St Finbarr’s made it out of Bandon yesterday with their defence of the Cork SFC still intact, but not without a stern test from Carbery Rangers.

Conor Counihan may have been a man for the dummy team but none of his successors — Brian Cuthbert, Peadar Healy, and Ronan McCarthy — have been known for it.

Cork have been forced into three late changes to their starting fifteen ahead of tomorrow’s Munster football final against champions Kerry (7pm).

Bobbie O’Dwyer’s recollection is forensic, and not because his son was Cork corner-back in Tralee that night.

Nine minutes into the second half of Saturday’s Munster semi-final rout, Cork called Brian Hurley ashore.

The old Mike Tyson deadpan came to mind as Limerick’s Munster final ambitions were obliterated in the opening 12 minutes of Saturday’s SFC semi-final at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Champions St Finbarr’s opened their Cork SFC defence with an emphatic victory over Clyda Rovers at Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday with new manager Paul O’Keeffe, following in the winning footsteps of former boss Ray Keane, well happy with his players for a job well done.

It might only be the McGrath Cup, but the Cork footballers, for a variety of reasons, would be best served by ensuring the pre-season silverware is perched at the front of the team bus when it pulls out of Willie Clancy country tomorrow afternoon.

The Cork team to play Clare in the McGrath Cup Final on Saturday at 2pm, has been announced.

A massacre at Lewis Road. 5-20 from Crokes, each one of their 25 scores arriving from play.

After a 33-year wait, Andy Scannell will reside in Togher for the winter after the Barr’s deservedly overcame Duhallow in an excellent and enthralling contest in Páirc Uí Chaoimh yesterday, writes Paddy Kelly.

Better decision-making, better game-management. Greater adaptability. More mature, more experienced.

It remains sport’s enduring mystery: The No-Show.

Here's your round-up of club action...

Most Cork football people I spoke to after the Munster final said it was the worst ever, writes Paddy Kelly.

Since Conor Counihan departed as Cork manager almost five years ago, three different managers have presided over 54 games and used 76 players — and not once put the same team out in successive games. Eoghan Cormican crunches the numbers.

The Cork football team to face Tipperary in Saturday’s Munster SFC semi-final contains two championship debutants.

The Cork football team to face Tipperary in Saturday’s Munster SFC semi-final contains two championship debutants.

Seán Powter, Paul Kerrigan and Brian O’Driscoll are also likely to miss out because of injury.

Despite an “up and down” league campaign, the Cork footballers are heading in the right direction, according to midfielder Ian Maguire.

Clare 0-14 - Cork 0-12: The snowflakes were swirling around Páirc Uí Rinn as the Clare footballers headed to the dressing rooms at the final whistle last Saturday night, but the men from the Banner weren’t feeling the chill.

Cork 0-12 Clare 0-14: Clare took the honours in this Division 2 clash on a bitterly cold night in Pairc Ui Rinn.

Well now, this was a turn up for the books. The NUIG celebrations, after five drama-filled minutes of second-half injury-time, told as much.

UCC 1-12 Garda College 2-7... UCC advanced to a Sigerson Cup quarter-final with NUIG next week thanks to a rescue job led by two Kerry men, Sean O’Shea and Killian Spillane.

Sean O’Shea produced another outstanding performance in a memorable week but it was another Kerryman who delivered the dramatic winner.

Cork 1-16 Tipperary 3-16: That Liam Kearns wasn’t the least bit surprised by this result says plenty about the changed nature of the Cork-Tipperary relationship. In fact, the Premier boss “couldn’t understand” how pundits had tipped Cork beforehand.

Tipperary 3-16 Cork 1-16: A dominant second-half showing from Tipperary in the curtain-raiser at Páirc Uí Chaoimh handed the Premier footballers their second competitive victory over Cork in three years.

John Fogarty picks out five players who are set to make their mark on the Allianz Football League.

UCC 0-12 - UL 0-10: UCC narrowly defeated UL in an entertaining HE GAA Senior Football League Division 1 final at the Mardyke yesterday. 

McGrath Cup

First of all, football was secondary in terms of significance as the teams huddled before the replay of the Cork SFC final on Sunday.

Nemo Rangers 4-12 St Finbarr’s 3-13: Cork football title No 20 has a nice, tidy ring to it, but the devil is in the detail.

The Barr’s reconvened on Tuesday evening last. Of the starting team from two days earlier, six didn’t tog. They couldn’t.

You would imagine, tactically, Nemo Rangers’ management will detail Alan Cronin to man-mark St Finbarr’s Stephen Sherlock from the off next Sunday in the replay of the Cork SFC final.

Where to begin? Commend Nemo for their inspired opening, castigate them for not seeing the job through. Ask what exactly the Barr’s were at in the opening half or how on earth they managed to retrieve a seemingly lost position in the second.

Nemo Rangers and St Finbarr’s will have to do it all again after the latter hauled back a seven-point second-half deficit in the Cork SFC decider.

Anyone present at Páirc Uí Rinn on April 22 wouldn’t have been including St Finbarr’s in their list of contenders for the Andy Scannell Cup.

The dynamic of their relationship has changed. The pendulum has moved back up the N71.