Cork hurlers well aware tag of favourites won't mean anything against Tipperary at Croke Park
Lar Corbett, Tipperary, scores his third and his side's fourth goal despite the best efforts of Kilkenny full-back Noel Hickey and goalkeeper PJ Ryan, in the 2010 All-Ireland final. Picture: Brendan Moran/SPORTSFILE
All-Ireland senior hurling championship final upsets are a rarity but Cork would do well to heed GAA history ahead of their clash with Tipperary.
Pat Ryan’s side head into this year’s All-Ireland SHC final as favourites.
Hardly surprising considering the manner of the Rebels’ Munster final penalty shootout win over Limerick and recent seven-goal demolition of Dublin.
As well as that, Cork have twice faced Tipperary in this year’s National League Division 1, losing narrowly 2-22 to 1-21, and in the Munster SHC, coming out on top 4-27 to 0-24 after Darragh McCarthy’s first-minute red card.
Tipp’s unexpected qualification for the Croke Park showdown coupled with the Rebels’ scintillating last-season form has the bookies leaning towards a Cork victory.
Granted, it doesn’t happen very often but, sometimes, the underdog has its day when it comes to hurling’s showpiece occasion.
One of the most unforeseen outcomes took place over quarter of a century ago when Offaly and Limerick went head-to-head for the 1994 Liam MacCarthy Cup.
The Leinster county, 16/1 at one point with some bookies, entered that year’s championship as rank outsiders. Limerick, nowhere near as successful as they have been in recent times, were not favoured to win a first All-Ireland since 1973.
Surprisingly, Offaly enjoyed a terrific run to the final, overcoming Kilkenny and Wexford in Leinster before seeing off Galway in the penultimate round.
Limerick’s Munster title run included wins over Cork, Waterford and Clare before Antrim were blown away in the semi-finals, 2-23 to 0-11.
So, the Treaty entered Croke Park as favourites to end their famine in what’s become known as ‘the five-minute final’.
A game dominated by Limerick saw the Munster champions lead by six at the interval. Their opponents’ response was as unexpected as it was devastating. First, Johnny Dooley’s 20-yard free found the net.
Then, from the ensuing puck-out, Offaly quickly regained possession and Pat O’Connor raised a second green flag.
Add in three rapid-fire Billy Dooley points, all from the right touchline, and the Leinster side turned a five-point deficit into an eventual 3-16 to 2-13 triumph.
Pat Ryan will not need reminding of Cork’s 2013 All-Ireland drawn final and subsequent replay defeat at the hands of Clare. Although the Rebels were slight favourites, a groundswell of opinion believed Jimmy Barry Murphy’s men would prevail in the weeks leading up to the decider.
Davy Fitzgerald and the Banner had other ideas however, earning a 0-25 to 3-16 draw thanks to Domhnall O’Donovan’s last-gasp injury-time equaliser. That proved a hammer-blow for a young Cork team only seconds away from reclaiming the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the first time since their 2004 and 2005 triumphs.
In the replay, Shane O’Donnell tormented the Cork defence and scored 3-3 from open play to copper fasten Clare’s 5-16 to 3-16 triumph.
Other All-Ireland final day upsets include Tipperary’s 2010 win over Kilkenny, ending the latter’s five-in-a-row hopes.
On a more positive note, Cork have also been responsible for a couple of All-Ireland final upsets of their own, including 1986 and a four-goal blast to see off Galway. More recently, ending Kilkenny’s three-in-a-row hopes saw the Rebels prevail 0-17 to 0-9 in 2004’s decider.
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