Tipperary v. Cork National Hurling League

Tipperary 2-11 Cork 1-12	Corks' Kevin Murray is tackled by Tipp's Michael Ryan.
By John Davis at Pairc Ui Chaoimh

3/4/00: After an hour of sorely disappointing the expectations of their storied rivalry, Cork and Tipperary redeemed a poor enough afternoon with a pulsating final 10 minutes. In the end, before about 10,000 at Páirc Uí Chaoímh yesterday, Tipperary emerged with the result which maintains their challenge in defence of the Church & General National Hurling League title.

So after nail-biting defeats by Kilkenny and Waterford, All-Ireland champions Cork found themselves on the wrong end of another thrilling conclusion.

Tipp manager Nicholas English won the League in his first year in charge and, after the championship experience which followed, is unlikely to be beguiled by a match in early April.

Yet there were good things for him besides the result. Philip Maher's immense performance at full back strengthened the suggestion that one troublesome position may be on its way to resolution. At centre back David Kennedy had a great first half, beating the out-of-form Fergal McCormack all ends up.

On the wing, Mark O'Leary again demonstrated his phenomenal economy with four points from play. He did have three wides but his ability to create so many scoring opportunities spoke eloquently on a day when Derek Barrett contained him effectively for long stretches.

"League form is difficult to assess," said English afterwards. "Both teams were coming off defeats last Sunday and that probably added a bit of an edge to it I would have thought. But that's hard to judge. You wouldn't know what stage of the training cycle Cork are at to be honest. We had to win today to stay in the League and that probably gave us the greater edge and saw us through."

For Jimmy Barry Murphy - as for any All-Ireland winning mentor - a run of defeats at this time of the year hardly brings on panic attacks. But the Cork manager did express concern about the cumulative effect and the form of important players.

"It's disappointing because losing is a habit and creates its own pressures. Some of our more established players aren't playing well and that's tough for themselves because their confidence suffers accordingly. That's what we'd be most concerned about, that players are going through a sticky spell."

This was probably most obvious in Joe Deane's dull performance. Despite getting a few good chances he never found his rhythm and was substituted with 20 minutes to go.

Although a meltdown in his form would be very bad news, Deane's manager isn't too anxious at present. "It's not really happening for him at the moment but we wouldn't be that worried about Joe for the championship."

Barry Murphy did say that a number of positions on the likely championship team were up for grabs but unsurprisingly wouldn't elaborate. Presumably, one of the places causing a headache is centre forward where McCormack is at odds with his game. Given that he is the attack's physical fulcrum, a more long-term loss of form would create a major dilemma for the Cork management.

Cork trailed for virtually the whole match, from the moment Tommy Dunne, from a pass by Paul Shelly, batted a goal for the opening score in the third minute until injury-time when O'Leary took the match's last score to extend Tipperary's lead to two points.

The first half was marred by some dreadful finishing which saw both sides hit nine wides each. Just when Cork had puffed back into contention at 0-4 to 12, Tipp replied with 1-2, frees from Dunne and a goal crisply taken by Gerry Maguire after John Carroll sent him in on goal.

Even allowing for the disadvantage of the wind, Cork looked distracted and undisciplined in their attack. They began going for goal instead of taking all the point chances available. Sean McGrath, apparently intoxicated by his cracker in Waterford the previous week, twice sliced a path through the Tipp defence and, disdaining the simple point, went in so close that on each occasion his more pressurised shot was wide.

At the back, John Browne was in considerable trouble on Maguire and Fergal Ryan had to be dispatched from the right corner to sort things out. Tipperary were forced into their own first-half change when Dunne was switched with Eugene O'Neill in order to improve the centrefield supply a little.

Having started the second half five points down, 0-6 to 2-5, Cork began to find a response. Their efforts were still dogged by a disproportionate desire for goals and the ensuing series of incompetent final passes into the full forwards. Timmy McCarthy was one of the more prominent culprits but, in fairness to him, his workrate was getting him onto a lot of ball.

Entering the final quarter, Tipperary were having comparatively little difficulty keeping ahead by an average of five points. Andy Moloney - looking more confident at this level - Shelly and O'Leary all hit timely points and the match was dying as any sort of a contest.

The sting was in the tail. Cork's lust for goals looked to have finally undone them in the 61st minute when, having been jumpstarted by substitutes Alan Browne and Kevin Murray whose scores got the margin down to three, they were awarded a closein free.

Instead of taking the point, Jimmy Barry-Murphy ordered Diarmuid O'Sullivan up the pitch to fire a mortar at the Tipp goal. His shot was a bit low and was blocked - inevitably - by Maher.

"I thought we were struggling and needed a goal to get back into the game. I felt that we didn't look like getting a goal any other way so I thought it might be our best chance," said the manager afterwards when hindsight had made the untaken point more attractive.

Two minutes later, he had the goal when the lively Neil Ronan turned inside the defence and from distance drilled the ball past Brendan Cummins to equalise. Cue frantic activity, but significantly, Moloney responded for Tipperary and, after Alan Browne had missed a free to level scores once again, O'Leary concluded the scoring.

Not the drama, though. A couple of late 65s were dropped invitingly into the Tipp goalmouth but the impressive defence held firm.

TIPPERARY: B Cummins; P Ormonde, P Maher, M Ryan; N Morris, D Kennedy, E Corcoran; E O'Neill (0-1), E Enright; M O'Leary (0- 4), J Carroll, A Moloney (0-2); G Maguire (1- 0), P Shelly (0-1), T Dunne (1-3, points from frees). Subs: L Cahill for Maguire (43 mins); P O'Brien for O'Neill (46); D Ryan for Enright (63); J Leahy for Carroll (68).

CORK: D Cusack; F Ryan, D O'Sullivan, J Browne; W Sherlock, B Corcoran, D Barrett; M Landers (0-1), M O'Connell (0-3, two frees); T McCarthy (0-1), F McCormack, S McGrath (0-1); B O'Connor (0-2), N Ronan (1-1), J Deane (0-1, free). Subs: A Browne (0-1) for Deane (51 mins); P Ryan for Landers (51); K Murray (0-1) for McCormack (53); J O'Connor for McGrath (60).