Advertisement
premier class

Tipp steamroll dismal Cork without getting out of second gear

Michael Ryan’s men opened the defence of their Munster title with a nine-point win in Thurles.

John O’Dwyer scores a point John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer finished with seven points, four from play. Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

Tipperary 0-22

Cork 0-13

– Jackie Cahill reports from Semple Stadium

SEAMUS CALLANAN AND John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer collected 0-15 between them as Tipp battered Cork in this afternoon’s Munster SHC quarter-final at Semple Stadium.

The rampant hosts set up a provincial semi-final showdown with Limerick on 19 June on a desperately disappointing day for visitors Cork.

Kieran Kingston’s men were crushed and in truth, Tipp rarely had to get out of second gear to get the job done.

The Rebels must now regroup for the qualifiers again but Munster champions Tipp march on to within 70 minutes of another final appearance.

Conor Lehane gathers the ball ahead of Ronan Maher Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO

When these two sides met in the final round of Allianz League Division 1A group fixtures, Tipp won by 12 points.

There was nine between them this time but Tipp’s superiority was on a par with what we had seen earlier in the season.

Hawk-Eye made its debut at Semple Stadium, and judged three efforts wide, as a Tipp team containing four championship debutants from the start made light work of their opponents, in what was a first championship game at the helm for rival managers Michael Ryan and Kingston.

Hawkeye is used for the first time during the game Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO

Despite going 17 minutes without a score in the second half, Tipp were far too good and they led by 11 points at one stage in the second half, 0-16 to 0-5.

Cork worked their way back to within seven points and Patrick Horgan went for goal from a 20m free when a point would have brought the deficit back to six.

Tipp kicked on to lead by 10 points again, 0-19 to 0-9, before cruising home as the game petered out.

At half-time, Tipp were nine clear and coasting, leading by 0-14 to 0-5 in front of 29,114 spectators.

Weather conditions might not have been conducive to good hurling but Tipp still managed to produce some picture-book stuff in the first half, with O’Dwyer particularly impressive.

The amount of space they were afforded in which to work was an obvious factor, of course, and Cork elected to play against the breeze despite winning the toss.

Tipp’s link-play up front was too much for Cork to cope with but the Rebels didn’t help their cause either with a number of unforced errors while attempting to work the ball out of defence.

Supporters take shelter from a heavy shower Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

Tipp’s forwards were working hard but nevertheless, some of Cork’s mistakes were elementary, including the non-execution of handpasses to teammates no more than a few yards away from each other.

Cork also dropped too much aimless ball down on top of the Tipperary cover, as Ronan Maher, Pádraic Maher and debutant Seamus Kennedy appeared to rotate in the sweeper role.

Cork were sitting deep themselves but Tipp were finding it far too easy to open them up, cruising into a 0-7 to 0-1 lead within 17 minutes, five unanswered points helping them to open up that gap.

Some of the points in that spell were superb from Tipp – leading scorer Callanan arcing over one brilliant effort from the New Stand touchline after barrelling his marker Damian Cahalane out of the way.

It appeared that Callanan was about to play a crossfield ball but he took a punt at the posts instead and struck gold.

Tipp were switching the play intelligently, mixing it up with diagonal balls left and right into the forward line, and the movement inside was causing the Cork defence all sorts of bother.

Tipp’s lead grew to eight points – 0-12 to 0-4 – and increased further by the interval.
Cork managed just three points from play in that first half, supplied by Conor Lehane, Brian Lawton and Alan Cadogan, but it was a bitterly disappointing showing from the Leesiders right from the start.

Not even a couple of early shemozzles could spark the visitors into life and instead, it was Tipp who utterly dictated the terms of engagement all over the field.

Scorers for Tipperary: Seamus Callanan 0-8 (4f), John O’Dwyer 0-7 (2f, 1 65), Noel McGrath 0-2, Pádraic Maher, Brendan Maher, John McGrath, Jason Forde & Kieran Bergin 0-1 each.

Scorers for Cork: Patrick Horgan 0-4f, Alan Cadogan 0-3, Conor Lehane 0-2 (1f), Cormac Murphy, Brian Lawton, Seamus Harnedy & Luke O’Farrell 0-1 each.

Tipperary

1. Darren Gleeson (Portroe)

2. Cathal Barrett (Holycross-Ballycahill)
3. James Barry (Upperchurch-Drombane)
4. Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields)

5. Seamus Kennedy (St Mary’s)
6. Ronan Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)
7. Padraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)

8. Brendan Maher (capt, Borris-Ileigh)
9. Michael Breen (Ballina)

10. Sean Curran (Mullinahone)
11. Dan McCormack (Borris-Ileigh)
12. Noel McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney)

13. John O’Dwyer (Killenaule)
14. Seamus Callanan (Drom & Inch)
15, John McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney)

Subs:

19. Jason Forde (Silvermines) for N McGrath (51)
22. Patrick Maher (Lorrha-Dorrha) for Curran (56)
24. Niall O’Meara (Kilruane MacDonaghs) for O’Dwyer (64)
17. Kieran Bergin (Killenaule) for Breen (64)

Cork

1. Anthony Nash (Kanturk)

2. Damian Cahalane (St Finbarrs)
3. Mark Ellis (Millstreet)
4. Conor O’Sullivan (Sarsfield)

5. Lorcan McLoughlin (Kanturk)
6. Christoper Joyce (Na Piarsaigh)
7. Cormac Murphy (Mallow)

8. Daniel Kearney (Sarsfield)
9. William Egan (Kilbrin)

10. Bill Cooper (Youghal)
11. Conor Lehane (Midleton)
12. Brian Lawton (Castlemartyr)

13. Alan Cadogan (Douglas)
14. Seamus Harnedy (capt, St Itas)
15. Patrick Horgan (Glen Rovers)

Subs:

21. Aidan Walsh (Kanturk) for Kearney (32)
17. Killian Burke (Midleton) for O’Sullivan (41)
24. Luke O’Farrell (Midleton) for Horgan (53)
25. John Cronin (Lisgoold) for Cooper (59)

Referee: Barry Kelly (Westmeath)

The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!

Roscommon avoid repeat of New York scare with comfortable defeat of Leitrim

Your Voice
Readers Comments
40
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.