Cork cash in on Aisake potential

IT BEGAN inauspiciously, a delayed start due to events elsewhere, then a two-point advantage conceded to Tipperary in the opening eight minutes – it could even have been more but for a save by Donal Óg Cusack from Lar Corbett that went out for a 65, converted by Eoin Kelly.

And yet it ended in a riot of red-and-white, the magnificent swathes of Páirc Uí Chaoimh covered in a sea of exuberant Rebel supporters celebrating a first Munster championship win over old rivals Tipperary in four meetings, the Cork players locked down for the first time all afternoon, mobbed by those same supporters.

What a magnificent display by Cork, a championship performance dragged up from memory, from the glory days of five and six years ago, and what a disappointment for Tipperary, so hotly fancied not just to win this Munster senior hurling quarter-final but favourites to complete a hat-trick of Munster titles, and perhaps go on to topple Kilkenny in the All-Ireland.