Champions Thurles Sarsfields set down a marker for those aspiring to take their title from them when they romped to a 5-32 to 0-7 win over Carrick Swans in their opening game in defence of the Tipperary senior hurling title at Cashel.

Tipperary might be champions of effing Ireland, at senior and minor, but the family that did most to put them there won’t be shouting about it. Noel and John McGrath won All-Ireland senior medals with Michael Ryan’s men, and brother Brian captained the Premier to the minor title. It crowned a tumultuous year for the family. But their feet never left the ground.

Drom-Inch and Loughmore-Castleiney progressed to the Mid Tipp SHC final with comfortable wins over Holycross-Ballycahill and Moycarkey-Borris at Boherlahan.

Tipperary SHC

Match of the day in a busy weekend of divisional senior hurling championship games was the Mid Tipp clash of county champions, Thurles Sarsfields and divisional title-holders, Drom-Inch at Holycross yesterday.

Feohanagh-Castlemahon (Limerick) 2-10 Drom-Inch (Tipperary) 3-6

Clare’s participation in the Munster Club SFC rests in the hands of their prospective provincial semi-final opponents.

Cork senior football champions Castlehaven may have to cope without captain Seanie Cahalane when they take on Waterford champions Stradbally in the Munster Club SFC semi-final in Clonakilty on Sunday.

Seven days after punching home the goal that won Castlehaven the Cork senior football title, Shane Nolan struck again on Sunday in Clonakilty.

Castlehaven 1-15 Dromcollogher-Broadford 0-07

Shane Nolan can still hear the words manager James McCarthy whispered in his ear before being introduced as a 47th minute substitute in last Sunday’s Cork SFC final against Duhallow.

Dromcollogher-Broadford 0-13 Newcastle West 2-07

Ballaghadereen are the new Mayo SFC champions after dethroning last year’s winners Ballintubber by 1-9 to 0-4 in Castlebar this afternoon.

There’s a perception abroad that the powerbase of Limerick football is towards the west.

Thurles Sarsfields 1-21 Drom & Inch 2-15

Dromcollogher-Broadford 1-10 Fr. Caseys 0-9

Éire Óg Annacarty sprung a major surprise at Cashel in the Tipperary SHC when they beat a hotly fancied Borris-Ileigh 1-17 to 0-17 thanks to an injury-time goal from sub Michael McGrath.

County man Pa Bourke hit a whopping six goals as Thurles Sarsfields blitzed holders Loughmore-Castleiney in a disappointingly one-sided Mid Tipperary senior hurling final at Templemore.

Mid Tipp SHC title holders, Loughmore-Castleiney, blitzed Tipperary champions Drom-Inch in this Mid Tipperary senior hurling semi-final replay at Templetuohy on Saturday.

It’s the Rebels versus the Reds, as Cork City welcome Manchester United to Turner’s Cross for a friendly game on Wednesday, July 25 (7.45pm).

The clash of the champions in the Mid Tipperary senior hurling championship semi-final ended in stalemate at Templetuohy yesterday as county champions Drom-Inch, courtesy of a pointed free by Johnny Ryan with the last puck of extra-time, forced a 2-21 each draw with Loughmore-Castleiney, the divisional champions, in a thrilling contest.

Cork seek a fourth successive intermediate win over Tipperary when they clash in the curtain-raiser at Páirc Uí Chaoimh tomorrow (2pm).

DROM & Inch goalkeeper Damien Young said the final whistle in last Sunday’s Tipperary SHC final had brought a “pure release of energy” from the team and supporters.

JOY unconfined for Drom & Inch yesterday in Semple Stadium as they won their first Tipperary senior hurling title, edging out Clonoulty Rossmore by two points to get their hands on the Dan Breen Cup.

STEPHEN KELLY agrees it has been a dramatic transformation for his Newcastle West side en route to tomorrow’s final against Monaleen, (Gaelic Grounds, 3.30pm).

KEEPING Lar Corbett scoreless — it’s a winning formula.

ROUTINE business for Dr Crokes in their opening provincial foray yesterday.

THE penny only dropped for Mike Crowley a couple of days after last month’s Limerick county senior final.

LIMERICK and Tipperary are both bidding to break the stranglehold that Cork and Kerry have exerted in the Munster minor football grade, when the semi-finals of the competition take place tonight.

EARLY season training with a twist. Enda Coughlan has grown accustomed to the hard slog during the months of February and March in recent years, trying to calibrate his body for the rigours of the football season ahead.

IT says a lot for a team when their star player, the man selected as AIB Munster player of the championship, is a defender, a stopper.

Kilmurry-Ibrickane (Clare) 0-11 Drom-Broadford (Limerick) 0-5

IT had promised to be a great final of romantic proportions.

THE Tipperary senior hurling championship final ended on a sour note in Semple Stadiumyesterday when Drom & Inch and Tipperary midfielder James Woodlock was stretchered off the field deep into injury time with a suspected fractured ankle.

Drom-Broadford 0-9 Fr. Casey's 0-7

STILL standing – that’s Mid-Tipp division champions Drom & Inch after this second Tipperary SHC semi-final in Semple Stadium yesterday.

ALL the excitement of the All-Ireland final put to bed, it’s back to serious club business in Kilkenny and Tipperary this weekend, the senior club championships in both counties at quarter-final stage with one exception.

LIMERICK’S football championship record against Cork has been peppered with defeats in recent seasons.

AFTER completing a fabled four-in-a-row of Cork county titles, Nemo Rangers’ provincial campaign came to a shuddering halt last November.

THE GAA dual player may be considered a dying breed but Brian Fox is doing his best to buck that trend. Three months into the season and the Éire Óg-Annacarty man has been dividing his time in a three-way fashion.

AWESOME. If ever there was a sporting equivalent to that meteorological phenomenon known as the perfect storm then this was it. Drom/Broadford just happened to be the poor souls caught squarely in its path.