BEFORE TODAY’S GAME, there was a sense that Cork were going up to Thurles more in hope than anything else.
But hope is not a strategy and put simply, that was as bad a performance as I’ve seen from a Cork side in a long time.
They didn’t match Tipperary in any department. Physically they were blown out of it, hurling-wise they weren’t at the races, and tactically they played a sweeper which they wouldn’t be used to.
It just didn’t work out at all, but even if they had gone with a flat 15, it was still a poor performance all over.
Kieran Kingston’s plan was clearly to keep Cork in the game for as long as he could and keep Tipp scores to a minimum, and then maybe have a cut off them for the last 10 or 15 minutes.
If that’s the idea, it is fine playing with a sweeper, but Cork stuck with it right until the end, even when the game was gone well away from them, and that was a poor decision.
The conditions dictated that it was never going to be that high-scoring a game. With that wind and rain, it was always going to be a day for the backs.
And every time the Tipp backs got the ball, they were in control. The likes of Ronan Maher, Padraic Maher and Cathal Barrett were well on top throughout. The ball that they played into their forwards was far superior, the movement was excellent, and it allowed them to create far more scoring chances.
Going up there, you’d have said that Cork’s six forwards were their strongest unit but the only fella that really stood up was Alan Cadogan. He got a couple of points in each half, and he was getting out in front, winning ball, and he was the only one that came out with a bit of credit.
Even though Cork had a bad league, down here we were hearing that they had trained hard and they’d be better come championship — but they carried that league form over into today and they made life very easy for Tipp.
John McGrath was superb on his debut. He got one point in the first half but the amount of chances that he was able to put on a plate for his team-mates, just by his sheer work rate, was outstanding. He was moving the whole time, comfortable when the ball came into him, and he made the right decisions.
‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer was excellent as well and the damage was done long before he was taken off and given a rest.
Himself and Seamus Callanan would have been frustrated a bit by the league campaign. It’s not that they’d feel like they have a point to prove or anything, but lads like them just want to be out hurling all the time, and you could see their hunger and drive out there today.
There was a passage about 15 minutes into the first half when Callanan nudged Damien Cahalane out of the way with a shoulder before sticking over a great score from a desperate angle; then in the next 50/50, he got out in front of Cahalane and set up John McGrath with a super flick of the hurl; and then Bubbles scored a third point.
That all happened in the space of a minute or two, and it summed up the difference between the two teams.
Cork did have a glimpse of a chance in that second half when they scored four points in a row, and then Patrick Horgan had the 20m free where he went for goal.
Any team that has a bit of belief in themselves would just pop it over the bar at that stage and close the gap to six points with 20 minutes to play. Cork were panicking at that stage and that was clear proof.
Even though they were comfortable winners, Tipp won’t feel that they played to their potential at all — and again, the conditions really didn’t help.
But it was a typical first day out for them. They did a lot of things right but they’ll come away from there thinking that Cork were poor and they’ve a lot to work on.
They won’t think that they’re the finished article or that they’ve started to peak or anything like that. It was a job well done but they have loads to work on.
All the guys who made their debuts had fine solid debuts and John McGrath was outstanding.
We know this Tipp side are better hurlers than Cork, and a good barometer of any team is the strength of their bench. The guys that they brought on all contributed: Niall O’Meara, Bonner Maher, Jason Forde. In some instances, Cork didn’t even have players of that quality in their starting 15.
Being able to bring lads of that calibre in off the bench didn’t make the difference today but looking ahead to a Munster semi-final against Limerick in three weeks’ time, and in tighter games going forward, it will be a huge asset for Michael Ryan.
All of Cork’s failings for the last few years were there to see again today: the lack of a dedicated training facility, the damage that’s being done by the structure of the Cork county championship, and the difficulty in producing a consistent flow of talent from minor and U21 teams.
Picking this team back up now will be a big challenge for Kieran Kingston but he has experienced guys around him in Pat Ryan, Diarmuid O’Sullivan and Declan O’Sullivan — they’re good guys to have around the panel.
He did say that it would take a bit of time to get Cork back to the top table but you’d expect a better performance than that. Even when they took beatings, Cork always had pride and came back better.
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Shameful stuff today from guys who backed themselves into a corner with their “a shag the league it’s all about may 22nd” talk. No touch no pride and no balls. Yet again Kingston is silent post match. I wish tipp well but they beat nothing.
Is it not just a case of cork not having the hurlers
It’s a very worrying time to be a cork fan. We use to be a period dual county challenging for final and hurling honours every year. Now we will be lucky to get one day out in croke park a year. Before we know it we will be like Offaly reliving part glories
Problems stem from county board
Excuse me Offaly are on a winning streak!
County teams thrive when town teams go well. When the town clubs struggle the county struggles… Bar Dublin that’s the fact of the matter that the gaa needs to tackle
Cork reaping what they sow. They neglected underage structures, assuming that they would just find hurlers, like they have always done in the past. Have sorted it out underage now though, won a clean sweep of underage titles last year, u14,u15,u16 so the sleeping giant is waking up, might take 20 years to come through but then watch out.
Kingston read the first half of the book on sweepers. Extra man back, mop up ball ala DeBurca, other defenders just hold off Tipp forwards. But once the sweeper actually got the ball he was clueless. No idea how to utilise the possession up front. No idea how to pick out an out numbered forward. Hitting balls to team mates in the middle of the park, that were in 50/50 positions at best. Painful stuff to watch, Tipp never had to break a sweat and just picked off the easy points
Spot on and it’s destroyed club hurling as well.
Black mark also against Cork juvenile “supporters” for persistant jeering of Tipp freetakers. Where did that example come from?
It was a hard day to hurl with the wind and rain but having watched the game I think Tipp can go a long way this year .
Tipp on a dry day will be better
Shambolic. And I bet .. To add insult to injury Frank Murphy told them that they were only getting ham sandwiches no butter and to make their own way home..
The sweeper system work in that the didn’t concede a goal but my god how brain dead were they using a sweeper for our own puck outs. I would be surprised if we won any of our own puck outs.
I’m sure cork people aren’t interested in the opinions of a Kilkenny man, but here goes. Certain teams ( not just Cork) are applying these new tactics in hurling , sweeper system , flood the break down areas etc…..but it doesn’t get away from the fact the two most successful teams in the last number of years Tipp and KK still stick to the standard positions in Hurling . When Cork were last successful playing more of a running/ short passing game , it was still 15 on 15 , with each player in a battle with his opposite man with the belief that if you won the majority of the battles you won the match … And I think it still stands true today.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it .
As a Cork man I am more than happy to hear your opinion. In fact I agree with you 100%. We have a suspect defence, and a very good forward line – until new players come into our defence to improve it I would much rather we try outscore teams and leak scores than deprive our forwards and play a muck brand of hurling. Sweeper systems may suit Clare, WFord etc, but I know Cork fans are horrified at the thought of us having it. And as you said, KK and Tipp don’t use them. I just hope we stop using it and start playing our own brand again.
Something seriously wrong with Cork GAS.
With this sweeper abomination hurling is danger of turning into that awful snore fest lacking basic skills that is Gaelic football
Cork GAA.
The rot starts with Murphy, Cork’s President-for-life.
How bloody boring is gaa. Every day on rte news they go through all the boring divisions of minor this and that. Has a disproportionate coverage.
Shock horror biggest sport in the country gets lions share of the coverage. Don’t turn on sky news for fear your head will explode
am i the only one who thinks it was a good idea for Cork to continue with the sweeper. The cork backline needed to be shored up and the more time William Egan gets in that role the better he’ll get, Cork would’ve been destroyed had they not used a sweeper. it’ll take time for this Cork team to fully acclimatise to the sweeper system but they’ll be better for it.
There are an amount of that Cork team not good enough for inter county hurling. Cork will not contest for major honours again for a very long time irrespective of the system they play.
Hurling needs Cork to play the old game and consign this negative ‘sweeper’ system to history. It’s just an admission of inferiority in the traditional skills and when Cork go down that road it’s fair to say that Hurling is in serious trouble.
I’m hoping that the big two, Tipp and Kilkenny beat the daylights out of the ‘sweeper’ counties, who are having great, but boring, games against one another and at least we’ll see some serious Hurling this year.
Same conditions for both teams but in saying that Cork are very poor.
This ‘sweeper’ fad is destroying open hurling.. If you can pick off points and take your frees you’ll win. Goals win games and create excitement. Obviously winning is everything for inter county teams but sacrificing excitement for results is ruining the game for spectators.
The better team will win the majority of the time but the fans want open, exciting and if possible goal fest hurling.. If this trend continues I can see more armchair spectators …
Well done to Tipp senior and intermediate teams. Having witnessed majestic Cork teams down through the years it’s sad to now see a Cork senior hurling team that’s afraid to play hurling.