ON THE WHISTLE: Tipperary hurlers banish some Cork demons with excellent win in Thurles

Allianz National Hurling League - Division 1A - Round 4

Tipperary 2-22

Cork 1-21

Tipperary went a long way to banish the demons from last year’s heavy championship defeat to Cork with a well-deserved victory over the Rebels in round 4, Division 1A of the Allianz National Hurling League in Thurles on Saturday night.

This win was built on hard work, endeavour, and savage intensity and even though the team had a lull in terms of the intensity in the third quarter of the game, the Premier finished strongly with Dylan Walsh’s 59th-minute goal the key score for Liam Cahill’s side.

The Premier built on a slender one-point lead that they held going in at half-time with Toomevara sharpshooter Darragh McCarthy leading the way with a terrific display in the first 35 minutes, hitting some wonderful scores including five from play as he ran an experienced defender in Ger Milllerick ragged in that time.

Overall, the Cork players were bested by the Tipperary intensity in the second half for a finish, and though Cork did level the game at 1-17 apiece in the 54th minute, Tipperary finished the game the stronger, outscoring the Rebels by 1-5 to four points to see out a brilliant win that has all but secured Division 1A hurling for 2026.

A breathless two minutes of constant play from the throw-in would prove to be a sign of things to come and after both sides shifted and delivered a few heavy tackles in that passage, Shane Barrett found space to fire over the opening score of the game.

Fresh from his Player of the Match display in the Fitzgibbon Cup last weekend, Gearoid O’Connor fired over a quick equaliser from midfield after Ronan Maher burst out of the defence, but Cork looked a bit sharper in the first five minutes with Jack O’Connor and Darragh Fitzgibbon on target to put them 0-3 to 0-1 up.

Tipp soon sprang into life in an offensive sense from the resulting puck-out after Fitzgibbon’s point, with Alan Tynan climbing high to snap the ball from Hogan and the Roscrea man showed great vision to feed Jake Morris on the overlap and with space in front of him, he galloped into the 21 and buried a low shot past Patrick Collins.

That got the Tipp crowd into the game in a big way and when Darragh McCarthy fired over the first of his five first-half points from play a minute later, Tipp were into their rhythm and led 1-2 to 0-3 after eight minutes.

Cork didn’t let the Tipp supporters revel after Morris’ goal and had raised a green flag of their own a minute later when Shane Barrett did his party piece again, finding far too much space from a Tipp perspective as he ran in on goal, showed composure and fed Brian Hayes who had an easy finish to an empty net.

Cork had built up a 1-6 to 1-3 lead by the 15-minute mark with Darragh Fitzgibbon (free) and a long-range Michéal Mullins point landing, along with a first from Robbie O’Flynn. Jason Forde got his first of the game in the middle of that Cork flurry as - again - Alan Tynan supplied the assist to the Silvermines man.

Darragh McCarthy was showing reasonably well up to that point but had little to show on the scoring front, but he burst into life for the rest of the half, hitting four in a row for Tipp between the 15th and 21st minute, with three of those coming from play; one of which was a big goal chance that he snatched at from close range.

Barry Hogan made a very smart save amid that McCarthy salvo from Shane Barrett who left Ronan Maher for dust one-on-one, and from here the sides went toe-to-toe with scores with Cork having three Darragh Fitzgibbon (1 free) points, and a second from Robbie O’Flynn making up the scores but Darragh McCarthy was the main man by the end of the half hitting three more scores with his fifth from play coming on the stroke of half-time, taking a great effort from the sideline to give Tipp a narrow one-point lead at the break at 1-12 to 1-11.

The question now was whether Tipp could continue this intensity and effort, and they went about it in that fashion after the restart.

Darragh Fitzgibbon did equalise within a minute from a free but four scores in a row thereafter from McCarthy (free), Jason Forde and a brace of well-struck Gearoid O’Connor points put Tipperary into a four-point lead after 43 minutes of play.

Darragh Fitzgibbon was Cork’s main man in the game and his free-taking was keeping Cork going just after that flurry but the workrate of Alan Tynan all game long was something to behold and he added a scoring touch to that effort in the 47th minute after being set up by Jake Morris to leave it 1-17 to 1-13.

However, Cork were not going to capitulate and under Pat Ryan, they have added steeliness to their performances; they were level by the 54th minute with the introduction of Patrick Horgan paying dividends straight away as their talisman scored two points (one free), while Diarmuid Healy and the impressive Fitzgibbon pointing raking efforts, it was all square with the final quarter to come.

This was a big swing and the mentality of Tipperary was now being tested after that patch of Cork dominance, and it will please Liam Cahill and his management team no end that they answered those questions emphatically in the remaining minutes.

Tipp restored a three-point cushion by the 58th minute with Ronan Maher landing a monster free from range in the 55th minute before Jake Morris and Craig Morgan pounced on Cork errors to find their first points of the match.

However, the key score came from Dylan Walsh after 59 minutes and they had Craig Morgan to thank for it, after he broke onto a Barry Hogan long ball at pace and with the Cork rearguard vacant, he sprinted down the middle before drawing the final defender and feeding half-time sub-Walsh who finished with ease past the floundering effort of Patrick Collins.

Cork came looking for the scores to drag the game back into the melting pot with ten minutes remaining as the home side held a six-point lead, and though they hit a few fine points through Horgan and Fitzgibbon in that time, Tipp had a response to every score with teenagers Oisin O’Donoghue and Darragh McCarthy scoring the final two points for Tipp.

The Rebels did manufacture a few half-goal chances through Brian Hayes and Shane Barrett on a few occasions late on, but Barry Hogan repelled them both as Tipperary held firm at the back to claim a much-needed and deserved, confidence-boosting two points.

There were fantastic performances all over for Tipperary on the day with Darragh McCarthy impressive in the first half as he finished with ten points.

Again, Robert Doyle impressed in the corner and had a fine game on the elusive Jack O’Connor while Eoghan Connolly and Bryan O’Mara impressed in a defensive unit that looks close to the finished product for the championship.

Craig Morgan bounced back very well from his poor showing against Limerick, while Alan Tynan set the tone from the get-go with his workrate through the roof as he played the full 70 minutes.

Tipperary’s next game in the Allianz National Hurling League will be against Kilkenny in UPMC Nowlan Park on Sunday, March 9th.

Scorers: Tipperary: Darragh McCarthy (0-10, 0-5f), Jake Morris 1-1, Gearoid O’Connor, Jason Forde 0-3 each, Dylan Walsh 1-0, Ronan Maher 0-1f, Willie Connors, Alan Tynan, Craig Morgan, Oisin O’Donoghue all 0-1 each.

Cork: Darragh Fitzgibbon (0-11, 0-7f, 0-1 65), Brian Hayes 1-0, Patrick Horgan (0-3, 0-1f), Robbie O’Flynn 0-2, Shane Barrett, Jack O’Connor, Michéal Mullins, Diarmuid Healy, Cormac O’Brien all 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Barry Hogan; Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly, Bryan O’Mara; Joe Caesar, Ronan Maher, Michael Breen; Craig Morgan, Willie Connors; Gearoid O’Connor, Jake Morris, Alan Tynan; Darragh McCarthy, Jason Forde, Sean Kenneally.

Subs used: Dylan Walsh for Kenneally (HT); Oisin O’Donoghue for Connors (55); Michael Corcoran for O’Mara (56); John McGrath for Forde (67); Noel McGrath for O’Connor (69).

Cork: Patrick Collins; Niall O’Leary, Eoin Downey, Ger Millerick; Michéal Mullins, Ciaran Joyce, Cormac O’Brien; Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon; Ethan Twomey, Shane Barrett, Robbie O’Flynn; Robbie Cotter, Brian Hayes, Jack O’Connor.

Subs used: Patrick Horgan for Cotter (45); Diarmuid Healy for O’Flynn (48); Luke Meade for O’Mahony (49); Jack Cahalane for O’Connor (55); Brian Roche for Twomey (63).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway)