Winners of Cork and Limerick will be well set for a long summer

One statistic encapsulated Cork’s second-half dominance over Tipperary.

For the first 29 minutes after the break, the Rebels didn’t allow their opponents a single shot in open play. Even from frees, Tipp mustered just six attempts. In the same spell, Cork had 18 shots; seven from frees and 11 in open play.

It says something that Tipp missed just two shots in the entire second half, and were still taken down by 0-16 to 1-9. 

Their 74% conversion rate would be a target for most teams. However, it was hewn from 31 shots against Cork’s 44.

This time, it was Cork with the unstoppable second-half surge to force Tipp into submission. The match-winning spell yielded 0-11 to 0-1 from the 44th to 59th minutes.

Sometimes a team’s true dominance can be told by examining the tally of scores from play. 

Cork had 0-22 of their total from that route. Tipp had just 1-9. Cork had almost twice as many shots from play (31) as Tipp (16). But for 15 wides, they could’ve won by more than four.

DOMINANT

Robert Downey was a totemic figure for Cork in the second half. It was perhaps an inadvertent switch which brought him to the half-back line.

Having spent the first half ushering Stefan Tobin away from the sliotar, Downey lined up for the second half at corner-back. He found the debutant withdrawn and Darragh McCarthy in his place.

During an early break in play for an injury, the TV cameras showed Ben O’Connor in consultation with his selectors while looking back the field. 

By the time Alan Connolly slotted the subsequent free, the switch had been made. Niall O’Leary dropped into the last line of defence. Downey took the middle.

The rest of the afternoon featured Downey rising above Andrew Ormond and bouncing off tacklers on his way out of defence. A frequent sight was Cork defenders breaking the sliotar for awaiting colleagues. 

It was a shield which Tipp couldn’t penetrate. On the rare occasion they got inside that cover, the men in red funnelled back to swarm blue and gold jerseys.

It was a level of support play Cork lacked in the wide-open spaces in Limerick. 

It’s a benchmark they must replicate when the Treaty come to Leeside on Sunday.

According to Ray Boyne’s analysis, Cork had 101 tackles against Tipp’s 89. It didn’t finish with their defenders either. The Cork forwards had to corral Tipp into hitting those high, hopeful balls forward. 

When they went short, they were often punished.

William Buckley (0-6) and Barry Walsh (0-4) earned the plaudits for their scoring returns. They did just as much good work without the sliotar.

Buckley instigated their second-half scoring by intercepting an Eoghan Connolly pass, which led to a free.

It was Barry Walsh and Buckley applying the squeeze to win another 46th-minute free from Conor Stakelum. Brian Hayes sprinted across the field to distribute pats on the back to both debutants. Alan Connolly missed that free. His next two were tricky efforts from either sideline. He nailed both.

Killeagh prospect Walsh soon pressed up alongside Tim O’Mahony to force Craig Morgan into a thrown pass.

When Michael Breen was called for handling the sliotar three times, who were the Cork forwards hounding him? Buckley and Walsh. That’s four frees due to the newcomers’ work ethic.

In the meantime, Buckley also won breaking balls for Walsh’s fourth point and his own fifth of the day. Walsh equally claimed a puck-out break for Shane Barrett’s third.

By the end of that 0-11 to 0-1 run, Tipp had emptied their bench. Their entire full-forward line was withdrawn. Ben O’Connor had yet to make his first move.

RELENTLESS

His subs offered little let-up late on. It was Alan Walsh’s chasing which produced Alan Connolly’s goal chance before adding a point of his own.

Ciarán Joyce’s bedding in at full-back gained further traction by tying up John McGrath until his early withdrawal. While Hurler of the Year McGrath gained one point, the Tipp corner-forwards didn’t register from play all afternoon.

The best home performer, Oisín O’Donoghue, was also quieter under the Castlemartyr man’s watch. It might well be time to give Joyce the responsibility of tagging Aaron Gillane.

Darragh Fitzgibbon and Shane Barrett struggled to get going against Limerick. Here, they found and exploited those pockets of space for 0-4 each. The Cork captain had six shots at the posts in just over 10 minutes before Bryan O’Mara was switched across to curb his influence. They will need big games again next weekend.

That Limerick game now presents an opportunity. Cork must channel their momentum. Limerick must exploit their freshness. The winners will be well set for a long summer.