Cork boss Ryan is not surprised by Tipp’s progress

By Stephen Barry

When the Cork and Tipperary management teams shake hands along the Croke Park sideline this Sunday, they will be renewing personal acquaintances dating back at least 28 years.

In the Munster Under 21 hurling final of 1997, Pat Ryan and his selectors, Wayne Sherlock and Brendan Coleman, faced off against a Tipp team featuring Liam Cahill and Mikey Bevans. Cork got the better of that one with a stoppage-time goal, although Cahill and Bevans would have their revenge at the same grade in management.

“It’s a fantastic rivalry. It’s as old a rivalry that’s in the game really,” says Ryan.

“From our side of it, we love beating Tipperary. They love beating us. They’re normally great games.”

Ryan accepts that Cork have been installed as All-Ireland favourites, but he’s wary of that tag, too.

“We’re under no illusions. We’ll be built up,” he said.

“We’ll probably be favourites going into it, but we were favourites too last year, and that didn’t work out. We just need to concentrate on ourselves and make sure we’re ready.”

When asked if recent Cork victories will hold any relevance in the final, Ryan replies: “Absolutely not, no.

“If you look at it, we beat them in the league final, the championship game was a non-event really once Darragh (McCarthy) was sent off, and they've had fantastic performances since.

“If you look at their championship record during the year, draw with Limerick, beat the All-Ireland champions Clare to make sure they're out, so they're in a good spot.

“But we're also in a good spot as well, so it's 50-50, all to play for.”

Ryan wasn’t surprised by Tipp’s turnaround since last year’s 18-point defeat in Thurles.

“They've brilliant players,” he added.

“We played them at minor level and under-20s. I'd seen all the teams that Liam's been involved with.

“Sometimes you get on a roll, and momentum gets you. We’d fierce momentum going up to Tipperary that day, and, in fairness to Alan Connolly's goal just before half-time, it gave us that.

“But they've done an awful lot of work. They've won three Harty titles in the last three years with three different schools.

“Look, Liam's got unbelievable expertise. He's got a great CV behind him, what he's done in different teams, different age groups. That wasn't a surprise.

“What I think the key to them was, and it's very evident from day one…there was probably a bit of negativity after that game, but you could see the difference within the County Board, even within the Tipperary people in the media.

“They’ve really got around this team, they’ve got around Liam, they’ve backed him since day one, since the start of the league, and they’ve taken off.”

Ryan expects the Tipp support to match Cork’s this weekend.

“We've great support and it's a huge plus to our team, but we went up to the All-Ireland final last year and Clare had just as much support as us.

“I'd say Tipperary will probably have just as much support the next day. Tipperary have a huge fan base and they're posting about it and they're encouraging everyone to go to all the matches and get behind the team. That makes a huge difference to the players.”