Brave performance as Cork show the level - Fitzgerald

By Stephen Barry

Tipperary manager Niall Fitzgerald hailed his team for their bravery in giving Cork a rattle before falling to a Munster semi-final defeat.

The manner in which Tipperary traded blows with their Division 1 opponents for fifty minutes gave the manager reason to praise the “green shoots” on display ahead of their Tailteann Cup campaign. Monday’s first round draw handed the Premier an away trip to Sligo.

“There was an element of fatigue,” Fitzgerald reflected after the Cork loss.

“A lot of them would have a few years more of high-end S&C than our lads. It takes a few seasons to get seasoned to that level.

“This Cork team, they've been building for a few years and they showed it.

There's evidence of green shoots on our end that we were able to compete with them for as long as we did. We definitely gave them something to think about.”

The Tipp game-plan was to apply pressure to Cork all over the park.

“We wanted them to be brave and have a cut.

Our intention wasn't to sit back and try and soak it up. Rightly or wrongly, that was the approach we took,” Fitzgerald added.

“In the first half, we were really competitive. We wanted to go after their kick-out and put a press on them and have a cut. We did that.

“At times, we made some poor decisions in the first half that we'd be disappointed with. Even while a lot of the first half was good, there were parts of it that the lads weren't happy with.

“In the second half, Cork brought on Ruairí Deane. That bit of extra size and physicality really helped them to take hold around the middle.

“Ten of our starting team are 23 and under, so they're on the start of a journey as well. You could see the difference physically at times as the game went on.

“They smelt blood and when a Cork team smells blood, it's very hard to put the brakes on them.”

Mark Stokes and Manus McFadden were late withdrawals due to “little niggles”, while Steven O’Brien and Luke Boland missed out through injury. Could any of them make it back for the Tailteann opener?

“I hope so. I don't know to be honest,” said Fitzgerald.

“A day like today, you would have killed to have Steven O'Brien, Mark Stokes, Luke Boland, Jimmy Feehan, that kind of experience to come back in. We just didn't and we'll see what the next two weeks brings. I don't know yet.”