Patrick Horgan: Liam Cahill has not got deserved credit for Tipperary All-Ireland win
Tipp have built terrific strength in depth under Liam Cahill and seem to have a couple of players for every position. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
This weekend the talking comes to an end. There’s been no shortage of discussion and commentary since the All-Ireland final - and believe me, I’ve heard a fair amount of it. But tomorrow we’ll see action rather than listening to opinions.
The replay of the All-Ireland final in Semple Stadium is the big one, obviously.
Losing the league final to Limerick a couple of weeks ago gave Cork some things to work on. The team picked for that game didn’t work out so we can expect some changes, and that means trying different players in different combinations: a step into the unknown, in other words.
One of those changes will be Barry Walsh, who missed our U20 win over Waterford during the week because the senior management want him for tomorrow. As expected he’s been named on the team for Thurles, and fair dues to him - he has all the attributes needed to be successful at that level. The U20 team and management wish him the very best and hope he maintains his form, because he’s been excellent in the last few weeks.
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There was a lot of surprise around Cork when match tickets came back from Tipperary late this week. I would have thought with hurling on a high in the county that the locals would be packing out Thurles and making it a real fortress, particularly compared to the 2024 game when Cork supporters outnumbered Tipp significantly in the stadium.
Tipperary have been pretty quiet for most of the year, which is something a lot of people have commented on (particularly in comparison with some other counties), but it’s still hard to find a reason why those tickets weren’t snapped up.
When it comes to discussions and debates, of course, Tipperary only have to point to the trophy cabinet. Having the Liam MacCarthy Cup in the county is as strong a statement as you can make.
In terms of their selection, though, this might be the first time they really have their first-choice team out. Ronan Maher, who’s a great leader and holds it all together for them, missed a few league games after an operation, and Willie Connors is also back in contention, so that obviously strengthens their hand.
Even if those players have missed a few matches which would have sharpened them up, they’ve been on the road a long time, and they’ll get to the pitch of the game immediately. They’ll certainly strengthen the Tipperary defence, which obviously gave Cork plenty of problems in the All-Ireland final last year.
There’s been no shortage of discussion about Tipp’s tactical set-up since last year’s All-Ireland, but some of that chat has missed out on a vital point. When Tipp weren’t going well earlier on in 2025 Liam Cahill didn’t lose faith in his system, and clearly his players responded to that faith.
There’s huge credit due to those players and to him for sticking with a pattern of play that eventually paid off for them when it counted most.
It might sound strange but I’m still not sure if Liam has gotten the credit he deserves for bringing Tipperary last year’s success. Only the year before they had a terrible season and didn’t win a game in the round robin, but 12 months later they were champions.
He didn’t win that All-Ireland with an ageing team making one last effort to get over the line, either: Tipp have built terrific strength in depth and seem to have a couple of players for every position, while introducing so many youngsters last season, like Darragh McCarthy and Sam O’Farrell, will also benefit them in the future.
Liam has plenty of experience as an inter-county manager with Tipperary and Waterford, and the likes of Brian Lohan, Peter Queally, and John Kiely have also been around the block. That’s very different with Ben O’Connor, who’s in his first season in inter-county management, and it’s a comparison that a few people in Cork have made when chatting to me in recent weeks.
I think that relative lack of experience on the sideline can be overplayed, though. From a Cork perspective the current playing group is very experienced now: nearly all of them have played in a couple of All-Ireland finals, a lot of them have been in three, and Seamus Harnedy’s played in five if you count the 2013 replay. Outside of Limerick, Cork have probably played in more sell-out games with huge crowds than any other county at the moment, and that familiarity with the big occasion should be a help to them tomorrow.
It’s going to be a terrific battle - it’s Tipp-Cork, of course it is - and I don’t expect there to be too much in it. Cork will need to get the running game going, so they’ll be looking for decent playing conditions, and I think the weather should be good enough. I can see Cork winning a close game if they get those runners flying.
There’s another very tasty one in Cusack Park where Clare take on Waterford.
On the Waterford side there’s been a lot of chat about Austin Gleeson this week, with rumours and suggestions that he’s in line to play tomorrow.
That’s a tricky one: first, Peter Queally’s been positive about Austin’s return without getting into too much detail about his plans, so it’s hard to know how close Austin really is to playing, let alone starting.
I know there are doubts about Jamie Barron, and Conor Prunty is out for a couple of games at least, so Waterford could do with the experience that Austin could provide, particularly up in Ennis.
Waterford have the talent, and they have the Ballygunner lads who must be bringing huge confidence to the set-up after their All-Ireland club win. Austin could offer that x-factor, something different which asks opposing teams difficult questions. Don’t forget two years ago Waterford were desperately unlucky to lose in Clare, when a disputed 65 might have gone the other way and tipped the scales in their favour.
On balance, though, I think Clare might have just too much. They’re at home, and when they have the full crowd behind them Cusack Park is a tough place to win - like every other venue, I know - and they’ve had an ideal run-in.
Promotion from Division 2 and a good test in the league final against Dublin, a game which probably focused Brian Lohan on what he needed to work on. I expect Waterford to put it up to them but I’m going for Clare.
That’s enough of the talk for a while. On to the hurling.
