This photo was alongside Ednaâs piece yesterday
Great photo,
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Enda
That seems to be a tricky one.
Can somebody oblige please?
Later
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Enda McEvoy: Itâs set up for Cork to get chinned. They wonât
The Cork of 2025 have been consistently convincing and occasionally exhilarating. The conclusion is unavoidable. Itâs set up for them to get chinned on Sunday.
GOAL-GETTER: Brian Hayes of Cork in action against Michael Breen of Tipperary. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
SAT, 19 JUL, 2025 - 03:11
Should they fetch up in Croke Park on July 20 theyâll do so with a better shout than 12 months earlier. Tougher, wiser, more balanced. Less dependent on individual attackers. Less likely to perform in snatches. Theyâll also be surfing a bigger wave, one building since late March, not so much a MacCarthy Cup challenge as a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just as long as they havenât won their semi-final by ten points or so. - April 19, 2025.
And so it came to pass, more or less as Scripture had predicted.
The wave held its size and shape. The one misstep, at the Gaelic Grounds in mid-May, was not so much effaced the next time they met Limerick as converted into a positive by the poised forcefulness of the response.
The four weeks between the provincial decider and the All-Ireland semi-final were negotiated without blinking.
Another way of putting it? The Cork of 2025 have been consistently convincing and occasionally exhilarating. The conclusion is unavoidable. Itâs set up for them to get chinned tomorrow.
Does the fact itâs not Kilkenny theyâre facing render it less fraught with danger for them or more fraught? Were Derek Lyngâs team the opposition thereâd be old-timers mooning about 1982, or even â72, and the favourites would be forewarned till they were black and amber in the face.
But itâs Tipp, a crowd theyâve twice beaten out the gate of late. Hard to block out small voices in the back of the head.
Pat Ryanâs team have been the talking horse all year and hereâs one very good reason why. Theirs has been the finger on the dial.
The sport has travelled a half-circle in the space of two seasons; we are firmly in the post-Limerick era. Goals win games again. Kilkenny hit 0-30 in the semi-final, the most Limerickian tally imaginable â and lost.
Limerick were cold-blooded; Cork are red-blooded and have given us a different type of entertainment. It is less something new, more something old and comforting. Goals.
They attack with swagger and elan, theyâre all tricks and flicks and everything Leeside folk love to see in their hurlers. This is a team that sings to the countyâs sense of self.
All of that said, the danger of recency bias cannot be ignored. Common sense tells us to be wary of getting carried away by their riddling a fortnight ago of opponents who laid themselves open to being riddled.
It would be amusing if two teams that managed 11 goals between them last time out managed none or one tomorrow. Certainly a goalfest is no inevitability.
Punters attracted by the 7/4 about more than 4.5 green flags might reflect that the blue-riband occasion rarely turns into a shootout and that Liam Cahill will have it bet into his half-backs to compress the space between them and the full-back line on pain of death.
Jake Morris is 12/1 to hit the net first. Just sayinâ. Tim OâMahony is 18/1.
These are two teams of substance and two managers of substance. It was always likely that Ryan would bring Cork back to Croke Park 12 months on but it was no given. It was the furthest thing conceivable from a given that his opposite number would get Tipperary anywhere near the place.
Corkâs SeĂĄn OâDonoghue injured after an incident with Darragh McCarthy (13) of Tipperary that resulted in a red card. Pic: James Crombie
Youâve read here in the past that Tipp donât win All Irelands as pre-tournament outsiders. That they may upend history is largely attributable to one man and the fire in his belly. After two years spent cleaning the stables this is Cahillâs crew now, right down to his rewire job on John McGrath. Such are the items of added value that good managers bring.
The semi-final victory â not victory; triumph - was the equivalent of one of those Tom Cruise actioners. Never going to win an Oscar for art direction but who complains about supreme popcorn entertainment?
To say that Tippâs resilience was magnificent and that Kilkenny pissed it away are not contradictory observations. Tipp won, and deserved to, because they did the simple things well. Kilkenny self-harmed with the simple things.
Nor is to decry the winnersâ heroics to note the continuity holes. The 30 scores conceded; the no-show opening 15 minutes; the series of wides on the resumption that allowed their opponents back into it; Kilkennyâs screamingly predictable inability to maximise the spare man; Kilkennyâs distrust of their bench.
The first goal came from a ricochet, the second from terrible defending, the third from merely bad defending and the fourth arrived gift-wrapped. To which it can justifiably be countered that these are the sort of breaks that fall the way of a team designed to hunt goals. To dare is to stand a greater chance of the sliotar hopping oneâs way. Luck is rarely random.
Do Tipp win if it remains 15 on 15, which it might have? Or if it goes to 14 on 14, which it should have? Most of these small caveats wonât matter tomorrow. One or two of them may.
The possibility the battle may prove an Arnhemesque bridge too far must be referenced.
The Premier run out of psychic petrol, their gaiscĂ of July 6th having emptied them physically and emotionally, and Cork, roared home by their 250,000 supporters in attendance, pull away in the closing ten minutes.
Or earlier; stagger out of the traps like Tipperary did in the semi-final and the dog in the red will be gone beyond recall by the first bend.
Yet what must also be referenced is the plethora of similarities between the protagonists.
Cork have that full-forward line of theirs? Tipp have Jake Morris, Jason Forde and the younger McGrath (20 goals in 44 championship outings). Professional button men one and all.
Cork have registered 17 goals en route? Tipp, the Laois match excepted, have managed 12 â and four of the Cork goals arrived against Cahillâs 14 men on April 27.
Declan Dalton of Cork and Bryan OâMara of Tipperary tussle before throw in during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship Round 2 match between Cork and Tipperary. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
Cork have racked up a total of 140 white flags? Tipp, again excepting the Laois match, have racked up 143.
If the reader can detect any meaningful, implication-freighted patterns here, congrats. Your correspondent cannot. To pare it down to its barest, in scoring terms thereâs no obvious discrepancy between the pair. They score their goals and their points at the same rates.
Some other observations.
It wasnât the best of championships, it wasnât the worst of championships. Sadly the stodge outweighed the sprinkles.
Activities in Munster were redeemed by the final. Leinster, which in recent seasons possessed the not inconsiderable virtue of disgorging offbeat results, was dismal.
The sands of time ran out on Limerick but what of it? John Kiely will have to cope with the consolation of having led a county that hadnât won one All-Ireland in 45 years to five of them. How bad.
He joined Mick Mackey among the heavenly hosts of Shannonside quite some time ago and will remain there ad aeternum. Clare discovered that what the Lord giveth in one year, He taketh away in the next. No surprise. No biggie.
Galway. Oh lordy. They may not be in crisis but theyâre on a slippery slope. Is it overdoing it to hold that, 50 years after 1975, theyâre in danger of becoming detached from the top table, a prospect as alarming for the sport as it is for the county? You decide.
On the plus side, there may be a slow train pulling out of all stations from Athy northwards. In gaining promotion to the top flight Kildare gave themselves a flame to nurture and unlike previous winners of the Joe McDonagh Cup they possess the numbers to make a fist of it in the long term.
Offaly in 1981 were the most recent first-time MacCarthy Cup winners, Waterford in 1948 the last before that.
Kildare reaching a Leinster final by 2040 should not be a startling prospect. Or, going on this yearâs provincial championship, by 2030.
Also on the plus side, a qualified hurray for the referees.
Yes indeed, it happened at last: they decided to no longer insult the intelligence and ocular powers of their audience and finally got around to acknowledging and penalising illegal handpasses. Better late than never.
One didnât have to be a DĂŠise loyalist to have enjoyed the sight of Waterford carrying off the All-Ireland minor title. Whether a bunch so physically mature prove capable of training on is irrelevant for the moment. A county thatâs had a hard time of it for the past five years has something to live for for the next five.
Noel McGrath â and how could this possibly have been anticipated? - made a splendid job of blazing a trail in transferring baseballâs designated closer position to a different stick and ball game. It wonât catch on. Thereâs only one Noel McGrath.
Every quarter will be dangerous for the underdogs tomorrow, none of them more so than the opening quarter. Staying in the game will entail rigorous defending rather than tactical legerdemain.
A word of reassurance for any twitchy Leesiders. The notion that Cork have to do it should be resisted. It is not a case of now or never for them. It is nothing of the sort.
Theyâll be there again next year and the year after that and the year after that. What else is out there?
Limerick are facing a receding tide, Kilkenny are becalmed, Clare are about to rebuild, Dublin are earnest but limited and Galway are performing like medium-term relegation candidates. There is no bolter elsewhere.
In any case itâs not all that long ago since Cork lost successive All-Ireland showpieces before getting the job done at the third time of asking. Winning two trophies in the same season for the first time in 20 years, moreover, can never be a trifle.
Likewise, seeing as weâre at it, letâs invert the consensus about Tipp. Though they have a few fresh faces theyâre stuffed with seasoned campaigners. Theyâre surfing almost as great, if not as sustained, a wave as their opponents have been.
Theyâre in the moment, they donât have to overthink, theyâre playing the ball as it lies. Sometimes tomorrow never comes.
Tipp may not have a better opportunity of beating Cork for the next couple of years, the more so if by teatime Sunday the latter have reacquired their taste for it. There is, by the by, no law to say that Cork have to win by sluicing the men in blue and gold again. They just have to win.
They appear to possess the superior bench, but this is an All-Ireland final and in an All-Ireland final anyone can make a name for himself when thrown on.
Nor is the pressure on Cork to win for themselves and their supporters - Tipp are under no such obligation to their kindred â to be dismissed. Fear of winning can prove a bigger dead weight than fear of losing.
Nonetheless it will come as a shock if this bunch prove incapable of embracing it.
Most neutrals will wish to see Patrick Horgan crown his career with a late-autumnal All-Ireland medal. Should he begin badly, though, one assumes Ryan, who according to himself is more decisive than he was last season, will have the gumption not to allow sentiment to intrude.
Given the managerâs attacking options itâs incumbent on him to be proactive.
Should a couple of the forwards struggle â what if Alan Connolly is starved of possession and/or Ronan Maher frustrates Brian Hayes aerially and on the ground? â he shouldnât still be looking at them 10 minutes into the second half.
Shades of an old equine maxim Ruby Walsh cited lately. The jockey on the fastest horse should demonstrate this from the start.
The favourites are that for a number of very good reasons. Theyâve been tested and tempered.
Theyâre less vulnerable down the centre of defence than last year. Theyâll scarcely repeat their failure to kick on from the semi-final. They have scorers. They have substitutes.
Itâs set up for Cork to get chinned. They wonât
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Heading off there in an hours time. Up to the big smoke for the night, Sean Treacy commemoration at 12 tomorrow is the plan.
On the cork team, Harnedy mustnât be 100%. His aerial ability will be a loss. Healy/Barrett/Fitzgibbon are all of the same mould which is not always a good thing.
After watching back the Munster final, Cormac o Brien was very good defensively in that game on the wing. Obviously Rob Downey is a colossal figure under the High ball but Iâd say COB is a better match up on Ormonde.
Hoping to see loads of rotation in that Tipp forward line. Them cork forwards are very rigid by modern standards.
Game will be won/lost by midfield and the Connolly/Dalton battle.
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Throw out a few tips before you head up
Enjoy
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TIPP TIPP TIPP TIPP
there you go
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On GAA betting thread now.
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Tipp Tipp Tipp
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Thatâs a lovely piece
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The major concern for Tipp, midfield. If Cork start running through them, it could be curtains
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Thatâll all stopped further up the field if itâs stopped at all. A big mistake I think Tipp might make is to under-commit on their own long puckout out of fear of Corkâs ability to break. If you let Cork outnumber you on those breaks and get time to build youâre already dead. No way the Tipp backs will hold them. But youâd think that if Cahill will demand anything itâll be manic workrate across the board and the midfielders Tipp have now are there on their ability to scrap.
In a way youâre more at risk off your own puckout than Corkâs as if Cork are in trouble at all itâll be Hayes, Hayes, and more Hayes on the long ones. Last year Clare just clustered around him for the long Cork puckout in the first half and won almost all of them.
Youâll know youâre on top if OâMahoney is hanging around his half-backline looking for a few long rangers and Fitzgibbonâs trying to get onto breaks out by the sideline. If Coleman is taking 5 or 6 steps on the ball with eyes downfield youâll know yeâre fucked.
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Two changes for Tipp tomorrow.
McCormack and Tynan?
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Dummy teams for an all Ireland final arenât very traditional.
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