Noel McGrath
Noel McGrath enjoyed his first taste of Munster Championship action since 2014 when he impressed in Tipperary’s landslide win over Cork in Sunday’s Munster GAA Hurling Championship Quarter-Final.
The Loughmore-Castleiney clubman did not play in last year’s provincial campaign because was recuperating from surgery for testicular cancer, so it meant a lot to him to earn a starting jersey on Sunday.
“I didn’t play any Munster championship and the boys did a serious job then so I was mad to get back in the action, mad to give my all the last few weeks to be out on the field and thankfully I did,” said McGrath after Sunday’s win. “It’s all game on again now for Limerick. There’s going to be 35 lads pushing for places again on the 15 and the 26 and that’s the way you want it to be. It’s great to be involved in that.”
Sunday’s 0-22 to 0-13 victory over the Rebels was a much needed boost for Tipp after a disappointing League campaign that saw them crash out at the quarter-final stage after a narrow defeat to Clare.
“We were disappointed with the league but when championship comes it’s a different story altogether,” said McGrath. “We were looking at the Cork game as a massive game and one in which we just wanted to get a result in. The conditions weren’t easy for either side but we’re just delighted to come out of it and move onto the Munster semi-final.
“We wanted to go as well as we could in the league but at the end of the day when championship comes around it’s all forgotten about and you just want to get that going. The league, nobody will remember the league quarter-final at the end of the year. We just have to push on now and we’re looking forward to the Limerick game already.”
Tipperary will go into that match on June 19 as favourites on the back of Sunday’s decisive win over Cork, but McGrath is wary of the challenge that Limerick will pose.
“We haven’t thought anything about Limerick because we had Cork in our heads the whole time coming up to this game,” he said. “We’ll regroup and have four weeks to the Limerick game and in that time I’m sure we’ll have a good look at them. It’ll be another massive challenge.
“We’ve played Limerick the last few years and they’ve turned us over twice so it will be a serious challenge them coming to Thurles. It’s another game for us to play and we’re just delighted to be involved in big games like that.”
