O’Regan, Hugh Curran, Jerry O’Connor, John Cronin, John Dineen, Kevin Hallissey, Noel Galvin, Peter Daly, Stephen O’Donoghue, William O’Mahony, Eoin Keane, Rory O’Sullivan, Cian Fleming
Kerry (7) – Brian Kelly, Brian McGuire, Damien O’Sullivan, Donal Hodnett, James Walsh, Mark Griffin, Pa Kilkenny
Tipperary (1) – Donogh Leahy
Clare (1) – Keith O’Connor
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
