Cork 4-19 Tipperary 2-25
After a game like this addled first responses are unreliable but it is a blissful ignorance. The last 10 or 15 minutes were such an assault on the senses that there was no reasonable way to process every whiplash turn and turnaround. For all the menacing advances in Artificial Intelligence this game would have been beyond the understanding of the latest generation chatbot too.
On a breathless night, in front a massive crowd, a match that had been firmly in Tipperary’s grip exploded in fireworks until every outcome was possible. After a late blizzard of scores they fell exhausted into each other’s arms, all square.
Both teams missed a long-range free to maybe win the game, deep in stoppage-time, but it would have been a travesty if a game like this had been decided in the end by a dead ball. Including stoppage-time, the closing 15 minutes were dazzling and intoxicating and completely at odds with the pleasant plainness of the first hour. All of a sudden points and goals were traded up and down the field like nobody knew their value.
When the dust settles Tipp will know they let this game slip. Cork lost the lead in the 13th minute and never regained it. In both halves Tipp went five points clear, and even allowing for hurling’s berserk volatility, Tipp were on top in every way that mattered. The Cork attack was disarmed for long stretches of the second half and it was hard to see a way back.
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Ultimately, Cork conjured a couple of goals to save their skin, both of them beautifully created. Darragh Fitzgibbon applied the finishing touch to a ground stroke by Conor Lehane – that would have crossed the line of its own volition – and then, at the beginning of stoppage-time, the excellent Shane Kingston played a terrific pass for Brian Hayes to deflect the ball to the net.
Hayes’s goal brought the sides level, but there was still time for Patrick Collins to make an astonishing save, charging off his line as Séamus Callanan was about to pull the trigger, and making a courageous, perfectly timed flick, just like the one Nickie Quaid executed against Séamus Harnedy in the 2018 semi-final.
Callanan recovered his composure to gather the ball and put Tipp in front again, but from the next puck out Shane Kingston brought Cork level for the last time.
Both managers tried to claim the draw as a point gained, but only one of them was convincing. “In fairness to our fellahs, there were a lot of times there when we were hurling uphill,” said Pat Ryan. “Fellahs will always say that Cork are good going downhill but I thought we played very well today playing uphill.”
For the second game in row Tipp conceded a big score, and that will concern them, but they have such firepower at the other end of the field that they will have a puncher’s chance against anybody. They lost Jason Forde to a hamstring injury after just 16 minutes, and they couldn’t replace his exceptional efficiency from dead balls. But they had 10 different scorers from play, and Mark Kehoe once again made a huge contribution off the bench.
When Tipp ramped up their aggression in the middle of the first half, and blitzed Cork with turnovers and overloads, they went on a rampage of scoring. In a 15-minute spell they swamped Cork by 0-10 to 0-1, including six unanswered points in a row. Séamus Kennedy, Alan Tynan and Noel McGrath took control in the middle third of the field and Cork lost all of the directness that had characterised their play in the early stages.
Having failed to score a goal in their opening game Cork were clearly minded to address that omission, and in the first 10 minutes alone they created three clear goalscoring opportunities. As you can imagine, Tipp had a different view of Cork’s goals.
“An exciting game, a game with a lot of skill in it but also a lot of errors I suppose and that contributed to such drama,” said Liam Cahill.
“Very proud of how the Tipperary players responded to every sucker blow that came from Cork. Look, when you give away four goals you probably don’t deserve to win a game either. A lot of reflection to do again. We came down with the real emphasis of having a good defensive performance.”
Whatever happens in the next game – for Cork in Ennis and for Tipp against Limerick – both of them are guaranteed to have a chance of qualifying on the final day of the round robin. Ask your nearest chatbot to work it out.
CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, E Downey, D Cahalane; G Mellerick, C Joyce, R Downey; B Roche, T O’Connell; D Dalton (1-2, two frees), D Fitzgibbon (1-1), S Barrett; R O’Flynn (1-0), P Horgan (0-8, five frees, two 65s), S Harnedy (0-3).
Subs: S Kingston (0-3) for O’Flynn (35 mins); C Lehane (0-1) for Barrett (43); T O’Mahony (0-1) for E Downey (49); L Meade for Roche (55); B Hayes (1-0) for Harnedy (69).
TIPPERARY: B Hogan; C Barrett, M Breen, J Ryan; R Maher, B O’Mara, D McCormack; A Tynan (0-4), N McGrath (0-1); S Kennedy (0-3), G O’Connor (1-3, three frees), C Stakelum (0-1); J Forde (0-4, three frees), J Morris (0-3), S Ryan (0-1).
Subs: M Kehoe (1-4) for Forde (16 mins); C Bowe for Ryan (h-t); J McGrath for O’Connor (53); E Heffernan for Stakelum, S Callanan (0-1) for Bowe (both 69).
