{"id":451499,"date":"2026-05-16T06:18:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:18:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451499\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T06:18:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T06:18:21","slug":"i-would-not-be-giving-him-an-inch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451499\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I would not be giving him an inch’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lar Corbett had one season seeing John McGrath up close and personal. Not for the life of him did he expect him to follow in his footsteps as a hurler of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember him from training inside with Tipp in 2015,\u201d recalls the 2010 hurler of the year, of the man who emulated him 15 years later. \u201cHe didn’t strike me as someone that would get to do what he’s doing now. I just didn\u2019t see it. I didn\u2019t think he was going to be as good as he was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sure, Corbett recognised McGrath\u2019s composure on the ball and his strength but nothing to believe he would pillage the Waterford defence in the following season\u2019s Munster final for three goals.<\/p>\n

Jump on nine years and McGrath\u2019s eight goals in last year\u2019s championship were one more than Corbett\u2019s seven in 2011 and two better than his \u201910 haul. It equalled Seamus Callanan\u2019s goal-every-game return in 2019.<\/p>\n

The Loughmore-Castleiney man is obviously not blessed with Callanan or Corbett\u2019s speed but in thought the latter believes there are few quicker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen anyone inside with the awareness that he is. His brother Noel has it out the field and he has that extra second but inside your time is short. John sees the next move before others. He just has that way about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so subtle too. The goal he got going down the endline in Ennis last year, he was able to lose the back with his footwork. Most forwards are busting a gut to get the ball. John McGrath doesn\u2019t even look like he\u2019s breaking stride. It just shows you the quality of the man, if he’s able to do that, because otherwise he’d be off the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had two goal chances inside the first 12 minutes against Clare last year and he could have had a hat-trick by half-time. Clare don’t protect their full-back line and I\u2019ll tell you one thing, if I was playing against John McGrath, I would not be giving him an inch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s such a peculiar running style, it’s like he’s fooling you into going slow motion and taking it easy. And then he just wins a ball, turns nice and he\u2019s one-on-one with the goalie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he gets inside the 21, he’s looking around. He\u2019s very much like Shane O\u2019Donnell because he can sum up the options around him very quickly, if there is a player in a better position. So sharp in deciding to slow up and let another man pass him out and create a two-on-one or take it on himself.<\/p>\n

\"Tipperary'sTipperary’s John McGrath and Waterford’s Mark Fitzgerald. Pic: \u00a9INPHO<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knows the percentages. He holds it and holds it, and you\u2019d often see him tipping it over the bar there in a kind of a lazy way and he\u2019s nearly disappointed as if, \u2018Jesus, I\u2019ve nothing else on.\u2019 You can see it in his strike that he had hoped for better.\u201d Corbett loves how McGrath has the basics down to a tee and the ability to dictate a scenario. \u201cIf you look at the All-Ireland final last year, for the first of his goals, he let on to pull on the ball and then didn\u2019t. Nine times out of 10, people would take that chance as soon as it presented itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn slowed the whole thing down and righted himself and just caressed the ball into the net. He almost walked around the goalie. If I tried to do that, there\u2019d be hooks and blocks and you\u2019d be going 100 miles an hour to avoid them. Not John. He doesn\u2019t need to.\u201d A paid-up member of the inside forwards union, Corbett was disappointed to see McGrath taken off early against Cork. He started again against Waterford and scored four points, seeing out the entire game.<\/p>\n

For the threat he poses and the list of defenders he has troubled (Conor Leen, Eoin Downey), he has to stay involved, according to Corbett. \u201cWhen that ball goes in around John McGrath, I think that everyone sits on the edge of their seat. I think he’s the best in the game at creating a goal chance out of nothing and that\u2019s for club and county. You need John McGrath inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Liam Cahill was a bit hard on him taking him off early against Cork. If you\u2019re playing a two-man full-forward line, there\u2019s none better than John McGrath to go out to the corner with a back and create something. There\u2019s none better to stick a chance or hold it up for the runner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way I would have taken him off against Cork. The hurler of the year. No way. When your team don\u2019t look like getting a goal, John McGrath will get it for you either by creating or scoring it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lar Corbett had one season seeing John McGrath up close and personal. Not for the life of him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451500,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5582,61,60,112],"class_list":["post-451499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-tipperary-gaa","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451499"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451499\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}