Cork and Tipp to clash in McGrath Cup decider

Paul Kerrigan tallied up 1-6 as Cork booked their place in the final of the McGrath Cup with a comfortable 2-17 to 0-7 dismissal of Cork IT this afternoon.

Cork were far too strong for the students and this Pairc Ui Rinn tussle had a one-sided look to it when the Rebels took a 1-11 to 0-1 lead into the break.

Jerry O'Connor scored CIT's only point of the first half, 27 minutes in, and by that stage they were looking at a drubbing.

Kerrigan took on the CIT defence and sent a flicked shot to the net for a 13th minute goal. Fintan Goold had started the scoring with a point after just 10 seconds.

Kerrigan had 1-5 to his name before the interval and Conor Counihan's men kept pressing for scores as substitutes Noel O'Leary, Paudie Kissane and Nicholas Murphy picked off second half scores.

Kissane cut through on a purposeful 50th minute run to hammer home their second goal. Hugh Curran and Rory O'Sullivan replied for CIT but there was no danger of the county side faltering.

The Clonmel Sportsground will be the venue for next Sunday's final after Tipperary recorded a 1-15 to 0-10 semi-final victory over UCC there today.

Barry Grogan had a profitable afternoon for Tipp, scoring five first half points and also scoring the game's only goal 20 minutes into the second period.

UCC were still in contention at the interval with the sides tied at 0-7 apiece. Only five of the 14 points came from play, emphasising the stop-start nature of the game.

Referee Maurice Condon was heavily involved in proceedings and UCC's first half haul came from a succession of frees - four from Gavin O'Grady and three from midfielder Jamie O'Sullivan.

As well as Grogan, captain Philip Austin pointed for Tipp and Brian Fox fisted over also after an earlier miss.

There was little between the sides when the second half got underway. Despite the best efforts of O'Grady in particular, Tipp managed to pull away as the minutes ticked by.

Hugh Coghlan, Grogan and Conor Sweeney helped them push clear on the scoreboard and the clinching score arrived when Grogan finished to the net after Coghlan had played a high ball in.

The goal made it 1-13 to 0-9 to the hosts and they would have had a second goal soon after, had Austin's shot not been cleared off the line.