Cork v Tipp: Premier will believe they can shut down Rebel threat like Clare did last season

Cork reaching this year’s All-Ireland is no surprise given how they are league and Munster champions. 

That ancient rivals Tipperary have ended up being their final opponents is something that few would have predicted at the start of the campaign.

It is hard to see Cork making too many plans to stop Tipperary. Most of Pat Ryan’s team’s focus will be entirely upon themselves. They will know that if they get everything right at their end that Tipperary will struggle to contain Cork.

One area where Cork can have some plans in place is that they can anticipate how Tipp will set up to contain Cork and act accordingly.

We know that Liam Cahill will not set his team up like Dublin did. Tipp will not allow his full-back line to be completely isolated, allowing Brian Hayes and Alan Connolly one-on-one match-ups inside. 

The Tipp half-back line will not get caught in no man’s land, neither assisting the last line nor pushing up on the likes of Declan Dalton and Tim O’Mahony to pressurise the ball going into Hayes, Connolly and Patrick Horgan.

We expect, in the early stages at least, Tipp will certainly drop numbers back to stifle the Cork goal threat. Whether this is done by employing a sweeper or by dropping the entire half-back line back a smidgeon remains to be seen, but Tipp will want to keep things tight initially.

In theory this should mean that there is more space around midfield for the likes of Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett to exploit. By trying to stop early goals, Tipp might allow Cork shots from 50 yards out. Success from that range could draw the Premier out. 

PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE

Cork might have to be patient in this respect, but if they can get on top around the middle and get a few points clear, that patience might eventually pay off.

Tipp will no doubt have studied last year’s All-Ireland final when looking for a template to take down Cork, as Clare had a lot of joy 12 months ago.

One of the key features of that disruption job was the manner in which Clare flooded around Brian Hayes when Patrick Collins went ultra-long. Dublin did not do this in the semi-final, to their cost, but Tipp will try to make it a war zone in this part of the pitch.

To combat this, Cork will have to vary their restarts. If they can make Tipp blink here and start to move players away from Haye to shut down a dominant Mark Coleman or Darragh Fitzgibbon, for instance, then we will know that Cork have gained the upper hand.

We can expect Ronan Maher to be earmarked to put the stoppers on Brian Hayes. The Barrs man has a clear pace advantage though, so it certainly is not one that Tipp will want to see with loads of grass between them and Rhys Shelly’s goal.

One area where Cork themselves will have taken learnings from their bitter defeat a year ago is in their ‘honesty’ when Tipp are running at them. Last year they were too honest in their defending and conceded three goals at vital junctures. 

We can expect a much more cynical Cork approach on Sunday. It would be no surprise if at least one of the Cork full-back line is called ashore relatively early due to being on a yellow card. If so, they would have done the right thing by taking one for the team.

The lesson was harshly learned last year that normal rules do not apply in an All-Ireland final, with a huge amount of physical stuff being ignored that would not have been earlier in the campaign. Cork will be ready for this on Sunday.

Talk of the 20-year wait and four lost finals should be parked. This is just another game of hurling. 

This Cork team has been fully focused on reaching this decider all year, since their first run out against Waterford in the Fraher Fields back in January. They look to be fully focused on the job at hand and if they perform to their expected levels, Tipperary will have to do a hell of a lot to stop them.