O’Brien: Cork loss a wake-up call

Don’t try to tell Tipperary’s Conor O’Brien that their first-half demolition at the hands of Cork in the opening round of the Allianz Hurling League might in fact have been a positive.

Some viewed it as an early-season wake-up call that blew away any feelings of complacency they may have had after the appointment of 2010 All-Ireland-winning coach Eamon O’Shea as their new manager.

“It was a blessing-in-disguise we could have done without!” said the defender. “We knew that we had to up it, for ourselves and for the Tipperary public.”