Christy O'Connor: This Munster championship hasn’t followed the anticipated script

With Tyrone up next for Donegal, Jim McGuinness will be hell-bent on maintaining his record against the team he always wanted to beat more than any other.

After Cork's league final victory over Tipperary, the odds would have been long for Tipp to be already qualified for the All-Ireland series heading into the final round of Munster SHC games and the Rebels staring down the barrel of elimination. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Not the Munster championship anybody expected 

Amid all the kaleidoscopic granules of joy, despair, colour and deep emotion, a tiny snapshot on the pitch after the 2018 Clare-Tipperary round robin game in Thurles encapsulated the agony and ecstasy. Noel McGrath led Jake Morris through the celebrating Clare throng, his hand on the then Tipperary teenager’s shoulder as McGrath tried to comfort a young player in tears.