'Where were their supporters?' - Donal Óg questions Tipperary fans on RTÉ Sunday Game

Donal Óg Cusack questioned the lack of Tipperary supporters at the Semple Stadium Munster Championship loss against Cork on Sunday, saying Cork fans "outnumbered them".

Speaking after the match on RTÉ's the Sunday Game, Donal questioned whether the "fight" remained in Tipperary hurling following their galling 18-point loss to Cork, and asked where the hurling fans were to cheer on the Premier.

"Where were all their supporters today?" Donal said to the panel. "Tipp's a hurling county. Cork outnumbered them, it looked like 10 to 1."

Tipp's failure to escape the Munster SHC was confirmed with a round of games left to play as they slumped to a second double-digit margin defeat of the 2024 campaign.

Alan Connolly's third hat-trick in two months powered Cork to an 18-point trouncing that eliminates Tipperary from the Munster Hurling Championship at Semple Stadium. The sides had been evenly matched until the Blackrock poacher’s first on the stroke of half-time. After the break, they outgunned the hosts by 3-15 to 0-09.

The latest heavy reversal means that the Premier men have won just one of their last 10 Munster SHC games since the round-robin format was restored following the Covid hiatus.

Cusack was encouraged by Cork's second-half performance, building on the landmark win over Limerick last weekend. However, his enthusiasm was somewhat tempered by the poor opposition in Thurles.

"I don't want to give false pats on the head to Tipperary," Cusack said. "Tipperary were shocking. They were blown away. If it was a boxing match, the towel would have been thrown in with 25-30 minutes to go.

"And you'd have to wonder - is the fight gone out of Tipp?"

The three-time All-Ireland winner argued it could look even worse for Tipperary, noting that Cork were denied a fifth goal, after Patrick Horgan poked it home, for reasons which weren't entirely clear - the corner forward being clearly outside the square.

"It is a pattern this year. The day against Limerick, Limerick won by 15 points. I would say, only the unfortunate thing that happened to Peter Casey, they would have won by 20 points.

"The referee gave a free out against Patrick Horgan today, it was actually a sympathy vote from the referee. There was nothing wrong with the goal."