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McGrath Cup Preliminary Round – Clare 1-20 LIT 1-2
Micko raise spirits as Banner plot for the ‘long road’ ahead
By Gerry Quinn for the Irish Examiner newspaper
Clare 1-20 Limerick IT 1-2
Same old, same old for the Peter Pan of Gaelic football management. Mick O’Dwyer (76) began another chapter of his amazing career on the sidelines watching his new Clare charges ease past Limerick IT in the opening round of the McGrath Cup at Miltown Malbay yesterday. O’Dwyer is no stranger to facile victories in these parts. Indeed the 9-21 to 1-9 victory of his former Kingdom charges over the Banner in 1979 is still referred to as ‘The Miltown Massacre’ with a shudder in these parts. Now 34 years on, O’Dwyer’s allegiance is on the other side of the Shannon and his enthusiasm remains as fierce as that day in the distant past.
“You can only play what’s in front of you,” remarked O’Dwyer soon after the final whistle, “but our fellows played good attractive football today. They combined well but there’s a lot of work to be done yet. “It was a poor Limerick IT side all right but as I said a minute ago, you play what’s in front of you and that all we could do.” He continued: “We are reasonably fit but we are a long way from championship yet. But we’re improving. There’s a long road ahead of us. Way out in June we are playing Cork in Ennis in the Munster championship but that’s a long way away. So we have a lot of work to do before then. That’s when we want to have our team in real shape, he said.
“We have Limerick next Sunday and that will be a better test of our team. Limerick have been a very good side for the last seven or eight years so we’ll be looking forward to next Sunday’s game.” Clare led 1-11 to 1-0 at the interval with Gary Brennan netting for the winners as they cruised to victory before 651 supporters.
Scorers for Clare: S McGrath (0-7) G Brennan (1-0), A Clohessy (0-4) 1 ‘45, I McInerney (0-3) 1 f, 1’45, P McMahon (0-2), E Coughlan (0-2),J Dowling, N Kelly (0-1) each.
LIT: T McCarthy (1-0), B Coleman (f), C Wallace (0-1) each.
CLARE: J Hayes, S Collins, C Dixon, E Coughlan, M McMahon, G Kelly, D Callinan, G Brennan, C O’Connor, S McGrath, J Dowling, A Clohessy, P McMahon, I McInerney, N Kelly.
Subs: C Duggan for P McMahon (half time), T Downes for Dowling (half time), I Whyte for Callinan (56), J Keane for O’Connor (62), G Quinlan for McInerney (67).
LIT: J Brouder (Limerick), S Considine (Limerick), S Malone (Clare), G Canty (Donegal), P Barrett (Kerry), S Durran (Kerry), G Murphy (Wexford), T McCarthy (Limerick), M Brennan (Kerry), S Ryan (Tipperary), T Griffin (Limerick), S Hayes (Clare), S Behan (Limerick), B Coleman (Sligo), C Callinan (Clare).
Subs: N Breen (Kerry) for Behan (24), C Wallace (Kerry) for Callinan (50), E O’Sullivan (Kerry) for Considine (54), S Ó Comáin (Mayo) for McCarthy (62).
Referee: C Lane (Cork)
Team News
The Clare team for Sunday’s opening McGrath cup clash with LIT will now not be named until just before throw in. The squad trained on Friday night and a number of players have been struck with flu over the past week with management hoping players will recover in time for Sunday’s McGrath Cup game.
The LIT team for Sunday’s match will be selected from the following panel –
Conor Talty Parnells Dublin
Ger Collins Monaleen Limerick
Shane Ryan Doonbeg Clare
Sean Hayes Lisseycasey Clare
Seanie Malone Miltown malbay Clare
Will Kennedy Newcastle Tipperary
Sean Ryan Colden/Kilfeakle Tipperary
Michael Jones Quinlan Shannon Rovers Tipperary
Michael Brennan Churchill Kerry
Shane Durran Austin Stacks Kerry
Stephen Commons Claremorris Mayo
Brian Coleman Enniscrone/Killyglass Sligo
Sean O’Connor Castlegregory Kerry
Thomas Smith Fr.Caseys Limerick
Ricky Nolan Spink Laois
Gary Carty Aodh Ruadh Donegal
Luke Conneally Gelnamaddy Galway
Gavin Murphy Cloughbawn Wexford
Tommy Griffin Gearld Griffins Limerick
Tommy McCarthy Mountcollins Limerick
Stephen Behan Fr.Caseys Limerick
James Brouder Mountcollins Limerick
Chris Dixon Kilrush Clare
Joey Rouine Ennistymon Clare
Contact Munster GAA PRO Ed Donnelly at pro.munster@gaa.ie for more information
For the Record
| Clare | LIT | |
| 2012 McGrath Cup Performance | Defeated UL by 0-18 to 1-8 before losing to Cork by 2-14 to 0-7 in the Quarter-Final. | Lost to Tipperary by 2-13 to 3-8 in the Preliminary Round |
| Number of McGrath Cup Senior Football titles | 12 | 0 |
| Last McGrath Cup Senior Football Title | 2008 | N/A |
| McGrath Cup Senior Football Record since 2000 | Played – 25 Won – 15 Lost – 10 Drawn – 0 |
Played – 6 Won – 1 Lost – 5 Drawn – 0 |
| Last meeting in the McGrath Cup | No prior meeting | |
Fixtures and Results
Preliminary Round (Extra time)
Saturday January 5th
@ Fitzgerald Stadium Killarney Kerry v IT Tralee @ 2:00pm
Sunday January 6th
@ Miltown-Malbay Clare v LIT @ 2:00pm
@ Cork IT Cork v CIT @ 2:00pm
Quarter-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 13th
@ Limerick venue Limerick v Clare or LIT @ 2:00pm
@ Kerry venue or TBC UCC v Kerry or IT Tralee @ 2:00pm
@ Cork or Tipperary venue Tipperary v Cork or CIT @ 2:00pm
@ Waterford venue Waterford v UL @ 2:00pm
Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday January 20th
Final (Extra time)
Sunday January 27th
McGrath Cup Senior Football – Odds and Ends
Since 2000, Cork’s McGrath Cup success rate is 89% (best of any county) with 16 wins out of 18 in the competition. In the same period, Kerry have won 11 of their 13 matches (a 85% success rate).
Despite a goal-less final, there was an average of 2.4 goals per match in the 2012 McGrath Cup competition (22 goals scored in total). This contrasts with 16 goals scored in the 2011 competition over 11 matches (an average of 1.4 goals per match).
The record of the Third Level Colleges in the McGrath Cup since entering in 2005 is Won 21, Lost 44 (32% success rate). None of the six colleges have a winning record in the competition during that period. UCC have the best record, winning 7 of their 15 matches (47% success rate). CIT have won 6 of their 14 matches (43% success rate) followed by UL who have won 5 of their 12 matches (42% success rate). Meanwhile IT Tralee, LIT and WIT have won 3 out of 24 matches between them.
Kerry have not lost a match in the McGrath Cup since the 2006 final where the Kingdom lost to Cork by 1-9 to 0-6 at Pairc Ui Rinn.
Limerick footballers have won 1 of their last 6 matches in the McGrath Cup. Waterford have won 1 of their last 5 matches.
Tipperary is the only team to have won at least 1 match in the last 3 years of the McGrath Cup with a 66% record during that period, Won 6 Lost 3.
Clare footballers have won 4 of their last 6 matches in the McGrath Cup over the last two seasons. During that span, Clare have scored 3 goals and conceded 3 goals.
McGrath Cup Senior Football Roll Of Honour
Clare (12) – 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008
Cork (6) – 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Limerick (5) – 1985, 1987, 2001, 2004, 2005
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.
