Cork 'must end goal famine to beat Tipp'

JOHN ALLEN'S honesty is refreshing. The Cork hurling selector is prepared to admit that a lack of goals has inhibited the team's progress in this year's championship.

He also admits that this has as good as cost them their title in last Sunday week's Munster final against Waterford. But he believes an improvement in this sector could be the deciding factor in beating Tipperary in Fitzgerald Stadium tomorrow (4.15pm) and going into the draw on Sunday for the All-Ireland quarter-finals. Allen, a former St Finbarr's and Cork dual player, is loud in his praise of team manager Donal O'Grady. "While he has come in for a lot of criticism, I must say - and I said it before - his work ethic is second to nobody's as a coach and as a professional, organised person. He is the best I have seen,'' he says.

"Donal certainly deserves a lot of credit for bringing people from the (players') strike of the winter before last up to being in an All-Ireland final last year and playing in a classic Munster final this year.''