McGrath steps up as Tipp reap benefit of under-age success

IT’S not an absolute rule in the GAA, but when you look back through the breakthrough teams at senior level, very often they were preceded by, or accompanied by, a successful underage team.

The great Tipperary senior hurling team of the early 1960s followed on from minor success in 1952, ‘53, ‘55, ‘56, ‘57, ‘59, then an U21 success in 1964, the inaugural year of that grade.

In 1966, Cork were All-Ireland senior and U21 champions having been minor champions in ‘64; the great Kilkenny team of the early ‘70s were also champions at minor (1972, ‘73, ‘75, ‘77) and U21 (1974, ‘75, ‘77); the Cork three-in-a-row team of the late ‘70s, All-Ireland minor champions (1970, ‘71, ‘74, ‘78, ‘79) and U21 (1968, ‘69, ‘70, ‘71, ‘73, ‘76).