Cork 1-25 Tipperary 2-15THE NATURE of the old rivalry mightn't have been as elemental in recent years but Cork and Tipperary served up some robust excitement for the second time in a month at Semple Stadium, Thurles, in yesterday's Allianz Hurling League semi-final.
After all of the talking points had subsided, however, it was Cork, resurgent under Jimmy Barry-Murphy, who had qualified for the final, their second in three seasons, where they will meet All-Ireland champions Kilkenny in a fortnight.
Whereas the winners will be wary about getting carried away, Barry-Murphy was clearly pleased that the league campaign had yielded some visible progress amongst younger players and the ongoing development of an attack that looks to have more potential than for a while.
All of the positives had to be set against the more ominous news that dominated the match – the loss of goalkeeper and captain Dónal Óg Cusack after 17 minutes with what was believed with increasingly gloomy conviction to have been a serious injury to his Achilles tendon.
The incident looked innocuous. Cusack rose to pull down a shot from Thomas Stapleton but the ball got away from him and he had to stretch to clear it away from the incoming Brian O’Meara, which he managed to do.
But as the play continued, the veteran Cork goalkeeper lay motionless and in obvious trouble until medical attention arrived and he was taken off on a stretcher.
Anthony Nash came on and if his puck-outs lacked the variety of his captain, acquitted himself well. He even pointed a free from his own 65. For Tipperary the match was bad news in itself. The contest had ebbed and flowed with no more than a score between the teams until eight minutes from time when the Munster champions’ challenge folded like a trestle table. But the procession of Cork scores was no more than confirmation of momentum building during the final quarter.
In the 53rd minute Eoin Kelly, on as a replacement, drilled a free into the Cork net to regain the lead, 2-13 to 0-17. From then on, Tipp were outscored by 1-8 to 0-2.
Grace notes were provided by the younger brigade, Conor Lehane and Darren Sweetnam, who have been earning rave reviews this season but both had exam commitments last week and accordingly were kept in reserve.
Lehane came on and within seconds scored with his first possession, taking a Tipp puck-out and pointing. In successive minutes he won a scoreable free that was missed and gave a scoring pass to Niall McCarthy – who showed that the drive, which in recent years has marked him as Cork’s best forward hasn’t diminished – before whipping over another score in the 68th minute.
Sweetnam put himself about and also pointed. By the final whistle Cork were pulling away.
The first half hadn’t given any indication that there’d be a significant margin at the end.
Scoring exchanges were dominated by the free-taking of Pa Bourke for Tipperary and Patrick Horgan but there were absorbing subplots, especially the tussle between Paudie O’Sullivan and Tipp captain Pádraic Maher.
The latter strengthened as the match wore on and put in a great surging run in the 56th minute to clear his lines and win a free, which Kelly pointed to stretch Tipperary’s lead to two 2-14 to 0-18.
Having been level at the interval 0-10 each the teams maintained the nip-and-tuck nature of the contest before Brian O’Meara got the first goal for Tipperary, persevering when allowed get goal-side and finishing to the net in the 47th minute for a 1-11 to 0-13 lead.
The match ignited into blaze of attack and counterattack with seven scores in five minutes all, apart from Nash’s free for Cork from play. William Egan replied immediately to the goal with a point, followed by one from the excellent Patrick Cronin, whose energy drove Cork to the successful finish.
The sequence ended with a second point from Luke O’Farrell who went on in the 57th minute to flash home the goal that tilted the match back in Cork’s favour – both scores off assists from Niall McCarthy – and finish with a tidy 1-2 in the second half.
Tipperary reacted like all teams in such circumstances. With the match running away they chased mood-altering goals but could find no way through. Instead Cork were in the clear.
CORK: D Cusack (capt); S McDonnell, S O'Neill, C O'Sullivan; S Ó hAilpín, E Cadogan, W Egan (0-3, two frees); J Gardiner (0-1), L McLoughlin; P Cronin (0-2), J Coughlan, N McCarthy (0-3); L O'Farrell (1-2), P O'Sullivan (0-1), P Horgan (0-9, six frees). Subs: A Nash (0-1, free) for Cusack (17 mins), T Kenny for Ó h Ailpín (59 mins), C Lehane (0-2) for Coughlan (60 mins), D Sweetnam (0-1) for N McCarthy (66 mins), C McCarthy for McLoughlin (70 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; C O'Brien, P Maher (capt.), M Cahill; T Stapleton, C O'Mahony, D Young; B Maher, J Woodlock (0-1); G Ryan (0-2), N McGrath (0-1), P Bourke (0-7, five frees); S Bourke, B O'Meara (1-2), J O'Brien (0-1). Subs: S Maher for Young (28 mins), E Kelly (1-1, frees) for S Bourke (45 mins), S McGrath for B Maher (50 mins), S Curran for Woodlock (61 mins), J O'Neill for N McGrath (68 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
