Cork claim spoils over Tipp in record breaking league encounter

GAA: National Hurling League Division 1A Round 3

Cork0-29

Tipperary0-22

Report: Shane Brophy

at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Darragh Fitzgibbon (Cork)

SCORERS – Cork: Darragh Fitzgibbon 0-8 (2 frees); Alan Connolly 0-7 (3 frees); William Buckley, Diarmuid Healy 0-3 each; Eoin Downey, Mark Coleman, Shane Barrett 0-2 each; Brian Hayes, Tim O’Mahony 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Eoghan Connolly 0-4 frees; Jake Morris 0-3 (1 free); Andrew Ormond, Sam O’Farrell, Darragh McCarthy (frees) 0-2 each; Oisin O’Donoghue, Craig Morgan, Seamus Kennedy, Willie Connors, Conor Stakelum, Cathal O’Reilly, Noel McGrath 0-1 each.

Tipperary suffered their third defeat at Pairc Ui Chaoimh inside twelve months as Cork claimed the two National League points on offer in a game that never really sparked to life on Saturday night.

Played in front of a regular season record crowd of 30,910, the game really only sparked into life just before half time when an off the ball incident involved Willie Connors and Alan Connolly saw all thirty players involved and the game held up for five minutes as the officials looked to restore order. When they did, both instigators were yellow carded while Jason Forde and Shane Barrett were red card for contributing to a melee.

In a repeat of the All-Ireland Final of 2025, both sides started with ten of their respective fifteens that began at Croke Park with Cork going with one more.

From the round 2 win over Offaly six days before, Tipperary manager Liam Cahill made five changes to the starting line-up with goalkeeper Rhys Shelly coming back in, as did Sam O’Farrell in the half-back line with captain Jake Morris, Darragh Stakelum and Oisin O’Donoghue coming into the attack with Barry Hogan, Conor Martin, Gearoid O’Connor, Paddy McCormack, and Jack Leamy dropping out.

Tipperary started well and led 0-4 to 0-2 in the early going with Andew Ormond particularly effective dropping off Robert Downey but Cork quickly got into their quick passing and movement with five of their six forwards as well as their entire half back line getting on the scoresheet from play.

The only forward not to score was Declan Dalton whose miserable run against Tipp continued as he saw his 17th minute penalty saved by Rhys Shelly after Johnny Ryan was black-carded for pulling Shane Barrett back on route to goal.

Tipp trailed 0-9 to 0-6 at the time and by the time Ryan returned, Tipp were four down but had hurled well in the ten minute period with Willie Connors landing a classy score in the period.

Corked upped the tempo with Alan Connolly and Diarmuid Healy to the fore as they went five clear with Seamus Kennedy getting Tipp’s final point of the half before the melee which resulted in the red cards with referee Liam Gordon opting to blow the half up two minutes early to allow the steam to ease from the situation.

Tipp trailed 0-16 to 0-12 at the break but they never really threatened a goal as Cork played the second on the front foot and went seven clear at one stage until Tipp, helped by the introduction of Eoghan Connolly, Darragh McCarthy and John & Noel McGrath ate into the lead, with Connolly ending up Tipp’s top scorer with four points from frees.

Tipp were only a goal behind going into added time but Cork reeled off four points in a row to earn their third successive win.

TEAMS – Cork: Patrick Collins; Ger Millerick, Daire O’Leary, Sean O’Donoghue; Eoin Downey, Robert Downey, Mark Coleman; Micheal Mullins, Ethan Twomey; Darragh Fitzgibbon (Capt), Shane Barrett, Diarmuid Healy; William Buckley, Declan Dalton, Alan Connolly.

Subs: Cormac O’Brien for Coleman (HT); Tim O’Mahony for Mullins (44); Brian Hayes for Dalton (44); Hugh O’Connor for Twomey (52); Robbie O’Flynn for Buckley (64).

Tipperary: Rhys Shelly (Moycarkey/Borris); Johnny Ryan (Arravale Rovers), Bryan O’Mara (Holycross/Ballycahill), Cathal O’Reilly (Holycross/Ballycahill); Sam O’Farrell (Nenagh Eire Og), Craig Morgan (Kilruane MacDonaghs), Seamus Kennedy (St Mary’s); Willie Connors (Kiladangan), Conor Stakelum (Thurles Sarsfields); Josh Keller (Nenagh Eire Og), Andrew Ormond (JK Brackens), Jake Morris (Nenagh Eire Og, Capt); Darragh Stakelum (Thurles Sarsfields), Oisin O’Donoghue (Cashel King Cormacs), Jason Forde (Silvermines).

Subs: John McGrath (Loughmore/Castleiney) for D Stakelum (HT); Eoghan Connolly (Cashel King Cormacs) for Kennedy (44); Noel McGrath (Loughmore/Castleiney) for Keller (49); Darragh McCarthy (Toomevara) for O’Donoghue (55); Paddy McCormack (Borris-Ileigh) for Ormond (61).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway)