Sending-off took the wind out of Tipperary sails, says Liam Cahill

“Johnny Murphy (the referee) did a good job today. I’m not questioning that in any way, shape or form, but there were definitely 15 other incidents going on at the same time around the field, and I would imagine if he looked at any of them, something similar would be the case”.

That was the reaction of Tipperary manager Liam Cahill to the game-defining moment of Sunday’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship clash with Cork, when Tipp forward Darragh McCarthy was sent off for a foul on Sean O’Donoghue after only a minute.

“It’s a difficult day for young Darragh McCarthy, he’s 19 years of age,” said the Tipp boss. “He’s a lovely kid, he loves hurling, he loves playing for Tipperary. He’s just misfortunate today, that’s Munster championship hurling, two teams meeting before the ball was thrown in.

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“I think it really did affect the game as a spectacle. We were coming down for a ferocious battle, and suddenly all of a shot the wind is taken out of your sails, and it was disappointing from that side of it. Look, young Darragh will be fine, he’s mentally a very strong young fellow and he is beating himself up as well, which is not unusual for a fellow that loves his hurling so much.

“We all have his back in Tipperary and we will support him, and he will have really good days in a Tipperary jersey in the future”.

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The Ballingarry man was quick to praise the effort of his players in such a difficult situation.

“There was big resilience shown out there today. That could have been a 30-point hammering with the quality that you’re taking on, being down a player. Especially in the big spaces of Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“Our fellows really emptied themselves to keep in the hunt. We were always clinging, hoping that a goal opportunity would come and it would give us a bit of life. We kept the scoreboard ticking over for as long as we could and ultimately towards the end, the energy left us from the workload that had been taken on throughout the game”.

He agreed that going down to 14 men so early had affected the game plan.

“Obviously you discuss these things, when you are down to 14 players, how we set up. But happening so soon, you can talk about these things until they happen and to try and fix them is the thing. When you’re hit for a goal or two and there are a lot of open spaces, and fellows are trying to adjust in the big spaces of Pairc Ui Chaoimh, it’s difficult. Whatever about getting hit for one goal, but when you are hit for three in the first 35 minutes it’s quite difficult.

"Having said that, I thought we left maybe two goal chances after us leading into half-time. So as bad as it may have looked on the scoreboard, I felt we had created one or two goal chances that, had we scored, would have kept us more in the game than we actually were.

“Legs and lungs empty as they do in a ferocity like that over the last 10 minutes. It was very difficult for our boys to keep up that intensity that Cork were going at from the start with a full complement of players.

“The movement is so good from Cork and they open up spaces. We tried to play three across the middle but they were able to unload one side there at times, they were giving little one-twos, taking fellows on and creating overlaps. When they get a run on you with the power they have from their half back line and midfield attacking, it’s quite difficult to stop. It’s a big job of work for whoever it is to try and make sure they nullify that as best they can”.

Liam Cahill was asked what is the hardest part about a sending-off.

“Before a game, certain players would have their job, they might have two jobs, especially a half forward line and half back line, they could be double-gigging at times to look after certain players, and suddenly that becomes three jobs, it’s hard enough to do two.

“When there is an extra player and an extra overlap, your focus has suddenly changed, when there are multiple red jerseys around you. That’s the biggest part, adapting to being able to deal with the movement of Cork when they have that numerical advantage”.

When asked about Robert Doyle’s fine performance on Cork’s Alan Connolly, he said “he was brilliant. He’s a really good young fellow with a big future, a really good sticky defender that we need to keep producing in Tipperary, and we need to find more of them, as time goes on.

“I was really proud of the way he performed today.

“Joe Caesar (who didn’t start) has an ankle ligament injury from the Limerick game, which was a big hit to us as well today. Joe is a fine athletic player who can cover ground, and he was quite a loss to us today”.