Switch of 'outstanding' Rob Downey key in Cork victory over Tipp

Cork hit 22 points from play in their win against Tipperary, compared to just 1-9 for their opponents

Cork manager Ben O'Connor on Rob Downey: “Everyone was very good out there but I thought when the call was at its greatest, Rob was controlling everything." Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

Munster SHC: Tipperary 1-22 Cork 0-29 

Deception is written all over this scoreline. A flattering one for last year’s All-Ireland champions, an unfair conclusion even in victory for the team they vanquished nine months ago.

Last July, Tipperary didn’t so much control the second half as sell shares in it. Cork here took it in their hands nine minutes after the break. By the time they let go, Tipperary were thinking of points difference rather than taking the two on offer for the win.

A more accurate reflection on this slightly underwhelming Munster SHC opener in front of a 44,348 attendance in FBD Semple Stadium was the amount of scores from play. Cork shot 22 to Tipperary’s 1-9. The visiting team had twice as many attempts from play.

It was also 30 minutes into the second half when Tipperary scored their first point from play in the period via substitute Sam O’Farrell. By then, Cork had rattled off eight.

Tipperary’s starting attack provided five points from play, all of them in the first half. Cork’s first front six amassed 20 over the course of the game.

Tipperary were rightly lauded for their tactical nous last year but it was their own switch which contributed to their downfall here. At corner-back, Rob Downey had shadowed debutant Stefan Tobin, who had been quiet aside from winning one first-half free.

Tobin was replaced by Darragh McCarthy at half-time and soon after Niall O’Leary was returned to the inside defensive line to mark him and Downey moved to his more familiar centre-back berth. There, with his brother Eoin, he dominated the skies.

“I thought Rob Downey was outstanding,” gushed Ben O’Connor. “Everyone was very good out there but I thought when the call was at its greatest, Rob was controlling everything. He was telling every fella where to go and where to move. Then again I wouldn’t expect anything else out of him, he’s that kind of a character.”

Of course, we have to talk about the starring debutants too. William Buckley and Barry Walsh were marvellous. Both started slowly and Walsh had to overcome some early turnovers, but by half-time he had two points from play and the former three points from play, one which had been a goal-scoring opportunity.

When Cork left Tipperary for dust with those eight unanswered points between the 44th and 56th minutes, the pair each contributed a score. Buckley had also been fouled for a free, which Alan Connolly sent wide.

It was fitting that Buckley finished out the scoring in each half too, the last of his six points the only one from a free as he ensured Tipperary would not snatch a result they would have been charmed to claim.

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill on Cork: "When you're putting out one fire, another one appears somewhere else, and that's what good teams do." Pic: ©INPHO/James Lawlor

Nine points down in the 59th minute (it was Buckley, of course, who had stretched Cork’s lead to its longest point), Tipperary fought back to come within three. Substitute Alan Tynan’s goal in the last minute of regulation time had put more than respectability and what they deserved on the scoreboard for them.

But Liam Cahill knew they had been chasing. By the 58th minute, he had exhausted his reserves. O’Connor hadn’t yet made his first substitute.

“Cork are a really good team,” said Cahill before he began to turn his attentions to Waterford next Sunday. “When they're moving well, they're a really hard outfit to stop. When you're putting out one fire, another one appears somewhere else, and that's what good teams do.

“We were happy enough at half-time. I felt we could have been slightly ahead and we put a big emphasis on starting the second half, which we really didn't get into quick enough, maybe, for our liking.

“But, look, in the aftermath, it's very hard to assess it. We'll have to have a real look at it and fix a few little things that popped up today and go to Walsh Park with a real pep in our step now, because we have to. It's a huge game for both sides.” 

So significant in the All-Ireland final, Jake Morris and Andrew Ormond were largely swallowed up by the Cork half-back line when the Downeys reunited. Behind them, hurler of the year John McGrath was a shadow of himself and replaced just over five minutes into the second half. "John is an experienced player, he'll come on from today's game as well in fairness to him," insisted Cahill.

In the first half, O’Leary had been sent out the field to upset the pair. For Tipperary, Oisín O’Donoghue stationed himself at left-half forward, his named slot on the right wing of defence taken by Craig Morgan and Conor Stakelum partnering Willie Connors in the middle.

Ronan Maher and Eoghan Connolly, as they have done before, swapped their roles and Maher largely kept Brian Hayes silent in the opening quarter, although the supply of ball into him was scant.

Darragh Fitzgibbon was far more prominent in that period and had four points to his name inside the first 11 minutes and Cork were up by three a minute later.

They went the next nine minutes without scoring. Tim O’Mahony hit three wides from long-range frees and Tipperary hit them for six without reply.

Trying to work their short-pass game, Cork were guilty of some elementary errors and Jason Forde sent over three frees along with Morris, McGrath and Willie Connors' efforts from play.

Tipperary’s lead remained three points up to the 27th minute when Shane Barrett pistoled over a point. Seconds later, Buckley’s shot from close range rose over the bar and Walsh’s opener squared the game in the 29th minute.

Forde’s fifth free of the half was followed by Walsh’s second. O’Donoghue’s was cancelled out by Buckley’s third of the half and the teams finished the half as they began it.

Cahill may have felt Tipperary should have been ahead. He didn’t realise that parity was as good as it was going to get as Cork turned mean.

Scorers for Tipperary: J. Forde (0-7, frees); D. McCarthy (0-4, frees); A. Tynan (1-0); J. Morris, O. O’Donoghue, E. Connolly (frees) (0-2 each); J. McGrath, W. Connors, C. Stakelum, S. O’Farrell, D. Stakelum (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cork: A. Connolly (0-7, 5 frees); W. Buckley (0-6, 1 free); D. Fitzgibbon, B. Walsh, S. Barrett (0-4 each); T. O’Mahony (0-2, 1 free); B. Hayes, A. Walsh (0-1 each).

TIPPERARY: R. Shelly; R. Doyle, R. Maher (c), M. Breen; C. Morgan, E. Connolly, B. O’Mara; W. Connors, C. Stakelum; J. Morris, A. Ormond, O. O’Donoghue; S. Tobin, J. McGrath, J. Forde.

Subs for Tipperary: D. McCarthy for S. Tobin (h-t); N. McGrath for J. McGrath (41); A. Tynan for C. Stakelum (46); D. Stakelum for J. Forde (54); S. O’Farrell for W. Connors (58).

CORK: P. Collins; S. O’Donoghue, C. Joyce, R. Downey; E. Downey, M. Coleman, N. O’Leary; T. O’Mahony, T. O’Connell; B. Walsh, S. Barrett, D. Fitzgibbon (c); W. Buckley, B. Hayes, A. Connolly.

Subs for Cork: D. Healy for T. O’Connell (59); A. Walsh for B. Hayes (61); H. O’Connor for T. O’Mahony (68); S. Harnedy for B. Walsh (70+1); P. Power for A. Connolly (70+2).

Referee: S. Stack (Dublin).