Goal-hungry Tipperary annihilate Antrim at Thurles

Mark Kehoe and John McGrath smashed home 2-3 apiece as Tipperary cruised to a 30-point win over Antrim at FBD Semple Stadium.

Five first-half goals from the hosts set up an easy afternoon as Jason Forde, Michael Breen, and Seamus Kennedy also stretched the Saffron net.

Antrim started the game brightly with two points through James McNaughton but then began an unrelenting onslaught from what had previously been a blunt Tipp attacking unit.

After hitting just one goal from four league games thus far, and that coming from a Kilkenny mistake, they hit Antrim for five during a comfortable first half.

Kehoe was involved in each of them — scoring two — with his fine performance beginning with an assist for Forde's.

The latter whipped the ball to the net from 16 yards out to register Tipp’s first score, with another major for the hosts coming in the ninth minute.

Barry Heffernan sent in a diagonal which was controlled by Kehoe, and he fed Kennedy to fire past Paul McMullan from a tight angle at close range.

Breen raised another green flag on 16 minutes, taking the ball away from a ruck that had been won by Kehoe, before soloing at goal and batting home.

There was more evidence of confident play from Tipp in the 20th minute when Robert Byrne arrowed a ball upfield for Forde — he turned inside his man and supplied Kehoe for a routine finish.

It concluded a devastating run of 4-3 to 0-3 for the Premier, but Antrim competed strongly for the remainder of the half.

Midfielder Keelan Molloy hit five points in a 20-minute spell during the half — some of which drew applause from both sets of supporters — as seven different Saffrons got their names on the scoresheet.

Nine did likewise for Tipp, with their fifth green flag arriving two minutes shy of