Grogan on song as Tipp wallop Waterford IT

ACE forward Barry Grogan helped himself to 3-3 at the Clonmel Sportsfield yesterday as Tipperary demolished Waterford IT by 22 points to book their place in the semi-finals of the McGrath Cup.

Grogan’s introduction a week previously proved crucial as Tipp eventually saw off the challenge of Limerick IT and the Aherlow ace, who started at full-forward, took his tally to 3-7 from two outings with an impressive showing.

Tipp were impressive and much more cohesivebut Waterford IT’s challenge was extremely poor and the students managed just two points from play in the entire game.

Corner-forward Philip Austin helped himself to five points from play for Tipp, including four in the opening half, while Conor Sweeney bagged 0-3 as the Premier County’s starting inside line finished with a combined haul of 3-11.

Having made his senior inter-county debut a week previously, 2011 All-Ireland minor winner Michael Quinlivan came off the bench to notch 1-1 in the second half while the return of former captain Robbie Costigan was another bonus for manager John Evans.

Costigan, back from a year in Australia, was solid at midfield on an afternoon when Jonathan Ryan, Niall O’Meara and David Butler were handed full senior debuts.

Tipp, who haven’t won the McGrath Cup since 2003, will meet Sigerson Cup holders and Cork senior county champions UCC in next Sunday’s semi-final in Clonmel.

And Evans predicted: “UCC will give us more than a tough challenge and we’ll be glad to have three weeks work underneath us.

“We may have looked good at times but I thought that WIT weren’t that competitive.”

Scorers for Tipperary: B Grogan 3-3 (1f), P Austin 0-5, M Quinlivan 1-1, C Sweeney, B Mulvihill 0-3 each, B Fox 0-1.

Scorers for Waterford IT: K O’Grady 0-4f, S Murphy, C McDonnell 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: M O’Donnell; J Ryan, P Codd, A Morrissey; L Egan, T Ryan, N O’Meara; R Costigan, B Jones; B Fox, D Butler, P Acheson; C Sweeney, B Grogan, P Austin.

Subs: E Connolly for T Ryan (ht), M Quinlivan for Austin (44), D Heffernan for Costigan (47), B Mulvihill for Fox (52), J O’Callaghan for Jones (58).

WIT: B Redmond (Wexford); L Thomas (Kildare), E Walsh (Waterford), S Murphy (Laois); B Rogers (Louth), M Molloy (Wexford), J McGrath (Waterford); S Culleton (Wexford), S Prendergast (Waterford); B McGarr (Wicklow), G Ward (Waterford), C McDonnell (Kildare); K O’Grady (Wexford), S Burke (Laois), L McGrath (Tipperary).

Subs: B Thornton (Kildare) for Burke (ht), S Dalton (Meath) for Ward (44), D Doyle-Murphy (Wexford) for Thomas (58), Peter O’Hagan (Waterford) for McDonnell (69).

Referee: M Collins (Cork).