REACTION: Match winner McCarthy hails 'close-knit' group after U20 Munster victory

“I don’t know. It was a sort of shoot-on-sight moment, I suppose.”

That was the response to the question posed to match-winner Darragh McCarthy after his speculative and incredible last-gasp winner from under the open stand in Limerick somehow floated over in the dying embers of last Friday’s game.

“I’d take those kinds of shots all the time in Toome, so it was sort of poxy that it went over but I just didn’t think I had any other options on.

“Maybe there were (other options). It could have went fairly bad for me so thank God it went over is all I’ll say,” he laughed with relief!

To say this game was a battle and was hard-earned for Tipperary would be an understatement and McCarthy revealed that they were fully prepared for the Cork backlash after thrashing their final opponents by 11-points in the round-robin game.

He also spoke of the vindication of the players and management after a lot of public scrutiny over their championship preparations early in the year, where a flurry of hammerings in challenge matches were causing concern around Tipperary.

“There was never going to be anything easy against Cork. It was never going to be anything like the last day that was for sure,” he said.

“But I’m just so happy for all the lads who worked so hard all year. They’ve taken so much criticism the whole year long, getting thrashed in challenge matches but that is part and parcel of it.

“You have to get on with it. We used it as a sort of motivation throughout the year, we are a bunch of lads that just never gave up on each other and that’s all we can do every day we go out on the field.”

What a year it has been for a large cohort of the players on this Tipperary team, with McCarthy and several of his teammates adding a Munster medal to the Harty Cup accolade they won earlier this year, and McCarthy highlighted the close-knit nature of the group and revealed a nice moment in the build-up to the game during the week.

“Brendan got up a picture before the match of the Primary Game team and I’d say there were around eight of us that have played together since that age and we have had that bond since then.

“We’re all so close and know each other so well so that helps a lot,” he highlighted.

The year could yet get better for McCarthy and his teammates with the All-Ireland Final coming quickly after this success with an eagerly anticipated rematch with their Offaly counterparts this Saturday in Kilkenny.

“It’s going to be another great game. We just have to get the bodies right now. We haven’t long to get prepared, to freshen the minds up and get back into the field and we’ll see after that.”