Connolly leads Rebel rising on a ‘dark day for Tipperary hurling’
There’s a yarn about the 1990 Munster football final in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the pinnacle of a brief, but sweet chapter of Cork dominance over their neighbouring oppressors, Kerry.
Late on, with Cork putting the exclamation marks on a sickly 15-point win, Kerry supporters began to stream out, partly to beat the traffic, partly to avoid the dregs of the ensuing ugliness.
“Lock the gates,” some Cork fans shouted. “Make the bastards watch.”
It was that type of vibe in Thurles yesterday afternoon. Pitch invasions. Flares. Grave-trampling. The lot.
Cork’s hurlers and Tipperary have just as much history, maybe more, than Cork and Kerry. They have suffered excruciatingly at the other’s hands. Feasted on the other’s flesh. Yesterday, Cork put on a show. And what a stage to do it on.
Thurles. Everything on the line. An 18-point win. They won’t forget this one in a hurry.
“We know we have potential,” reflected Pat Ryan, understatement being his only mistake of the day when his team demonstrated the full array of their weaponry.
Potential
“We’ve had potential for the last four or five years but just haven’t been able to bring it through. It’s about getting that consistency. Everyone can see that, on a given day, Cork can put in any performance.”
Tipp, meanwhile, were banished to a short season and a place of long and deep introspection. They won’t shake yesterday off too easily, either. It’s a long winter, particularly when it starts in May.
Liam Cahill was raw afterwards. He acknowledged it had been “a dark day for Tipperary hurling”. Appointed two years ago, Tipp haven’t felt this far away from an All-Ireland in a generation.
Cahill spoke about upholding Tipperary’s “good name” and “the integrity of the Munster Championship” when Clare come to Thurles next Sunday, but what an odd occasion it will be, with nothing tangible left to play for in 2024.
He hinted at a significant rebuilding job. After yesterday, with Tipperary melting into the part of bystanders for most of the second half, nobody will be inclined to object if he were to blow the thing up with dynamite and start again.
“‘Twas a hard watch there as the game unfolded,” Cahill acknowledged.
“Some of our decision-making, our body language, it’s difficult to explain, to be honest with you.
“The fellas in that dressing room, they don’t go out to do that.”
The tale of the game was not complex. For 30 minutes, Tipperary and Cork slung their guns and fired indiscriminately. Bullets whizzing everywhere. Sulphur and gunpowder in the summer air.
Puck-out, score. Puck-out, score. Tipp got the boon of an early goal from Mark Kehoe. Cork looked like they were only a small bit more ambition away from scoring theirs.
When it arrived, as it inevitably did, it came via an obvious source. Alan Connolly’s penchant for goal-scoring is becoming one of the most endearing traits of this blossoming Cork team.
Yesterday was his third hat-trick in just six starts in 2024.
The first put Cork into a three-point half-time lead. The second broke Tipp altogether. Connolly picked the pocket of Cathal Barrett, who had sustained an injury and did the rest with his customary dash.
The third was a thing of great beauty, some scintillating interplay with Luke Meade. It was dizzying hurling from Cork, who hit 1-8 without a solitary interjection from Tipp.
“We showed savage intent,” Ryan said. “We stayed connected with what we wanted to do. Fellas were vocal, you could hear them and we were really, really connected.
“Last year, a couple of times in games, we kind of went out of it and stopped talking, and when teams got a run on us, they got too big a run on us.” And yet.
Brass tacks, Cork may not even qualify. Yesterday felt like the day they arrived as a team. It might also be their last match of the year. They could yet go the way of Tipp should Limerick and Waterford draw in the Gaelic Ground next week.
Imagine, they could become the first team to finish the season with a pitch invasion after not qualifying for the AllIreland series.
“We didn’t deserve it,” stressed Ryan. “We’ve lost two games and won two games.”
What a weird, weird way that would be to go out.
SCORERS – Cork: P Horgan 1-9 (5f); A Connolly 3-1; S Kingston 0-4; D Fitzgibbon, S Harnedy 0-3 each; R Downey, S Barrett, B Hayes 0-2 each; N O’Leary, D Dalton, L Meade, C Lehane 0-1 each. Tipperary: J Forde 0-6 (4f); J Morris 0-3; M Kehoe 1-0; G O’Connor, N McGrath, D Stakelum, J McGrath (2f) 0-2 each; R Maher (f), C Bowe, A Tynan, S Hayes 0-1 each. CORK: P Collins 8; N O’Leary 8, E Downey 7, S O’Donoghue 7; T O’Mahony 7, R Downey 9, M Coleman 7; E Twomey 7, D Fitzgibbon 8; D Dalton 7, S Barrett 8, S Harnedy 8; P Horgan 8, A Connolly 9, B Hayes 8. Subs: L Meade 8 for Twomey (h-t), S Kingston 8 for Dalton (45), G Mellerick 7 for O’Donoghue (51), C Lehane 7 for Harnedy (59), J O’Connor 6 for Barrett (62), T O’Connell 6 for Fitzgibbon (64), S Twomey 6 for Connolly (67). TIPPERARY: B Hogan 7; C Barrett 5, R Maher 7, C Morgan 6; M Breen 7, B O’Meara 6, B Bowe 6; A Tynan 6, E Connolly 5; G O’Connor 6, J Forde 6, N McGrath 6; J Morris 7, M Kehoe 6, D Stakelum 6. Subs: C Stakelum 6 for Connolly (h-t). D McCormack 6 for Barrett (41), J McGrath 6 for Forde (43), P Maher 6 for D Stakelum (48), S Hayes 6 for O’Connor (56). REF: T Walsh (Waterford)
‘‘The fellas in that dressing room, they don’t go out to do that’’ Liam Cahill