Cork v Tipp: Game-changers waiting in the wings
Cork’s Shane Kingston replaces Patrick Horgan during the All-Ireland SHC semi-final against Dublin. Picture: ©INPHO/Leah Scholes
Following Cork’s dramatic penalty shootout win over Limerick in the Munster final, there were two players in particular that had made a real difference.
It was a team performance above all else, but the impact that Shane Kingston and Conor Lehane had from the bench – both in normal time and during the shootout – was impossible to ignore. By every metric, they were game-changers.
After the win, Kingston summed up the life of a substitute quite aptly. “There’s that disappointment with not starting,” he said. “Sometimes you just have to get on with it.
“Everyone wants to be on the starting 15, and if you’re not on that you just want to make your impact. Hopefully you might be lucky enough to put the jersey on the next day.”
Neither Kingston nor Lehane managed to break into the starting side for the All-Ireland semi-final, despite their Munster heroics. But again, both were summoned late on. Again, both got on the scoresheet. And again, both made sure Cork kept ticking in the final minutes.
And once again, they’re likely to be named among the substitutes.
It’s a thankless role, at times. You train as hard as anyone, often harder, for a small sliver of game time. Sometimes, that window never opens.
But when it has opened this season, Kingston and Lehane have made it count. If that opportunity arises again in Sunday’s final, there’s little doubt they’ll be ready.
Cork won’t be the only ones hoping for inspiration from the bench.
Tipperary’s Oisín O’Donoghue was the headline act in their semi-final win over Kilkenny. With Tipp down to 14 men following Darragh McCarthy’s red card, it was the Cashel King Cormacs man who stepped up. Introduced late on, he fired in a stunning 69th-minute goal to send them through.
And he’s not the only one. Tipperary’s bench has delivered before – and the parallels with 2025 and 2019 are hard to ignore.
Six years ago, Tipp were in a similarly precarious semi-final. Five points down against Wexford. A man down, too – John McGrath having seen red for a second yellow.
Enter Jake Morris and Mark Kehoe. Two of four substitutes who scored that day, as Tipperary pulled off a famous two-point win.
They weren’t just cameos, either. Both featured again in the final – again off the bench, again on the scoreboard. It wasn’t essential on that occasion, as Tipp swept past Kilkenny by 14 points. But they contributed. And from that moment, both players kicked on to become central figures.
Kehoe is absent this year, having stepped away earlier in the season. But Morris remains – and remains pivotal. O’Donoghue will be hoping he can follow the same trajectory.
There’s precedent across recent years. Jason Flynn, for Galway in 2017, was another to seize his chance. Introduced in the final, he immediately raised a white flag, then another soon after. Galway won by three.
It’s a hard job to hold down – the life of a substitute – but days like that make it worthwhile.
This weekend, it could be Kingston in the headlines. Or O’Donoghue. Or someone else entirely.
But both Cork and Tipperary have players on the bench ready to leave their mark on history.
Because sometimes, the difference between heartbreak and glory comes from those who start the day waiting.
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