Cork v Tipp: Premier chasing Munster back-to-back dream that has eluded them for years

Tipperary’s immediate aspirations are based in survival, not success.

John McGrath of Tipperary celebrates scoring his side's first goal during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship final match between Cork and Tipperary at Croke Park in Dublin. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Back-to-back. The county of Tipperary is consumed by the phrase, we’re told. Apparently, it fills people’s every waking hour.

Never in the lifetime of this team of theirs has it ever been done. The likes of Cork and Limerick have managed to continue where they have left off the previous year but for Tipperary the objective has remained elusive. And hasn’t Rory McIlroy’s own version of it in Augusta last Sunday only intensified the hype around the prospect?