Enda McEvoy: It’s set up for Cork to get chinned. They won’t

The Cork of 2025 have been consistently convincing and occasionally exhilarating. The conclusion is unavoidable. It’s set up for them to get chinned on Sunday.

GOAL-GETTER: Brian Hayes of Cork in action against Michael Breen of Tipperary. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Should they fetch up in Croke Park on July 20 they’ll do so with a better shout than 12 months earlier. Tougher, wiser, more balanced. Less dependent on individual attackers. Less likely to perform in snatches. They’ll also be surfing a bigger wave, one building since late March, not so much a MacCarthy Cup challenge as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just as long as they haven’t won their semi-final by ten points or so. - April 19, 2025. 

And so it came to pass, more or less as Scripture had predicted.