Cork send summer signals

Move over, make a bit of room for us there lads — that was the message delivered to Kilkenny and Tipperary from Semple Stadium yesterday as Cork came with a powerful finish to qualify for their second Allianz Hurling League final in three years (lost the 2010 final to Galway).

For some time now the consensus has been that the Cats and Tipp — All-Ireland finalists for the past three years — sit on their own at hurling’s top table, Dublin leading a chasing pack that has been living on scraps. Not any more. Yes, it’s still only the league, but the 15,000+ attendance in Thurles yesterday were witness to a team of real ability, a team ahead of schedule in its development, a team that will surely now harbour ambitions that extend beyond the league final against Kilkenny in two weeks.

Right from the start Cork were in this game and though playing into a strong breeze, carried the fight to Tipperary in the opening 23 minutes, at the end of which they led 0-7 to 0-4. They lost their captain and keeper Donal Óg Cusack during that period (a freak Achilles tendon injury) but just as they had absorbed the loss of four starters from the drawn game against the same opposition in the final league round two weeks ago, so they absorbed Cusack’s loss, took it in their stride, big-hitting Anthony Nash taking over between the sticks.