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.