Tipperary 1-9 Cork 2-22
Niall Coakley collected 2-3 as Cork romped to a 16-point victory over Tipperary in Templetuohy.
Coakley, the former Carrigaline player who plays his club football in Dublin with St Judes, scored three points in the recent Dubs Stars match and grabbed his chance to impress in Cork colours.
Kevin Davis, an early sub, was another to impress as Cork cruised to victory.
Ahead by 1-12 to 1-4 at half-time, Cork kicked for home towards the end after Tipp had reduced the deficit to six points. Alan Moloney’s goal gave Tipp some hope ahead of the second half but after netting in the 22nd minute, Coakley struck again 10 minutes from time.
Robbie Kiely, black-carded against Mayo in last August's All-Ireland semi-final, suffered a similar fate in this heavy defeat as Tipp suffered another heavy defeat after suffering at the hands of a Kerry under-21 selection last Sunday.
Cork's night was marred by injuries to Kevin O'Driscoll and debutant Cian Dorgan, as both players were replaced early.
CORK: R Price; M Shields, J Mullins, J McLoughlin; S Cronin, C Dorman (0-1), M Taylor; I Maguire (0-1), R Deane (0-2); S Powter (0-2), B O'Driscoll (0-3), K O'Driscoll; N Coakley (2-3, one free), P Kelleher, C Dorgan.
Subs: D O'Driscoll (0-3) for K O'Driscoll (12 mins), K Davis (0-6) for Dorgan (13 mins), K Histon for Taylor (half-time), P de Roiste (0-1) for Maguire (half-time).
TIPPERARY: C Kenrick; B Fox, J Hennessy, K Fahey; J Keane, R Kiely, B Maher; A Moloney (1-0), J Kennedy; J Lonergan, L Casey (0-1), L McGrath (0-3); L Boland (0-4), C Stapleton, D Foley (0-1).
Subs: A McGrath for Maher (half-time.), P Shanahan for Casey (42 mins), C Sweeney for McGrath (46 mins), M Dunne for Kiely (b/c 49 mins), I Fahey for Foley (56 mins), C Hennessy for Stapleton (64 mins).
Referee: R Hickey (Clare)
Limerick 2-13 Clare 2-9
Limerick surprised Clare at Rhebogue to give new manager Billy Lee a winning start against a Clare side who had nine wides in the first half.
Limerick led 1-5 to 0-7 at half-time thanks mainly to points by Danny Neville and a well taken goal by Darragh Treacy, who finished a six man move to the net.
Limerick’s second goal came courtesy of Seán O’Carroll five minutes into the second half.
Clare managed only a single point from play in the first half and they had to wait until the 56th minute for their second from play.
Limerick led 2-7 to 0-7 at that stage but a great goal by Cian O’Dea gave Clare fresh hope and they had another by Eoin Cleary a minute from the end but it was not enough to deny Limerick a chance of making the final should they beat Waterford on Sunday.
Both teams finished with 14 thanks to a player from each side getting two yellow cards.
LIMERICK: D O'Sullivan; D Daly (0-1), J McCarthy, S O'Dea; P White (0-1), I Corbett, P Hannon; D Treacy (1-0), D Ward; P Nash 0-1, G Collins, D Neville (0-3); S McSweeney (0-5, four frees), S O'Carroll 1-2, J Lee.
CLARE: Joe Hayes; D Nagle, John Hayes, K Hartnett; L Markham, G Kelly, C O'Dea (1-0); G Brennan, C O'Connor; S Brennan, S McGrath (0-2), D Bolton; E Cleary (1-6, five frees), K Sexton (0-1), G O'Brien.
Referee: P O'Sullivan (Kerry).
