Rebels shatter any preconceptions

Presumptions. Preconceptions. Did any of those survive yesterday? Tipp rolled into Páirc Uí Chaoimh to continue the smooth progression that brought them within touching distance of Liam MacCarthy and to consign Cork to a season on the qualifier by-roads, only for the Leesiders to win by an unambiguous 10 points, 3-15 to 0-14.

Those assumptions, presumptions and preconceptions dissolved in the soft mist (assumption one: it’s always scorching for the Munster championship) as Cork rolled back the years with an exhibition of powerful support play which flattened their opponents.

Quite a few of those presumptions didn’t make it to the half-time whistle. Far from nibbling on points, Cork managed two goals, for example; furthermore Aisake O hAilpín more than justified his selection.

Tipperary’s troubles began, however, on the Cork half-back line, which enjoyed one of its best days in years.

Last year’s All-Ireland final saw the blue and gold dictate the aerial traffic to Kilkenny, but yesterday Cork held the advantage. Time and again their defenders created a triangle of handpasses in their own half and stripped Tipperary of possession; the visiting half-forwards are also due for some unedifying video work with their manager at some stage about John Gardiner and Brian Murphy collecting Donal Óg Cusack’s short puck-outs.

At the other end O hAilpín jr created chaos. Gone was the coarse striking of the league final as the tall Corkman won possession, tormented the Tipp full-back line, won a penalty which Patrick Horgan goaled, and performed like a human version of the oil leak off the Louisiana coastline: a constant flow of danger which couldn’t be stemmed.

With Horgan playing well off him, finishing coolly for another goal after – yes, another O hAilpín fetch – Cork had two points to spare at the break. Not much, but the signs were bad for Tipperary. “We wound the clock back to zero,” said Cork boss Denis Walsh of the half-time scene. “We wanted to make sure we were as strong at the start of the second-half as we were at the start of the first. That was our main concentration. Go back to Tipp and Galway in the championship last year, Galway in the league final, we conceded two points in the minute-and-a-half after the break, throwing away our momentum.

“We were determined that wouldn’t happen.”

It didn’t. Cork outscored Tipperary in the 10 minutes after half-time five points to one, and put down a solid foundation for their win. O hAilpín jr continued to terrorise the Tipp rearguard, and seemed one fluid stroke away from a goal for much of the half.

The great Italian striker Alessandro Altobelli was quoted during the week as saying the faint whirr of the ball hitting the net is a secret known only to the goal-scorer and the ‘keeper. O hAilpín had that whisper in his ears in the 59th minute, rounding Brendan Cummins to finish from an acute angle.

Cue an entirely expected ballad from the Cork terraces, and from the man who scored it, the hint of a reprise of older brother Setanta’s goal celebration.

Tipp boss Liam Sheedy was frank and honest at the final whistle. “The better team won, we can have no complaints. They created numerous goal chance, we were overrun and they wanted it more all over the field. We were outplayed. Credit to Cork. Coming down we felt the preparation had gone well but we never fired.”

There were a lot of whispers about second-season syndrome going around Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which seemed a little harsh. Nobody felt sophomore blues were a consideration when the odds were being discussed.

Tipp fell down not because they fielded five U21s but through lack of teamwork: Sheedy was correct to identify Cork’s hunger, because time and again a crowd of red jerseys arrived to contest possession.

Or to put in an unpromising shift. Ben O’Connor didn’t seem to have a chance of catching Shane McGrath late in the first-half, for instance, but the Corkman worked back and made the tackle, and his side went in two points up instead of one. Small victories. They all add up.

The event flash from a Munster championship game is traditionally enough to sear the retina, but Cork gave a 15-man performance yesterday. They’ll be formidable opponents going through the front door of the championship, as it were.

“To rise it again, that’s the challenge,” said Walsh. “But the players are very motivated, they’re positive. We know our capabilities and we know we’re able to play.”

And now, so does everyone else.

For all the collapsing assumptions yesterday, one eternal verity of Munster hurling survived intact.

You can’t beat it.