Cork 2-18 Waterford 0-7
Ronan McCarthy’s reign as Cork senior football manager got off to a flier with a facile 17 point victory over Waterford in the McGrath Cup at the Gold Coast grounds in Waterford.
Cork limped past the Déise by a single point in last season's Munster championship but had no such problems here. The Rebels completely dominated the opening half hitting 1-12 without reply in the opening 25 minutes. The goal came after 13 minutes - via the impressive Sean Powter - with Stephen Sherlock also excelling in the opening period with five points from play.
The result was already beyond doubt when Cork took a 1-13 to 0-1 lead into the dressing rooms at half time.
Waterford fared better upon the resumption, yet Cork substitute Padraig Clancy fisted a second goal in the 69th minute to add more gloss to the final score. They now go into next Sunday's final against Clare in Mallow.
Cork: R Price, E Lavers, C Dorman, M McSweeney, D Quinlan, S White, K Flahive, I Maguire, M Collins (0-1), R Deane, S Powter (1-2), J O'Rourke (0-4), C Vaughan (0-2), C Dorgan (0-2), S Sherlock (0-7, 0-2f).
Subs: C Kiely for Vaughan and Ml Hurley for White (47), P Clancy (1-0) for Quinlan and S Wilson for McSweeney (54), M Taylor for Dorman and D O'Callaghan for Maguire (58).
Waterford: D Whitty, J McGrath, T O'Gorman, B Looby, D Guiry, S Ryan, C Maguire, M Curry (0-2), T Prendergast, G Crotty (0-1), J Veale, M O'Halloran, C Murray, P Whyte, J Curry (0-3, 0-2f).
Subs: M Scurry for Maguire and JJ Hutchinson (0-1) for Guiry (45), E O'Brien for Veale (54), G Cullinane for Guiry (68).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Tipperary)
