A strange kind of beauty in Cork's hard work and discipline

Before the door of Dressing Room No 3 underneath Semple Stadium’s Old Stand closed towards us, the first four of Liam Kearns’ words to his numbed Tipperary players seeped out.

‘I can’t explain that’.

The manner of Cork’s progress to a Munster football final on June 23 requires no explanation at all; where the visitors were fit, fresh and sharp in mind and deed, Tipperary were edgy, hesitant, shapeless and inaccurate. There’s only one winner there.