Munster SFC: Tipperary Pull Off Stunning Victory Over Cork To Secure A First Provincial Title Since 1935

TIPPERARY 0-17

CORK 0-14

By Daire Walsh

Tipperary ended a 85-year wait for a Munster Senior Football Championship title with a superb triumph over Cork at Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Sunday.

Conor Sweeney and Michael Quinlivan were superb throughout for the victors, finishing with a combined tally of 12 points. Having guided the county to an historic All-Ireland minor championship in 2011, David Power has now worked the oracle with the Premier’s senior footballers.

This was a particular poignant victory for Tipperary, with the game taking place a day after the 100th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. To commemorate this event, the Premier wore green and white jerseys, a replica of those worn by the county on that fateful day at Croke Park on November 21, 1920 – when 14 people (including Tipperary footballer Michael Hogan) tragically lost their lives.

Having dethroned provincial kingpins Kerry in the last-four, Cork were understandably favourites to progress to an All-Ireland semi-final against Mayo. Yet Tipperary faced the Connacht outfit as recently as 2016 at the same stage and weren’t there to simply make up the numbers.

The big team news before throw-in was the 11th hour introduction of Colin O’Riordan to the Premier’s half-forward line. Like Cork’s Mark Keane – held in reserve, despite his heroics against Kerry – O’Riordan currently plies his trade in Australian Rules football.

He is familiar with the ‘mark’ while donning the colours of Sydney Swans and after gathering his pass from deep, Tipperary full-forward Conor Sweeney raised his hand for a free shot at goal.

The Ballyporeen man convincingly converted off his advanced mark and before the clock had reached two minutes, he also had a point from play after being picked out at the end of a searing run by wing-back Robbie Kiely.

Michael Quinlivan subsequently split the uprights from distance to make it a dream start to the proceedings for Power’s charges. Despite being on home soil, the Rebels were finding it difficult to settle.

However with the midfield pairing of Ian Maguire and Killian O’Hanlon getting on top of possession, Cork eventually got up and running. Promoted to the starting line-up for this game, Luke Connolly pointed at a right-hand angle in the fourth-minute and slotted over a free from a similar position moments later.

Collins joined him on the scoresheet with a routine placed ball effort, moving the Leesiders on level terms in the process. While Sweeney got Tipperary up and running again, Connolly continued to lead the way at the opposite end.

A noted dead-ball specialist, the Nemo Rangers forward followed up a ’45’ with a long-range free to edge Cork in front for the first time. It proved to be a short-lived lead as the impressive Sweeney responded in fine style at the opposite end.

Though the sides were inseparable at the first water break, Tipperary were undoubtedly the dominant force for the remainder of the opening period. In addition to forcing a series of turnovers inside their own half, the Premier side were extremely efficient in front of the Cork posts.

Following trading scores between Liam Casey and Colm O’Callaghan, the pre-match underdogs rattled off consecutive points through Michael Quinlivan (two, including one with the outside of the boot), Sweeney and roaming centre-back Kevin Fahey.

Whereas Sweeney initially stood out, the influence of Quinlivan (an All-Star winner of 2016) became more pronounced the longer the action progressed. After Brian Hurley had released John O’Rourke for a fine point, the Clonmel Commercials star superbly curled over off his right-foot to give Tipperary a thoroughly-deserved 0-11 to 0-7 interval cushion.

Although Cork were not out of contention, they suffered a set-back when Connolly was withdrawn at the break with a hamstring injury. Tipperary stretched their cushion with another Sweeney mark and were somewhat unfortunate not to raise a green flag when they shook the crossbar and had a goal disallowed in the same attack.

While there was a notable increase in urgency from Cork, their retention skills still left a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, Collins added to his tally with a pointed free and Brian Hurley also found the target to the right of the posts.

Tipperary lacked the same fluency in attack during the third-quarter but, try as they might, Cork simply couldn’t punish them at the far end. After spurning some good opportunities, the 37-time champions were still three points adrift (0-12 to 0-9) at the second water break.

This temporary halt in play did Tipperary the world of good as they ended a lengthy barren spell with a Steven O’Brien point on 53 minutes. Yet another Sweeney contribution brought Tipperary another step closer to a famous win, but a brace of Collins frees did give Cork fresh impetus.

Keane was introduced to the middle of the field in the final-quarter and after catching superbly, he found Hurley with an excellent pass and he picked out Sean White in turn for a close-in point.

Cork looked set for a grandstand finish, but Tipperary were simply relentless. After goalkeeper Evan Comerford stepped forward to convert a free, Quinlivan capitalised on a poor Micheal Martin kick-out to grab his fifth score of the day.

Whilst the Rebels registered points through Cathal O’Mahony and O’Rourke either side of a Liam Austin effort for their counterparts, Tipperary held firm to pull off the biggest result of the year to date.

Scorers – Tipperary: Conor Sweeney (0-7, 2 frees, 2 marks), Michael Quinlivan 0-5 (1f), Evan Comerford (free), Liam Casey (mark), Kevin Fahey, Steven O’Brien, Philip Austin 0-1 each. Cork: Luke Connolly (2 frees, 1 ’45’), Mark Collins (3 frees) 0-4 each, John O’Rourke 0-2, Cathal O’Mahony (free), Colm O’Callaghan, Brian Hurley, Sean White 0-1 each.

CORK: Micheal Martin; Kevin O’Donovan, Maurice Shanley, Paul Ring; Tadhg Corkery, Sean Meehan, Mattie Taylor; Ian Maguire, Killian O’Hanlon; John O’Rourke, Colm O’Callaghan, Ruairi Deane; Mark Collins, Brian Hurley, Luke Connolly. Subs: Cathal O’Mahony for Connolly (half-time), Sam Ryan for Ring (40), Sean White for O’Callaghan (44), Mark Keane for O’Hanlon (59), Michael Hurley for Taylor (65).

TIPPERARY: Evan Comerford; Alan Campbell, Jimmy Feehan, Colm O’Shaughnessy; Bill Maher, Kevin Fahey, Robbie Kiely; Steven O’Brien, Liam Casey; Conal Kennedy, Michael Quinlivan, Colin O’Riordan; Brian Fox, Conor Sweeney, Colman Kennedy. Subs: Liam Boland for Colman Kennedy (53), Paudie Feehan for Fahey (54), Emmet Moloney for Fox (61), Padraic Looram for Kiely (66), Philip Austin for Casey (71).

Referee: Maurice Deegan (Laois).