'We planned for that' — Hero McCarthy says Tipp prepped their stunning Cork ambush
JUST LIKE THAT: Darragh McCarthy of Tipperary celebrates after scoring his side's second goal from a penalty during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Cork and Tipperary at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Tipperary hero Darragh McCarthy revealed the All-Ireland winners had planned for their startling second-half ambush of Cork at Croke Park.
The teenager put his red card peril well behind him with a sharp-shooting performance for the ages at HQ, rifling 1-13 with just one win at Liam Cahill’s men turned expectations and first-half struggles on their head, erasing a six-point interval deficit in a stunning second period.
“The conversation was all positive. We planned for that,” McCarthy said of the message at halftime that preceded a second-half revival which saw Cork score just two points as the Premier men went rampant. “We had said during the week that listen if we’re five or six down at half time, we’re not going to panic here. We know what we’re capable of. We’ve came from worse margins before. We said ‘we won’t panic’. If we played our game the way we know we can play it we’re capable of beating any time. That was the message at half time — stick to the process.” Having come pitch-side to speak to the RTÉ panel as his teammates began to parade Liam MacCarthy Cup around Croke Park, McCarthy savoured what the moment meant to him: “We’ve been using the word privileged for the last 12-odd months I’d say. This is what this is” But having been again dismissed in the county’s All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny this could all have gone so differently. The 19-year-old echoed his manager when he pointed to the influence of Tipp’s sports psychologist Cathal Sheridan in sharpening his mind for the return to Croke Park.
“It’s all a mind game really. If you let it get to you, you’ll be curled up at home in bed,” added McCarthy. “Cathal Sheridan, our man, played a big part in that. I went to him for a few chats to sort the head out. But listen it’s a mind game there. You have to steel the mind and just forget about it.” McCarthy also saluted his teammates who have rallied around him in the wake of some high-profile dismissals in his young career.
“I’ll say it again, Noel McGrath is my favourite hurler of all time. He deserves that credit. They’re the best in the world. What they have done for me over the past 12 months, even after the first sending off against Cork. I’d say the 40 men on the panel texted me the day after. They’re all just so good. And what they did for me the last day, they looked after me,” added McCarthy, who insisted that Cahill’s handling of the entire panel was what drove them to All-Ireland glory.
“The man management was unreal,” he said. “Lads were saying to me ‘you’ll be flogged or might get burned out’. If you love doing what you’re doing you’re not going to get burned out. It’s in the head as well but that was never going to happen with the man management.”
McCarthy joked that teammate Jason Forde briefly threatened to wrestle penalty-taking duties off him before the 19-year-old rifled home a brilliant penalty to add to his tally. "Jason was going to have a go at it! I was like 'no, this one is mine'. He said to work away."
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