Tipperary outclass Cork in Munster Senior Hurling Championship opener
Tipperary 2-28 Cork 1-24
Sunday 12 May 2019 20:23, UK
Liam Sheedy’s second spell in charge of Tipperary saw them open their championship campaign with a blistering display which blew away reigning Munster title holders Cork.
Tipperary, having failed to get out of the province last year, were full of running and shot 2-24 from play as Cork had no answer in perfect conditions at Pairc Ui Chaoimh.
Sheedy's men will host Waterford next weekend full of confidence on a day when John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer and Seamus Callanan ran the Cork defence ragged.
Only goalkeeper Brian Hogan and the full-back line failed to score for a Tipperary side whose half-back line of Brendan Maher, back after cruciate surgery, and brothers Ronan and Padraig Maher, dominated.
Cork were far too dependent on the accuracy of Patrick Horgan and, while he delivered 0-14 in another vintage display, John Meyler's men were unable to prise open a fired-up Tipperary defence.
Horgan shot 0-10 for Cork in the opening half but the Rebels still trailed at half-time by a point in a free-flowing game.
Callanan gave Tipperary the perfect start, blasting home his 28th championship goal in 46 games when he soloed through to give goalkeeper Anthony Nash no chance.
Tipperary pushed on from there with John McGrath, O'Dwyer and Noel McGrath picking off some fine scores to lead by 1-5 to 0-3 after 10 minutes.
Cork, who lost midfielder Bill Cooper to a back injury in the warm-up, were dependent on the accuracy of Horgan from frees.
He helped get the margin back to a goal before efforts from O'Dwyer and Callanan made it 1-8 to 0-5 at the end of the opening quarter.
But Cork then got moving, with Seamus Harnedy leading the way and they hit seven points without reply in a blistering 11-minute spell to lead by 0-12 to 1-8 before O'Dwyer's third point levelled the sides.
That Cork period of dominance included a superb penalty save by goalkeeper Nash from Jason Forde, after Niall O'Meara was fouled by debutant Niall O'Leary.
Conor Lehane and Michael Breen then swapped points and Horgan and Forde did likewise.
Padraig Maher landed a superb long-distance effort and Callanan took his haul to 1-3 for the opening half, but Horgan's 10th point cut the margin to the minimum at the interval.
Tipperary got an edge after half-time and points from O'Dwyer and Forde helped them push ahead before Horgan and Shane Kingston hit back for Cork.
But Tipperary pushed ahead with inspirational points from Brendan Maher and Forde before slack defending was punished as O'Dwyer set John McGrath up for a goal which made it 2-20 to 0-18 after 50 minutes.
A Cork revival never looked likely. Horgan, Kingston and Robbie O'Flynn landed points and when Harnedy blasted to the net to cut the gap to four six minutes from time, Tipperary pulled away again on a day when they had 11 different scorers and sent out a clear message that they are genuine All-Ireland contenders with Sheedy back in the hotseat.
Scorers for Tipperary: John O'Dwyer 0-7, Seamus Callanan 1-4, Jason Forde 0-5 (0-3f), Noel McGrath 0-4 (0-1 '65), John McGrath 1-1, Brendan Maher 0-2, Michael Breen 0-1, Padraig Maher 0-1, Niall O'Meara 0-1, Patrick Maher 0-1, Ronan Maher 0-1.
Scorers for Cork: Patrick Horgan 0-14 (0-10f), Seamus Harnedy 1-2, Shane Kingston 0-3, Conor Lehane 0-3, Robbie O'Flynn 0-1, Tim O'Mahony 0-1.
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