Munster SFC: Red letter day as Premier come to town

IN the lead-up to the Munster football semi-final clash between Cork and Tipperary last year, there was a lot of talk about their previous meeting at the same stage of the championship in 2014.

It will be recalled that Cork were extremely fortunate to prevail in that game at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, relying on a hat-trick of late points from substitute Aidan Walsh to come through by 0-16 to 1-11.

So, the general consensus was that Cork would again be sternly tested when rivalry was renewed with the Premier County men this time twelve months ago, especially since the Rebels would be conceding home advantage for the fixture.

Realistically, however, it made little sense to suggest that what happened in their 2014 encounter could be used as a yardstick when it came to predicting how last year’s rematch at Thurles was likely to unfold.

For one thing, both sides showed massive changes in personnel, while it could be argued it was largely due to complacency that Cork almost came a cropper three years ago, given that the management opted not to put out all of their big guns for the game, with such marquee players as Walsh, Colm O’Neill (both former All-Stars) and Eoin Cadogan occupying a seat on the bench at the throw-in.

As well as that, Cork had availed of the opportunity to assess all their options over the course of last year’s National League, and, even if the results were disappointing overall, the new backroom team, headed by Peader Healy, probably felt the spring competition had served its purpose on that account.

Cork were forced to relinquish their Division 1 status at the end of it, but they won three of their seven games, and, level on points with Monaghan, Mayo and Donegal, they were a little unlucky to be relegated on score difference

They had also delivered a highly creditable display against Dublin in Croke Park, but they performed very poorly against Donegal and Kerry, while they really plunged to the depths when shipping an unmercifully hammering from Roscommon at Pairc Uí Rinn.

If some of Cork’s displays were inexcusable, however, and they couldn’t have been happy with the way the league turned out last year, it still showed them up in a better light than Tipperary, who finished in the bottom half of Division 3.

Notwithstanding the fact that they had been denied a Munster title in controversial circumstances when forced to share the spoils with Kerry at Killarney

in 2015, Cork, in view of their feeble capitulation to Kildare in an All-Ireland qualifier a week later, went into last year’s championship under a cloud.

But Tipp’s championship form two years ago was nothing to write home about either, as they succumbed tamely enough to Kerry in the Munster semi-final and were on the receiving end of a 12-point thrashing from Tyrone in the All-Ireland qualifiers.

It meant that Tipp, despite achieving noteworthy success at under-age level in recent times, weren’t expected to make a significant impact in the top flight last year, all the more so since a number of their key players had, for one reason or another, departed the squad.

In the circumstances, it seemed reasonable to suggest that when the teams crossed paths in 2016, Cork were unlikely to experience similar problems against Tipp as they had two years earlier.

It’s history now that Cork were beaten by 3-15 to 2-16, a result that more or less confirmed they had slipped rapidly down the rankings since taking Kerry to a replay in the 2015 Munster final.

It could be argued there were mitigating reasons for Cork’s defeat, not least perhaps being the decision by the management not to include the up-and-coming Peter Kelleher in the starting fifteen.

It was generally accepted Kelleher had emerged as the find of the season during the league campaign, and it was expected he’d be an automatic choice at full-forward for the championship opener.

The folly of his omission was underlined when he provided Cork with a focal point in attack following his introduction for the second half, posing so much problems for the Tipp rearguard that one can only imagine what damage he might have inflicted had he been planted at the edge of the square from the outset.

Cork, having clocked up nine wides, were seven points in arrears at the interval, but, despite playing against the wind in the second half, they began to nibble away at the deficit before they gifted Tipp a goal as a result of a misdirected short kick-out.

After Cork rallied again, shooting 1-6 without reply to draw level, Tipp needed a couple of points from placed balls in stoppage time to get over the line, and, all things considered, Liam Kearns’ men had good cause to count their blessings at the finish.

Developments in the meantime, however, have made it abundantly clear that Cork are going to have their work cut out to turn the tables when they throw down the gauntlet to Tipp at Pairc Uí Rinn next Saturday evening.

In contrast to what happened after they came within a whisker of flooring Cork in 2014, Tipp have built on last season’s victory over the Rebels, even if they proved no match for Kerry in the Munster final next time out.

The hope is the criticism from their embarrassing efforts against the Desie willl provoke a response

They followed up with wins over Derry and Galway en route to an All-Ireland semi-final where they delivered a highly creditable display to run Mayo to five points.

They gained promotion in the league this season, topping the table in Division 3 before going on to fashion a convincing win over Louth in the final, and, in using a total of 27 players over the course of the spring campaign, it would appear as if there’s greater depth in their squad now, although the loss of talismanic midfielder Peter Acheson, who has emigrated, has to be viewed as a big blow to their prospects.

Cork also finished last year’s championship on an encouraging note, going under by just three points in an All-Ireland qualifier against Donegal in Croke Park.

Their failure to gain promotion from Division 2 in the league this season was hardly calculated to boost confidence-levels heading into the championship, however, and their performance in the opening round in Munster against lowly Waterford in Dungarvan a couple of weeks ago predictably prompted a damning indictment of the team and the management from all quarters.

Regardless of how Waterford set out their stall, and it has to be said they were well organised, that Cork, who limped over the line with a point to spare, found it so difficult to come to terms with the home side’s ultra-defensive strategy was more than a little disturbing, to put it mildly.

It will be a different sort of game against Tipp, of course, but Cork will also be facing a team that’s considerably superior in quality than Waterford, who finished third from bottom in Division 4 in the league, and it remains to be seen how they will cope with the challenge this time.

The hope is the criticism stemming from their embarrassing efforts against the Deise will provoke the desired response from a side that, on the evidence provided over the past two seasons, many would say has become unrecognisable virtually from game to game at this stage.

With that in mind, it’s anyone’s guess as to what Cork will produce against Tipp, but if they do strike one of their better days, the probability is they will have what it takes to come out on top. Verdict: Cork