REELING IN THE REBELS
Forde lands booming late free as Tipperary earn another draw
TIPPERARY needed a late free from Jason Forde deep inside his own half to avoid defeat against Cork at Semple Stadium last night.
Having led by three points six minutes into the second half, the Premier County trailed by the same amount with 12 minutes left as Cork bounced back strongly, but the Rebels couldn’t hold off a late Tipp flurry.
After points from Forde and corner-back Barry Heffernan tied matters in the 69th minute, Cork – who had beaten Waterford in their opener – replied with scores from subs Conor Cahalane and Alan Connolly as game moved deep into injury time.
However, Tipp’s Cathal Barrett gave them a chance with a 74thminute score and Forde ensured a share of the spoils for Liam Sheedy’s side, giving them a second straight draw, having tied with Limerick last week.
The first half ebbed and flowed, with each side enjoying periods on top, though Cork could have struck an early blow. Having led with Alan Cadogan’s point after 18 seconds, a golden chance was created as Cadogan found Jack O’Connor unmarked but his close-range shot went wide.
Tipp replied strongly with Jason Forde, John O’Dwyer and John McGrath putting them into the lead.
Cork came back with a pair of Patrick Horgan points and, though Tipp’s Jake Morris made it 0-4 to 0-3 with a well-worked point, the visitors hit the front again as Tim O’Mahony linked with Horgan before finishing to the net from close range.
However, even at that early stage, the Rebels had shot 12 wides and Tipperary were level by the time of the water break thanks to two Forde frees.
Forde’s fifth point put them in front in the 20th minute, but Cork were back in front, 1-6 to 0-8, six minutes later as Cadogan, Horgan and Robbie O’Flynn all pointed, though the latter injured himself in the process of hitting the target.
It was to be the last time they led in the opening half, with Tipp back in front as a pair of Forde frees sandwiched a score from cornerback Barry Heffernan. When O’Mahony replied for Cork, Forde’s seventh made it 0-12 to 1-7. Horgan had the final score of the half to ensure that Cork went in just a point in arrears.
After the restart, Tipp had more of the play but didn’t make it fully count. While John McGrath, having moved from full-forward to right half-forwardn, had his third point of the game five minutes in and Forde brought his tally to eight,
Tipp had six wides in the opening 12 minutes of the second half, by which stage they found themselves trailing again.
The turning point came with Cork’s second goal, Darragh Fitzgibbon rampaging through to set up Horgan for a well-taken finish, and the captain put the visitors ahead with a free after Billy Hennessy was fouled.
While Tipp sub Paul Flynn levelled soon after his introduction, a Cork addition, Daire Connery, replied in kind with an impressive score from distance to put them in front at the water break.
They pulled further clear after action resumed as another replacement,
Tadhg Deasy, had a point followed by Conor Cahalane’s first.
Tipp had the greater momentum, however, and slowly they eroded the Cork lead, with Forde ending a 21-minute drought while full-back Brian McGrath also got in on the act. While Cork looked to pull clear again, ultimately they had to settle for a draw.
TIPPERARY: B Hogan; B Heffernan (0-2), B McGrath (0-1), C Barrett (0-1); Pádraic Maher, S Kennedy, R Maher (0-1f); A Flynn, N McGrath; J Morris (0-1), J Forde (0-11, 10f), N O’Meara; J O’Dwyer (0-1), J McGrath (0-3), W Connors.
SubS: M Breen for Flynn (40), P Flynn (0-1) for O’Meara (44), P Cadell for N McGrath, Patrick Maher for O’Dwyer (both 56), B Maher for Connors (60), D Quirke for Morris (64).
CORK: P Collins; N O’Leary, D Cahalane, S O’Leary Hayes; R Downey, M Coleman, N Cashman; B Hennessy, T O’Mahony (1-1); L Meade, D Fitzgibbon (0-1), R O’Flynn; A Cadogan (0-2), P Horgan (1-6, 5f), J O’Connor.
SubS: C Cahalane (0-2) for O’Flynn (28, injured), D Connery (0-1) for Cashman (45), E Cadogan for Downey, T Deasy (0-1) for O’Connor (both 53), A Connolly (0-1) for A Cadogan, S O’Donoghue for O’Leary Hayes (both 59), S Twomey for Meade (70).
REfEREE: J Murphy (Limerick)