Rebel boss Denis Ring wary of wounded Tipp

By Michael Moynihan

Cork U21 hurling manager Denis Ring is mindful of Tipperary’s quality as the two sides face off in tomorrow’s All-Ireland final.

Cork beat Tipperary easily in the Munster final but the Premier County got back on track by beating Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Bear in mind Galway won the All-Ireland minor three years ago, when they beat Tipperary in the final,” said Ring.

“Tipperary have now reversed that result and they also won the minor title the following year.

“They have a group of very experienced players they can draw from and they made a lot of changes the last day.

“Tipp will always be Tipp in a final. The Munster final is gone, from our perspective. This is a new game, and it starts nil-all. Against Galway I thought it was a very commanding performance from Tipperary, that they were in command for most of it.

I know there were players sent off (for Galway) and that had an impact on the game to a certain extent, but Tipp were very determined and showed a lot of resolve on the night.

“I think they were determined to erase the game against us from their memory and they performed much more like they performed against Limerick. “They were powerful, the changes they made seemed to work, and players who didn’t play well against us played very well on the night.

“They possibly could have won by more and from our point of view it was great to see them in the flesh and it puts us very much on guard for what’s going to be an extremely difficult final.”

Cork remain favourites for the title, however, with a strong backbone of senior players.

“They’ve delivered, and we’re going to ask them to go to the well one last time. You can’t beat the experience they’ve had with the seniors. Kieran Kingston brought in a number of them when he was the senior manager, as part of a development squad, and you can see that that’s helped them. Being involved in the senior set-up is a massive experience for them, and they’ve won two Munster senior titles in that time. You can’t underestimate the value that brings to our set-up.

“From a strength and conditioning perspective Declan O’Sullivan has done great work with them at senior level, and in coaching terms (Kieran) Fraggie Murphy has done great work with them there as well. When they came back to us after that it was easier to work with them, they worked hand in hand with our strength and conditioning guy, Stephen Casey and our coach John O’Dwyer.

That’s worked well and there’s been a good overlap. The fact we know the lads well has helped, that we worked with them before, otherwise, they might be coming into a set-up that might have been very different for them.

“But the seniors are the backbone of our team, they’re absolutely crucial to our team. The attitude they bring, the hunger they bring, the appetite, that’s infectious for the rest of the squad.”

Cork haven’t won an All-Ireland at the grade since 1998, something Ring and company are keen to correct.

“It just shows you don’t have a divine right to anything, people don’t hand these titles out, they have to be earned. You must want it more than the opposition. In that time there have been teams which were close, which might have been unlucky. I was involved in 2007 — Sean O’Gorman was the manager and we beat Waterford in a great Munster final only to lose to Galway in extra time in the All-Ireland semi-final.

“So we’ve had near misses, but it is a long time. It just underlines that you don’t get things handed to you, you have to win them. From our point of view we’re conscious that tomorrow will be a massive challenge for us, to correct that stat and to fight for our place on the roll of honour.”