Allianz NHL Division 1 – Cork 1-16 Tipperary 1-15

Cork defeated Tipperary by 1-16 to 1-15 in round 6 of the Allianz National Hurling League Division 1 on Sunday in Pairc Ui Chaoimh.

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Allianz National Hurling League

Cork 1-16 Tipperary 1-15

By Cathal Ryan

Cork emerged the narrowest of victors Sunday afternoon in the Allianz National Hurling League against their near neighbours and First Round Championship opponents Tipperary in the Pairc Ui Chaoimh. The pitch looked far from healthy in front of the stand and a strong breeze blew towards the Blackrock Terrace end of the ground making for tougher shooting conditions than both sides experienced last weekend.

The Rebels retreated to the changing room for half time with a four point advantage leading 0-11 to 0-7 after playing with the wind. But Tipperary began the second half with far more intent and they capitalised when Brendan Maher surged forward from the middle of the field and laid a pass to his left to Paul Kelly. The experienced Kelly skipped past two Cork challenges and powered a left hand side shot to the back of Martin Coleman’s net to put the Premier County in front in the 46th minute.

Denis Walsh’s side responded to the increased intensity promptly when Tadhg Og Murphy fizzed a ball from the left wing into Paudie O Sullivan’s hand. O Sullivan scurried away from would be challengers before firing at the target only for the ever agile Brendan Cummins to repel the effort up into the air. The sliotar seemed to hang for an eternity before Pat Horgan took two touches on the stick and fired once more to find the back of the Premier net leaving Cummins with no chance of further heroics.

The tide of proceedings had swung again back to Cork and with only four minutes remaining Cork edged ahead with a point from their Energiser bunny like centre forward Jerry O Connor. A soft free follow that was converted by Pat Horgan just two minutes later to leave Liam Sheedy’s troops with too much to do in order to retrieve the situation.

Cork manager Denis Walsh will be delighted with this win as it sends the Rebels into the league final and shows how far this side have come in a year having been on the back end of another player strike at this time last year. They showed great enthusiasm in regaining the lead after falling behind early in the second half against the strong breeze.

This dress rehearsal for the Munster Championship clash in June will leave Liam Sheedy with plenty to contemplate as his side have escaped with just one point from two tight finishes to matches in the last two weeks.

The opening score of the game came as Aisake O hAilpin claimed his third consecutive high ball at full forward. He was consequently fouled and Pat Horgan scored the resulting free in the third minute as the Rebels dominated the opening stages of the game.

Cork began the game at a rate of knots and had Tipperary on the back foot as they attempted to drive home the advantage of the strong breeze and Tom Kenny found himself in 15 yards of space in the fifth minute to add a second point for the home side.

Tipperary showed their dogged nature that kept them in the game through two Eoin Kelly frees, the second of which was a massive strike from the middle of the field five yards in from the touchline. This however merely covered the cracks as to who was the dominant force at this period of the game and Kenny scored his second of the half as he burst past two challenges before scoring on the run off his left hand side.

This was followed up moments later by Kenny’s midfield partner Lorcan McLoughlin scoring another after some strong play from Pat Horgan, the blindingly quick Cathal Naughton added with a left hand sided strike in the 13th minute and Horgan notched another from a tight angle after catching a John Gardiner free.

The men in blue and gold began to find their feet after 20 minutes and kept in touch with two classy points from the supreme finishing of Noel McGrath. However, as the break beckoned a second score from Naughton and a free from Horgan left the home side with a four point advantage at the break on a score of 0-11 to 0-7.

Whatever Tipp had in the half time tea defiantly worked as they came out rejuvenated and Shane McGrath clawed the first point back for the Premier men after a lovely pass from Lar Corbett. Eoin Kelly added another before his brother Paul took centre stage contributing 1-2 in a dazzling three minute spell.

Cork dug deep and the pride they possess came galloping to the fore as they claimed their first score of the half 16 minutes into the second period with that finish to the net from Horgan. The game ebbed and flowed from here on and both side never relented in their pursuit of victory but it was Cork who asked the questions on the scoreboard taking the lead twice with Tipperary responding to level before O Connor and Horgan erected the two point gap that a Darragh Egan point could only half before time ran out.

Teams:

Cork: Martin Coleman, Shane O Neill, Eoin Cadogan, Brian Murphy; John Gardiner(0-1,1f), Ronan Curran, Sean Og O hAilpin; Tom Kenny(0-2), Lorcan McLoughlin(0-1); Tadhg Og Murphy, Jerry O Connor(0-2), Cathal Naughton(0-3); Paudie O Sullivan, Aisake O hAilpin, Pat Horgan(1-7,6f). Subs: Kieran “Fraggy” Murphy for L. McLoughlin (52), Marc O Sullivan for T. Og Murphy (52).

Tipperary: Brendan Cummins; Paddy Stapleton, Padraic Maher, Michael Cahill; Declan Fanning, Conor O Mahony, Conor O Brien; Brendan Maher, Shane McGrath(0-1); Noel McGrath(0-3), Lar Corbett, Gearoid Ryan(0-2); Eoin Kelly(0-6,5f), Timmy Hammersley, Paul Kelly(1-2). Subs: John O Brien for T. Hammersley (49), Jody Brennan for B. Maher (53), David Young for D. Fanning (62), Hugh Maloney for G. Ryan (62), Darragh Egan(0-1) for P. Kelly (64).

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath)

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Focused Cork fire out signal of intent

Cork 1-16 Tipperary 1-15

By Diarmuid O’Flynn for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Monday, April 05, 2010

ALL week leading into this match, the big question was which – if either – of these teams would be going all out for the win. A win for Tipp would have opened up the possibility of the teams meeting again in the final, just weeks ahead of their opening-round Munster championship match on May 30, while a win for Cork (or a draw), then a loss for them next week against Galway and a win for Tipp over Offaly, could still have resulted in the same scenario.

Well, shadow-boxing it certainly was not, especially after Patrick Horgan’s brilliant goal for Cork in the 53rd minute, the Leesiders’ first score of the second half. At that stage, Tipp had turned a four-point half-time disadvantage into a four-point lead and looking to be heading for a comprehensive win. Horgan’s goal changed all that, and from there to the finish it was hell-for-leather, Cork just about deserving the win, setting up a league final against Galway. Mind you, it could have been over at the break; three times in the opening five minutes Aisake O hAilpín caused chaos around the Tipp kitchen, three superb catches that could have resulted in goals.

For the first, he failed to spot the run of Paudie O’Sullivan, had his close-range shot blocked by the superb Michael Cahill; for the second he was fouled by an increasingly panicky Pádraic Maher, the free ! converted for a point by the excellent Patrick Horgan; for the third Aisake did lay off to Paudie, but the Cloyne youngster took a step too far towards the Tipperary goal, and Brendan Cummins duly body-blocked. Cork continued to dominate, however, led at the break 0-11 to 0-7, having conceded a few soft frees to the accurate Eoin Kelly, but a major talking point afterwards was the shifting of Aisake to centre-forward after about 10 minutes.

Why, when he was doing so well inside? A pre-planned move? From manager Denis Walsh, an enigmatic answer. “It was something we looked at,” he said, “It would have depended on whether we had the wind or not in the first half (they had). As it turned out Paudie (O’Sullivan, shifted to full-forward) probably played better against the wind, so that little test stood up today – will that do you?” It will have to do us, but it begs the question – in shifting Aisake from where he was causing serious damage and thus solving a problem for Tipp, were Cork simply being too rigid in sticking to that pre-game plan, or were they being clever, holding something back for the championship? Whatever, with Aisake now in the half-forward line – where he continued to cause problems – there was very definite relief inside for Tipperary.

The second half saw an almost total reversal of hurling fortunes, and it was Tipp’s turn to show profligacy in front of goal, two good chances gone a-begging in the opening minutes, Martin Coleman with a super save off Lar Corbett, Eoin Kelly then closed down by Brian Murphy. Five points on the trot saw Tipp lead for the first time in the game in the 46th minute; then came their goal, a beauty. Cork were having difficulty winning their own puckouts, far too predictable in putting everything down on top of Aisake, who was simply being spoiled, a Tipp man always on hand to pick up the break. On this occasion midfielder Brendan Maher picked up the pieces, taking off on a run, parting to Paul Kelly, who beat three defenders before blazing past Coleman.

It put Tipp in the driving seat, 1-12 to 0-11, signalled a real test for Cork – and how they responded. A low Tadhg Óg Murphy cross was superbly taken into the hand by Paudie O’Sullivan, whose shot was parried by Brendan Cummins, and broke to the lurking Pat Horgan. Showing superb control, Pat brought the ball down inside Michael Cahill, drilled past Cummins – game back on. That was the 55th minute, and from there to the end it was tremendous fare, a fired-up Cork edging ahead, then managing to hold out against a late Tipperary surge.

Scorers for Cork: P. Horgan 1-7 (0-6 frees); C. Naughton 0-3; J. O’Connor 0-2; T. Kenny 0-2; J. Gardiner (free), L. McLoughlin, 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: E. Kelly 0-6 (0-5 frees); P. Kelly 1-2; N. McGrath 0-3; G. Ryan 0-2; S. McGrath, D. Egan 0-1 each.

Subs for Cork: M. O’Sullivan (McLoughlin 53); K. Murphy (T. Óg Murphy 53).

Subs for Tipperary: J. O’Brien (Hammersley 50); J. Brennan (B. Maher inj. 55); D. Young (Fanning 62); H. Maloney (O’Brien 63); D. Egan (P. Kelly 65).

Referee: James McGrath (Westmeath).

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Team News

The Tipperary Senior Hurling team to play Cork on Sunday April 4th in the Allianz GAA Hurling National League shows 2 changes from the team which started against Waterford last Sunday. Michael Cahill of Thurles Sarsfields replaces Shane Maher at left wing back and captain, Eoin Kelly, who has recovered from injury, returns in place of John O’Brien.

1. Brendan Cummins (Ballybacon-Grange)

2. Paddy Stapleton (Borris-Ileigh)

3. Padraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)

4. Paul Curran (Mullinahone)

5. Declan Fanning (Killenaule)

6. Conor O’Mahony (Newport)

7. Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields)

8. Brendan Maher (Borris–Ileigh)

9. Shane McGrath (Ballinahinch)

10. Noel McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney)

11. Lar Corbett (Thurles Sarsfields)

12. Gearóid Ryan (Templederry Kenyons)

13. Eoin Kelly (Mullinahone) Captain

14. Timmy Hammersley (Clonoulty Rossmore)

15. Paul Kelly (Mullinahone)

CORK : M Coleman; S O’Neill, E Cadogan, B Murphy; J Gardiner, R Curran, S Ó hAilpín; T Kenny, L McLoughlin; T Murphy, J O’Connor, C Naughton; P O’Sullivan, A Ó hAilpín, P Horgan. Subs: D Cusack,C O’Sullivan, R Ryan, M Walsh, W Egan, M O’Sullivan, K Murphy, M Cussen, L O’Farrell.