Throwing away a big lead made a draw feel like a defeat but Kingston's return to form was a big plus

That the equaliser came after possession was fumbled by Seán O’Donoghue, who had another fine display otherwise, added insult to injury. A few minutes earlier, Tim O’Mahony betrayed his inexperience by trying to flick a looping ball towards the net when he might have caught it and finished off the Premier.

Though Tipp never led, they engineered three goal chances in addition to the two green flags they raised. Anthony Nash made three quality saves and even Jake Morris’ leveller could have been a goal if he’d been ruthless.

Horgan and Lehane each split the posts twice but they left a few scores behind them too. Horgan was starved of second-half possession and while Tipp deserve credit for upping the ante out the field, Cork didn’t help themselves by running ball at times when they had chances to go long to the full-forward earlier.

Lehane was pretty quiet in the first half – not that Cork needed him to fire at that stage – but even when he got motoring in the second half never completely cut loose. Hopefully there’s a display ala his Man of the Match outing last summer against Tipp next weekend. It’ll be interesting to see if John Meyler and his selectors freshen the line-up for the Limerick tie. Injuries to Michael Cahalane (due back next Saturday) and Alan Cadogan aren’t helping their cause, while Robbie O’Flynn’s pace would have been ideal yesterday, even if Kingston finished with 1-5 as his direct replacement.
