Pleases Pat Ryan

“They both had a clear run this year, and you could see the difference, as they showed great leadership in attack, as did Bill Cooper at midfield and Mark Ellis at centre back.

“I thought Damien Cahalane was immense too at full back against Callanan, who is one of the best forwards in the country. Damien gets a lot of criticism from outside the squad, but we know what type of character he is, and we wouldn’t have a bad word said about him.”

The Sarsfields clubman felt the most pleasing aspect of Cork’s performance was that they responded so well after Tipp got a goal to go a point ahead with 56 minutes gone.

“We got two great scores after that, which mirrored the pride and passion we wanted to see from the lads, and they delivered it in spades today,” he stated, adding that the late goal from substitute Michael Cahalane provided a fairy-tale dimension to Cork’s great win.

“People thought Michael would never play hurling again after he had a serious health issue a few years ago, but he’s a key member of our panel now, he’s a brilliant finisher, and his goal was one of the highlights of the day for me.”

Ryan agreed that the victory will work wonders for Cork’s confidence, and that they would have no reason to fear any team taking the performance against Tipp as a yardstick.

“But that doesn’t mean we’re going to keep winning, and we were possibly waiting in the long grass for Tipp after the hammering we took from them last year. I still think Tipp will have a big say in this championship and we’ll be facing another huge challenge against Waterford in three weeks time.

“They are one of the top three teams in the country, and they’ll probably bring a different dynamic to what Tipp brought today. So, we’ll have to keep our feet on the ground, but obviously the plan is to build on this performance, because we’ve won just one game in the Munster championship, and that’s not what Cork hurling is all about.”