Scoring burst makes it a walk in Park for Tipp
OLD habits clearly die hard for All-Ireland holders Tipperary who enjoyed a familiar winning feeling on their return to Croke Park in this Allianz League Divison 1A clash.
A little over five months on from their MacCarthy Cup triumph, Michael Ryan’s men streaked to a 16-point win thanks in part to 0-8 from All-Star fullforward Seamus Callanan.
Jason Forde weighed in with 1-3 also while Aidan McCormack, who blasted 05 from corner-forward, and captain Padraic Maher were immense in testing conditions.
The Premier County, with just seven of their All-Ireland final team starting, weren’t at their best initially and scored just one point in the first 18 minutes.
But they found their groove and swept past a Dublin side containing three 2016 minors.
Tipperary didn’t participate in the Munster senior league pre-season competition and, perhaps as a result looked rusty.
Dublin, who played three games in the Bord na Mona Walsh Cup, moved 0-4 to 0-1 ahead thanks to points from Niall McMorrow, Oisin O’Rorke, Fionntan MacGibb and Donal Burke.
But McCormack’s 19th minute point for Tipp was the first of five in a row. The Thurles Sarsfields player was excellent in the opening half and picked off three fine points from play, the third of which came on the stroke of half-time from out on the right wing.
Callanan miscued an early point attempt in the rain sodden conditions but clipped over five first-half points from frees. Dublin added just two points after running up that early lead and found themselves 0-11 to 0-6 down at the break.
It didn’t get much better for under pressure Dubs boss Ger Cunningham, whose side were killed off in a one-sided third quarter.
Tipperary outscored Dublin by 1-11 to 0-1 after the restart with 1-10 of that coming in the form of an unanswered scoring burst.
Tipp turned on the style with points from McCormack and Maher in particular before Forde’s 55th-minute goal from a solo run down the right.
Sub Eamonn Dillon pulled back a goal for Dublin though defender Shane Barrett was dismissed late on after a second booking.
Tipperary: D Mooney; D Maher, J Barry, J O’Keeffe (M Cahill 49); T Hamill, R Maher (S Kennedy 27-35) (B Heffernan 56), P Maher (D Quinn 59); B Maher, K Bergin; S O’Brien (S Curran 52), J Forde, N McGrath; J O’Dwyer, S Callanan (N O’Meara 55), A McCormack. Scorers: S Callanan 0-8 (0-8f), J Forde 1-3, A McCormack 0-5, P Maher 0-2, T Hamill, N McGrath, K Bergin, S Curran, N O’Meara, J O’Dwyer (0-1f) 0-1. Dublin: G Maguire; S Barrett, E O’Donnell, P Smyth; C Crummey, L Rushe, S McGrath (J Madden 42); B Quinn, N McMorrow; D Fox (R McBride 49), R O’Dwyer, F MacGibb (A Quinn 63); O O’Rorke (C Conway 55), D Burke, C O’Sullivan (E Dillon 46). Scorers: E Dillon 1-0, D Burke 0-3 (0-3f), N McMorrow 0-2, O O’Rorke, F MacGibb, C Crummey 0-1. Referee: P O’Dwyer (Carlow).