Two-goal Cork back in the groove

Tipperary 1-16 Cork 2-19

Cork put in a superlative second half display in Killarney, and reeled off 2-12 in a scoring masterclass as they realigned their All-Ireland challenge to drop Tipperary out of the Guinness SHC qualifiers.

A lacklustre first half saw Tipp emerge 1-08 to 0-07 in front thanks to Paul Kelly’s injury time goal.

With 53 All-Ireland between them, both sides raised the quality and upped the ante in the second period, but Tipp’s over reliance on top scorer Eoin Kelly (0-09, 5f) for their scores and former Cork All-star Brian Corcoran’s ability to take his marker away from a central position as a full-forward paid dividends as both Cork goals came with the McCarthys in clear water and only goalkeeper Brendan Cummins to beat.

Against the breeze, Sarsfields’ forward Kieran Murphy pointed Cork in front after just 15 seconds.

In the tit-for-tat early stages, the game went point for point as Mullinahone marksman Kelly replied, beating Wayne Sherlock to fire over his left shoulder in the third minute.

Tom Kenny set up Niall McCarthy for Cork’s second before Benny Dunne squared it back up after Kelly had lost possession and then regained it with effortless cunning.

The Rebels attack was then silenced for a full quarter-of-an-hour as Kelly and Tipp had free reign on possession.

A neat Kelly free saw them hit the front on eight minutes, then an intelligent Kelly flick saw former skipper Conor Gleeson crack over and the blue and gold were firing.

Colin Morrissey, Kelly, from a right wing free, and another Kelly set-up, this time for the burly John Carroll, swivelling well on his left for a 0-07 to 0-02 lead on 14 minutes, and with Cork goalkeeper Donal Og Cusack wayward from his puck outs, Cork looked in trouble.

John Gardiner hit their second wide from a 65-metre free before Joe Deane finally raised a white flag in the nineteenth minute to reduce arrears to four.

The embers of Cork’s All-Ireland challenge began to burn brighter as centre back Diarmuid O’Sullivan made a superb block down on Benny Dunne, losing his hurl in the process to the tumult of the Cork following.

Deane punished Tipp’s Declan Fanning with another free and soon a quick brace of frees from Ben O’Connor on 23 and 25 minutes saw Cork just one behind and Tipp without a score in eleven minutes.

A lacklustre half hour was concluded as Benny Dunne claimed his second point for 0-08 to 0-06 but the game was brought to life in the closing stages.

Roscrea forward Carroll broke through onto an Eoin Kelly hand pass to be brought to ground in the Cork area by a low-handed swipe by Og Cusack.

Tipp got their goal as Eoin Kelly’s penalty shot, which was blocked initially into the air by Og Cusack, fell to his brother Paul who batted it home.

Benny Dunne was lucky to stay on the field as his wild touchline pull across Jerry O’Connor sparked a late fracas in which Colin Morrissey received a yellow card.

Tipp’s 1-08 to 0-07 half time lead was immediately brought back to a goal advantage as Deane pointed a free seconds after the restart.

Doubt began to spread in Tipperary minds as Kelly went wide from a central free and Deane’s fourth free put two between them.

Then the tie began to swing further in Cork’s favour as substitute Timmy McCarthy raced clear to crack a brilliant high and into the Tipp net six minutes after the break.

From then on Cork were to lose their lead only once.

Ben O’Connor made it a goal and a point in two minutes for the Rebels as they raced 1-10 to 1-08 in front.

Kelly predictably came back with a flurry of points, five in the final 27 minutes, to question the 2003 All-Ireland finalists’ resolve but a crucial second goal came on 63 minutes.

Niall McCarthy ghosted through to strike off the ground and find the top right corner of Cummins’ net.

Tipp briefly got back in touch on 54 minutes when Kelly squared the game for a third time at 1-11 apiece, but with Ken Hogan’s charges running up double figure wides, Cork powered to the finish.

John Gardiner, Timmy McCarthy and the evasive Murphy hit consecutive points as they pulled clear, substitute Mickey O’Connell plundered one of his own and Deane and Ben O’Connor crowned defiant personal performances with their seventh and fourth points respectively.

"That win was about the heart and commitment of Cork hurling," said Cork manager Donal O'Grady afterwards, "we were under pressure from Tipp for spells but kept our composure and that was something we had talked about in training, after losing to Waterford."

"We had to keep our composure to win and having been four points down at half time, we crawled back inch by inch. There was nothing between the two sides - we knew it was whoever got the breaks and we got two great goals in the second half."

"That won it for us in the end," he continued, "I'm delighted for our supporters."

Scorers: Tipperary: E Kelly 0-09 (5f), P Kelly 1-00, B Dunne 0-03, C Gleeson, C Morrissey, J Carroll, M O’Leary 0-01 each

Cork: J Deane 0-07 (6f), B O’Connor 0-04 (2f), T McCarthy 1-02, N McCarthy 1-01, K Murphy 0-02, J O’Connor, J Gardiner, M O’Connell 0-01 each

Tipperary: B Cummins; M Maher, P Maher, P Curran; E Corcoran, D Fanning, D Fitzgerald; C Morrissey, P Kelly; T Dunne, C Gleeson, B Dunne; S Butler, J Carroll, E Kelly. Subs used: L Corbett for Butler (50 mins), M O’Leary for P Kelly (58 mins)

Cork: D Óg Cusack; W Sherlock, D O'Sullivan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpín; T Kenny, J O'Connor; B O'Connor, N McCarthy, G McCarthy; K Murphy, B Corcoran, J Deane.

Subs used: T McCarthy for G McCarthy (31 mins), M O’Connell for T McCarthy (blood sub – 49-51 mins), M O’Connell for Kenny (64 mins)

Yellow card: Tipperary: D Fanning (21 mins), J Carroll (33 mins), C Morrissey (40 mins)

Cork: D Og Cusack (36 mins), B Murphy (43 mins)