Cork guided by hand of Gard

IT ENDED with five points between them - 1-21 to 1-16 - though chances are neither Cork nor Tipperary know how exactly it ended up that way.

It was a Guinness Munster hurling final with all the ho-hum ingredients: passionate crowd, scorching heat, outstanding performances to guarantee some players immortality. Men scoring points with fractured shoulders. That kind of thing.

Despite a bright start, the early omens for Tipperary were generally worrying. Twice they conceded soft frees when Cork ran at them through the centre, and you would have backed the men in red to take the central highway at every opportunity, as expected.

However, Cork tried a different approach: they pulled Timmy McCarthy outfield and left space in front of Joe Deane. Eamonn Corcoran was a must-win selection for Tipperary on Deane, but Corcoran mustn’t like Euclid; he found the geometry involved in playing the corner troublesome, and before the end of the first half the JK Brackens man had been posted to centre-back.

It wasn’t as if David Kennedy was doing that badly - he and Niall McCarthy were by-passed for much of the half - but even though Tipperary needed Corcoran to prosper, they needed him away from Deane even more.

The Killeagh man was in a particularly tricky mood, mind; at one point he smuggled the ball past two defenders to Niall McCarthy for a point, and when Kieran Murphy’s long shot deceived Brendan Cummins, Deane was making a nuisance of himself in the keeper’s eyeline: an assistant referee in soccer would have judged him very, very active indeed.

Cork’s full-back line wasn’t under as much pressure as their Premier conterparts, and little wonder, given the display of the half line. Sean Óg Ó hAilpín played a captain’s part, even if Brendan Cummins seemed keen to avoid his wing with puck-outs, while criticism of Ronan Curran’s dominance and distribution against Waterford must have hit home: the Barrs man mixed lengthy clearances and handpasses and invariably in the right order.

John Gardiner was the jewel in Cork’s defensive crown, however: the Na Piarsaigh man’s adhesive left hand won any amount of aerial duels and he arrowed ball after ball down to his forwards. The first half was certainly dominated by the Hand of Gard.

Tipperary had opportunities - when they won their penalty 23 minutes in, it seemed the perfect riposte to the chorus from the Cork fans at the Blackrock End, their song exhorting Cork’s No 3 to visit immediate and terrible wrath on Micheal Webster.

Within a minute Webster had been floored near goal. Eoin Kelly’s shot was a good one, but it was saved, and the experience garnered in five Munster finals in six years was immediately visible in Cork’s reaction: they saw the play as a platform to restart the game rather than a cause for celebration, and within seconds Kieran Murphy had snapped over a point at the other end. It meant a four-point turnaround in Cork’s favour when a billowing net would have given Tipp a beachhead.

In politics they say everything goes wrong for a government going wrong, and Ken Hogan must have known the feeling when Eoin Kelly, of all people, sent a scoreable free wide just before the break. However, it was indeed a Kelly who took over after half-time and brought Tipperary back into it: Paul, Eoin’s elder brother.

Twenty minutes into the game the midfielder had conceded a terrible free, over-carrying the ball in order to wind up a clearance, which just about summed his - and Tipperary’s - first half, but the second half saw him drive the Premier on.

That elegant left-hand stroke of the Mullinahone man left Donal Óg Cusack tapping his crossbar in frustration time after time; after Waterford’s captain Eoin Kelly won man of the match honours in the semi-final, Cork will be praying they don’t face any more sharpshooters by that name from here on in.

Backboned by Paul Kelly’s seven points, Tipperary cut away at the Cork lead. The 12-point deficit they faced early in the first half had looked insurmountable without a goal, however, and that didn’t come until eight minutes left, when the sliotar pin-balled around the Cork square.

Redser O’Grady and John Carroll could have given Clive Woodward’s players a lesson in low body angle clearing out rucks and O’Grady got the credit for the goal. Eoin Kelly’s point immediately afterwards left four points between the sides, but time was against Tipperary. Cork’s lead had shrunk, but it never shrivelled completely.

Losing to Cork on hot June days just isn’t comprehended by the Knocknagow DNA, but Ken Hogan can take solace in the specific - Paul Kelly’s rediscovery of his radar - and its application to the general, along the lines of a rising tide lifting all boats.

For Cork there are a couple of worries. Brian Corcoran joins Brian O’Driscoll in the shoulder clinic, which means two teams in red lost totems at the weekend. Also, at times in the second half Cusack’s reticence with the puck-out seemed to stem from a lack of options rather than a conscious game plan.

Still, the O’Connors were good; the half-back line was good; and Ó hAilpin’s victory speech as gaeilge was good. All things considered, Cork were capital, and cultured.