Teak-tough 14-man Cork stand tall

IT was an encounter most people found impossible to call beforehand and, while no-one will be shocked by the result, the utterly convincing fashion in which Cork achieved it was something no-one foresaw.

Cork played over half the game with 14 men and scored only five points in the last 50 minutes and yet it is impossible to recall a single moment when the All-Ireland champions looked like pulling this one out of the fire.

Scan through the Cork team-sheet and it isn’t easy to pluck out one man who did significantly more than the rest. This was a victory for the collective and, in that sense, it was one that aped many of Tyrone’s own past triumphs.

Hunger is a word that carries negative connotations, especially in a country once ravaged by famine, but it was the difference here between a team on the rise and one bidding to remain on the highest plateau.

Watch the video again and keep an eye out for the amount of times a Tyrone player was left on his knees or back, whether because he was gasping for air, nursing an injury or after being bundled beyond a touchline.

Alan O’Connor was unfortunate to be shown a second yellow after half an hour but it was no coincidence that Cork ended with the higher card count – five yellows to two. It wasn’t that they were much the greater sinners, merely the more committed.

Stephen O’Neill and maybe Kevin Hughes aside, Tyrone’s big men failed to bring their ‘A’ games. Four of their forwards were held scoreless from play and their dynamic wing-backs rarely threatened enemy territory.

At least four of Cork ‘s points came from Tyrone errors in defence. Some were forced, others weren’t, but all were symbolic of the pressure being exerted by a team that lived up to its reputation for fitness, mobility and physicality.

They couldn’t have known it when they opened their eyes yesterday morning, but Cork were already in credit long before the first whistle sounded thanks to a stomach bug that restricted Sean Cavanagh to a replacement’s role.

The northeners coped well enough in the initial exchanges.

Points from Ryan McMenamin and Stephen O’Neill were sandwiched by Paul Kerrigan’s opener before the stakes were raised by Daniel Goulding’s goal.

It was a cleverly constructed move, one that saw its potential soar when Graham Canty popped up in space near the Tyrone penalty area and, when Colm O’Neill’s shot was blocked, Goulding was in the right place to profit from the rebound.

It was a significant early blow but merely one in a series of punches which Cork landed in the space of a pulsating and dominant 13-minute spell which would leave them ample wiggle room for the rest of the afternoon. Seven points followed hot on the trail of O’Neill’s effort.

Half a dozen of them came from Cork and all six of their starting forwards were off the mark by the time their early onslaught finally petered out.

The last of them was the first score where they were forced to retreat with ball in hand by the Tyrone defence and, though Colm O’Neill found the target from long distance, it was a sign that the Ulster men were finally dealing with the rot.

That Cork would slow down was inevitable. The first ten minutes had coughed up just three frees – an unbelievably low figure – and, sure enough, Tyrone were able to narrow the deficit to five points by the interval.

More worrying for Cork was the loss of O’Connor after he clattered clumsily into Owen Mulligan to earn his second yellow.

Yet, as is so often the case, the extra man seemed to be more of a help than a hindrance.

Mickey Harte deployed McMenamin as a sweeper initially, then Cavanagh when he appeared after 47 minutes but, despite a plethora of possession in the second-half, Tyrone never found a groove. They weren’t allowed.

With 50 minutes played, Cork had actually stretched their lead by another point before John Miskella sent Brian McGuigan to the floor and all hell threatened to break loose as players squared up in two separate areas of the pitch.

It was no surprise when it happened. There had been a whiff of sulphur about the game that had mushroomed with the resumption and both sides contained players eager to volunteer with a little dig here or a dunt there.

None of it was doing anything to drag Tyrone back into contention and the sense that we were witnessing a seminal changing-of-the-guard was heightened when Brian Dooher and Conor Gormley were called ashore.

Both have been giants for their county and, though Harte explained later that the pair were carrying knocks, it was a scene that resembled the departure of Armagh’s Kieran McGeeney against Tyrone at this same stage four years ago.

Even then, with 15 minutes still to play and only six points between them, there was an air of inevitability to it all. Cork might not have been scoring but neither were Tyrone.

All in all they shared only eight points, evenly, in that second period. Though they were forced to defend for long periods, Cork did so comfortably. Time and again Tyrone advanced with the ball only to lose it in possession.

Only once did the Ulster side look like claiming the goal they so desperately needed and the clock was already deep into injury-time by the time Cavanagh saw his shot bounce wide off a post.

Tyrone had been Tyroned.

Scorers for Cork: D Goulding 1-1, D O’Connor 0-4 (3f), C O’Neill 0-3, A O’Connor 0-1, P Kerrigan 0-1, P O’Neill 0-1, P Kelly 0-1, F Goold 0-1.

Scorers for Tyrone: S O’Neill 0-4 (1f), O Mulligan 0-2f, R McMenamin 0-1, M Penrose 0-1, K Hughes 0-1, D Harte 0-1, P Jordan 0-1.

Subs for Cork: F Goold for Goulding 59, J Hayes for Kerrigan 61, M Cussen for O’Connor 67, K O’Connor for O’Leary 70, E Cadogan for Miskella 71.

Subs for Tyrone: B McGuigan for T McGuigan 35, S Cavanagh for McGinley 47, A Cassidy for Dooher 55, Sean O’Neill for Gormley 55, C McCullagh for Joe McMahon 64.

Referee: J Bannon (Longford).