Eimear Ryan: It's easy to be a supporter in times of plenty. Tipp need a reckoning

Liam Cahill spoke about making Semple Stadium a colosseum but Tipp’s own fans played Caesar, giving the thumbs down.

Tipperary and Cork supporters during their Munster championship clash. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

To think that I was nearly going to take the train last Sunday. It’ll be a lark, I thought, heading to Thurles from Kent Station, the lone blue jersey in a sea of red. The banter will be mighty. Haven’t Tipp and Cork always had a special rivalry and respect for each other? Wasn’t I overcome with excitement and emotion when Patrick Horgan slotted home that penalty against Limerick, saving their season? To paraphrase another Cork legend: the championship without Cork is only half-dressed.

But by the raucous, jubilant videos of the train that popped up on friends’ social media feeds after the game, I’m glad that I drove in the end. It would have been a long rail journey. But even at the game itself, never mind the train back to Cork, there was a sense of being outnumbered. Is it that red stands out more as a colour than blue, I wondered as I looked around the stadium, or are there way more Cork fans here? As it turned out, both can be true.