Some Easter hurling, then, in Semple Stadium, which only in the last few minutes warded off the early April goosebumps. But when it did warm up, oh boy.
Cork hung tenuously to a one-goal advantage throughout a second half splashed with basic errors and inaccuracy. With time dwindling, they looked to be safe - Joe Deane hooked a gettable shot wide with the scores at 0-11 to 1-10 even as the home crowd began consulting their wrists. With a minute to go, Cork's Seanie McGrath angled an exquisite point to leave them a goal apart again and there didn't seem too much for Jimmy Barry Murphy to worry about even after Declan Ryan snapped a short John Leahy free and rifled over his second point. Then came a blinding moment of witchcraft.
Leahy, thrown in at centre forward where he was overshadowed by Sean O hAilpin all afternoon, took a pass and launched a drive up field. He sold us all, including O hAilpin, and with a wonderfully swift feint of hand, he left his marker stumbling.
Barely had we finished gasping than his pass was in Paul Shelley's paw. The full forward, muted over the hour, spun past John Browne and rapped his shot low only to see it stopped by Donal Og Cusack's body. Liam Cahill dived at the loose ball and flicked it to the net. Dickie Murphy blew it up after the restart and the players were trooping off to the dressingrooms before the final result had fully registered with the 11,573 attendance. "It was hard work. We might not be the best team in the world, but by God we'll fight," said Tipperary manager Nicky English afterwards.
All the omens had pointed to a good day out for the Cork team. English was forced to indulge in all sorts of card-shuffling throughout the lines before the game began and then he sent his players out on the field early only to watch them get drowned in a downpour.
They fell behind by 1-3 to 0-2 in the opening quarter before some brightness finally permeated their play, Cahill and Leahy cracking points either side of a Tomas Dunne free to leave just one between them after 22 minutes.
Cork, though, were running with more fluidity, sturdy across the halfback line and firing all sorts of ball at Deane, with good reason.
The corner forward caught the eye right from the throw-in, sprinting on to a long, probing ball from Brian Corcoran, rounding Hugh Flannery and snapping his shot past the on-rushing Kevin O'Brien. That searing, opening passage hinted at a nerve-wracked afternoon for Flannery, called to the pitch at the last minute for Donnacha Fahy.
So it transpired, with Deane adding another free and then curling points from both wings. English had seen enough with Deane's final flourish after 27 minutes, switching Eamon Corcoran on to the troublesome Cork man and withdrawing Flannery.
Inevitably, Deane went half-cold in the second half. Sure, he did fire two frees, but where he was deadeyed over the first half hour, he missed a couple over the crucial period. Fortunately for Cork, Dunne was only half-firing also, missing frees while firing a couple of wonderful points from play.
Onwards the game trickled then, always that early goal keeping them apart and both teams forcing scores from diverse quarters - Diarmuid O'Sullivan dashed along the touchline before arcing a point early in the second half for Cork and Declan Ryan came in a minute later and fired over two points.
With both sides defensively tough, the game's pattern did little to suggest a sudden Tipperary revival. With 10 minutes to play, they trailed 0-10 to 1-10 and when Donal Og Cusack blocked a snap-shot by Declan Ryan, it appeared as though the home side's lone goal opportunity had gone abegging.
Brian Corcoran retired with four minutes to go, but even then it was impossible to see the Cork back six crumbling to the extent required for a Tipperary late rush.
And in fairness, they did little wrong. Just forgot about that man Leahy was all. If Cork left feeling luckless, that's understandable. Typical league fare, in summary, bracketed by two visionary goals.
TIPPERARY: K O'Brien; H Flannery, E Corcoran, L Sheedy; R Ryan, D Kennedy, C Bonnar; E Enright (0-1), A Maloney; J Leahy (0-1), T Dunne (0-5, 2 frees, 65), W Maher; L Cahill (1-2), P Shelley, G Maguire (0-1). Subs: F Heaney for Flannery (27 mins), D Ryan (0-2) for A Maloney (33 mins), M Bevans for W Maher (40 mins).
CORK: D Og Cusack; F Ryan, J Browne, W Sherlock; D O'Sullivan (0-1), B Corcoran, S O hAilp in; P Ryan, D Barrett; T McCarthy (0-1), M Daly, S McGrath (0-3); S O'Farrell (0-1), A Browne, J Deane (1-6, 4 frees). Subs: F McCormack for P Ryan (47 mins), R Dwane for T McCarthy (22 mins), M Landers for B Corcoran (56 mins).
Referee: D Murphy (Wexford).
