Cuthbert says Tipp will cause Cork plenty problems

BRIAN CUTHBERT put his hands up and admitted it. At half-time of the Munster MFC semi-final in Ennis back in May, the Cork manager was happy with the five-point advantage his team had established against the wind.

Their prospects of a provincial decider placing looked good. When word reached Cuthbert of the half-time score in the other last four clash in Thurles, he naturally surmised Kerry would be the opposition for tomorrow’s final.

“I remember at half-time that day, a guy came up to me and said Kerry were up by 11 points,” recalled Cuthbert.

“So I thought that was it. Then the same guy came up to me with ten minutes to go, to say Kerry were only three points up and then afterwards I was told Tipperary had won by a point. We didn’t really envisage them being in the final but that was an incredible comeback.”

When the dust settled, Cuthbert looked at Tipperary’s signposted rise to prominence. Two years ago, he was a selector when their minors visited Páirc Uí Chaoimh and dumped Cork out of championship. Last year as Cork manager, he took his team to Thurles and they left with a three-point win.

“They certainly have character and a will to win. They’ll cause us a lot of problems. They have built up a huge amount of confidence and belief in themselves. You can see it in the second-half against Kerry when they didn’t rely on goals and tipped away with points.”

Tipperary are certain to pay attention to one of Cork’s key attacking weapons in corner-forward Dan MacEoin tomorrow afternoon.

“He’s a special talent,” admitted Cuthbert.

“But he’s going to be judged on what he does next Sunday. He’s a natural scorer and Cork need all of those kind of footballers they can get. He’s starting to really develop now and is becoming less predictable. I’d see him as a guy who Tipperary will have earmarked to be defended closely.”

Tomorrow will be the Tipperary’s fourth appearance in the last six provincial finals, yet their manager David Power argues a failure to win is more pertinent despite their semi-final comeback.

“You don’t get anything for those semi-final wins. Two years ago we’d a great semi-final win down in Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Cork and there were big celebrations afterwards.

“But we ended up losing out in the final against Kerry and it wasn’t worth much. We need to get a trophy now after reaching all of these finals and that’s our aim heading to play Cork on Sunday.”

They erased a staggering 11-point deficit against Kerry in the semi-final and Power admitted it was a wonderful occasion.

“It was an incredible evening. I’ve never been involved in a game like it. We gave away some very soft goals early on but we calmed the lads down at half-time. They showed serious character in the second-half and never panicked at all.”

Tipperary have a plethora of players juggling codes and there was disappointment after last Friday’s Munster MHC semi-final defeat.

“It was disappointing for them to lose the hurling as they’d put so much into it. But we got them in training on Sunday morning and they’re getting back into it now. What better way to recover than to have a Munster final to look forward to.”