No complaints from Premier boss Sheedy

TIPPERARY manager Liam Sheedy admitted the character of his team will be severely tested in the coming weeks as the dethroned Munster champions look to revive their championship challenge in the qualifiers.

Tipp, searching for a fourth successive championship victory over Cork yesterday, simply walked into a haymaker and were counted out long before the finish at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

A gracious Sheedy admitted: “The better team won, we can have no complaints.

“They created numerous goal chances and wanted it more all over the field. We were over-run today, outplayed. All credit to Cork. We felt coming down that preparation had gone really well. We never really got firing.”

Sheedy added: “I was happy with our play in the first 10 minutes; I thought we set the intensity. Then they got the goal from the penalty and then another goal. It gave them an impetus.

“Even after half-time, we got a score and I felt that we’d come back in. But Cork showed all the hunger and had all the drive. The game had petered out very much with five or ten minutes to go.”

Sheedy, experiencing defeat against Cork as Tipp’s senior manager for the first time, heaped praise on towering Cork full-forward Aisake O hAilpín, who came of age as a senior hurler yesterday.

Sheedy said: “He handled good ball. In fairness to him, he had a really, really good day today. We couldn’t handle him today. Last year it was the opposite way around.

Full back Pádraic Maher picked up a yellow card for hauling O hAilpín to the ground in the 14th minute as the Na Piarsaigh powerhouse earned Cork a penalty.

Nine minutes later, Sheedy reacted to O hAilpín’s continued dominance by moving Paul Curran to full back and Maher to the left half back position as Michael Cahill dropped back a few yards to the left corner.

Sheedy explained: “When you’re on a yellow card in there, it doesn’t help. You have to be attacking the ball with Aisake.

“If he’s attacking it and getting it, he’s a handful. He took some good scores. His general play was to a very high standard. I feel for our backs.

!I think there was 2-10 with quite a few minutes to go and we had 0-12. The ball was coming back so easy – the Cork half back line were well on top, very dominant.”

Cork’s vastly experienced half-back line certainly ruled supreme and the second-half display of Ronan Curran in particular was a throwback to the mid 2000s.

Sheedy said: “The ball was being pucked out in the second half – Ronan Curran, Seán Og and John Gardiner were plucking ball out of the sky.

“They were very strong in that sector, Eoin Cadogan too. Cork right throughout the field handled very good ball today.

“We don’t have any complaints – two years ago we came down here and we won.

In fairness to Cork, they regrouped and found themselves back in Croke Park in August on All-Ireland semi-final day. We’ve got to try to replicate that.”

Sheedy insisted that complacency was not a factor in Tipp’s defeat, replying: “Absolutely not – we were fully focused on this match. Cork showed all of the appetite for winning the breaks and the loose ball. We just couldn’t live with that. In fairness to this group, they’ve experienced this before and the real strength and character of this team and everyone involved will best tested over the next number of weeks.

“It’s a bad day for us – we’re absolutely devastated down there but we can be delighted tonight that we get a second bite of the cherry. We’d like to make the best use of it,” he added.