John Horgan on where the Cork hurlers' win over Tipp ranks

THERE is always the fear that when a team puts in a huge performance one day they might not be able to follow that up the next one because of the effort that was expended in securing that victory.

In defeating Limerick at SuperValu Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Cork had to dig deep into the trenches to stay alive in the Munster SHC and anything less than a win in that epic encounter would have ended their hurling Summer.

But win they did in one of the most memorable games of hurling that has ever been played in the old ground down the Marina but with such a quick turnaround to last Sunday's equally important joust with Tipperary, there was a hesitancy to get carried away and, let's be honest, some people did.

But that's human nature, we all get carried away at some time in our lives.

Before a ball was pucked in anger last Sunday in Thurles there was the thinking that this Tipperary team was nowhere near any of the great teams that the Premier County has produced down through the ages.

Yes, they did reinvent themselves to a satisfactory extent when they secured a fine draw away to Waterford when it looked like the game had gone from them going into added time.

Prior to that, however, they had been hammered by Limerick and the manner of their capitulation that day had alarm bells ringing loudly throughout the county.

But in this great Munster championship you just never know what to expect and when they emerged into the sunlight of Semple Stadium last Sunday, nobody was making any wild predictions about the likely outcome.

Given their excellence against Limerick, Cork were installed as the team most likely to triumph but that would be after a searching test of their credentials.

After all, Tipperary is one of those great hurling counties, the pride in the jersey is renowned and when it's Cork coming out of the opposition dressing room the expectation is that nothing will come easy.

And in the near 44,000 attendance one could say without fear of being contradicted that nobody envisaged how lopsided was the game that unfolded before our eyes.

For the greater part of the opening 35 minutes, Tipperary held their own and it looked like that they would be going in on level terms.

And then it happened, the goal machine that Alan Connolly is fast becoming struck a quite brilliant individual score, a solo goal that would subsequently become the game's turning point and its defining moment.

It was still just a three-point game but the psychological damage inflicted on this Tipp team turned out to be massive.

And, as they say, the rest is history and Cork simply ran riot thereafter, burying their opponents under an avalanche of goals and points that were a joy to behold and long before the Premier County team were put out of their misery people were wondering was this going to be their biggest ever trouncing at the hands of their fiercest foe.

GRIM

We quickly found out that in fact it was Cork's biggest win over their rivals since 1898. That statistic must have had former Tipp greats, now sadly departed turning in their graves on Sunday night.

Last Saturday week, Cork's opening half performance against Limerick was considered by many to be one of the finest we have witnessed for many a long day.

Well, this time it was replicated in the second half with a display that was simply majestic in its artistry, its individual brilliance, the execution of the scores and the collectiveness of the team as a unit, make that the entire squad because the subs that got the call performed superbly, no one more so than Shane Kingston.

And remember it was that same player who won the penalty a week earlier against Limerick that kept Cork's season alive.

Mention must be made too of the vast contribution that Luke Meade made when he was introduced, one of his finest outings in a red jersey.

Some of the stats from the Cork performance are quite staggering, one of them being the return of 4-7 from the full-forward line.

Patrick Horgan, Connolly and Brian Hayes tore the Tipp defence to shreds, Hayes growing more and more into this Cork jersey and illustrating that his decision to choose hurling over football might well turn out to be one of the wisest this young man will make in his sporting life.

Shane Barrett had a terrific first-half, his movement had the Tipp backs in all sorts of bother while Seamie Harnedy put in another sterling effort as did so many others in constructing some sublime Cork scores.

TOWER

Back in defence, Rob Downey was a towering presence again at centre-back and as a unit, the defensive return was so much better this time with no silly mistakes leading to goals as had been the case against Clare and Limerick.

In their phenomenal run of success, one of Limerick's greatest strengths has been their squad depth, their ability to bring in players that can change a game.

Squad depth is now an imperative if you hope to be successful and Cork are going deeper all the time in that regard.

One of the country's finest centre-backs since he burst onto the scene, Ciarán Joyce has been marked absent against Limerick and on the subs bench last Sunday but Downey has been a wonderful replacement and it won't be easy to unseat him now.

The aforementioned Meade and Kingston exhibited their worth to this Cork squad in Thurles and in all areas now the options are more viable than they have been for a long time.

Let's be honest, this is a poor Tipp team, Father Time has caught up with quite a few of them but that's not here nor there now.

Cork had a big job to do last Sunday and they did it superbly in every sense of the word. While nothing is sorted yet as to who the three counties that will come out of Munster will be, this Cork team has sent out a very strong message that they will be an opposition that no team will want to face if they are one of the three.

Caution must always be a key word when a Munster and All-Ireland conversation takes place because there's always three or four very genuine contenders.

Nobody must take anything for granted but at this moment in time Cork have to be in that conversation on the basis of what we have witnessed in their last two outings.