IT’S GOT NOTHING really to do with Ben O’Connor, but it’s still his mess to clean up.
When Cork face Tipperary tonight, it will dredge up all the horror of the All-Ireland final second half.
The shortcomings. The instant loss of form. The inability to get any traction, across all sectors.
The rumours and wild theories that shouldn’t have got any traction but ended up becoming huge talking points. And the winter retirement of Patrick Horgan, without a Liam MacCarthy medal. The departure of the honourable Pat Ryan and the candyfloss emptiness of a season that brought so much but not the ultimate prize.
So Cork have a few sides of the bargain to keep up, in front of what county board officials in the county are confidently predicting will be a record attendance for a league fixture.
And it is one of those ‘hiding to nothing’ situations. Win, and the ancient ‘only the league’ clause is invoked by Tipperary, and it is a fleeting joy. The real stuff is down the line.
Cork hurling manager, Ben O'Connor. Tom Maher / INPHO
Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO
Tipperary hurling boss Liam Cahill. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
All the same, name a bigger sporting event in the country all weekend?
There is an alchemy to getting these games right. You must win, but you have to act like it means nothing all the same. It must be desperately confusing.
Sometimes the team with the upper hand can take any meaning out of it. Just look at Ballyshannon last Sunday when Kerry travelled to face Donegal, a repeat of last July’s football final.
It could have been combustible and one of those days when markers had to be laid down. Instead, Kerry didn’t play ball. They sent up a Kerry selection, not the Kerry team. Wisely, they kept David Clifford back at base camp.
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And while Donegal had to scrap hard enough for a four-point win, it was a victory of the pyrrhic variety.
But how have similar meetings unfolded when teams faced each other in the wake of an All-Ireland hurling final, with a lot more than league points on the line?
*****
2005
10 April- Round 1 of the second group stage
Kilkenny 1-14 Cork 1-11
In the 2004 All-Ireland final, Cork’s running game reached its height as they won 0-17 to 0-9.
No team had been held to as low a score in the All-Ireland final since Galway in 1953. So much of that was down to Cork controlling possession and the tempo of the game.
It was the moment that Kilkenny began to think that spite might be a necessary spice in the relationship between the two. That had already been fractured somewhat when only Andy Comerford joined the Cork players in the famous ‘socks down’ protest during the parade of the 2002 league final.
Anyway, Kilkenny arrived to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a mood to atone and by the 13th minute, had scored more than they had in 70-plus minutes of the All-Ireland final. What’s more, in rattling up 1-7, they held Cork scoreless in that period.
The half-time scoreboard. INPHO
INPHO
Gradually, by unloading Brian Corcoran, Tom Kenny and Joe Deane, Cork got to the tempo of the game, and it finished a narrow win for Kilkenny on a day that featured Derek Lyng and Ben O’Connor doing battle.
*****
2009
1 March – Round 3
Waterford 2-17 Kilkenny 1-16
The result of the 2008 All-Ireland hurling final was an utter massacre as Kilkenny stunned wide-eyed innocents Waterford early, and kept driving on with no let up. By the finish, it was 3-30 to 1-13.
Ken McGrath, an incredible hurling talent, subsequently remarked in his episode of Laochra Gael that he was never the same hurler after that game.
Ken McGrath gets hold of Tommy Walsh's jersey in Waterford's partial atonement. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
The scoreline of 3-30 was the highest recorded in a final, and it remained so until Limerick’s pasting (3-32) of Cork in the 2021 final.
So when they met on a crisp March day in 2009, there was a determination in Waterford’s play. They were helped along by a booted goal from Stephen Molumphy to leave them 1-11 to 0-11 ahead at the break. They then used Jack Kennedy as an extra defender against the wind, which worked for them.
A Dan Shanahan goal five minutes from time brought out some of the old Waterford exhibitionism with a fist pump or two to the crowd.
For some at least, the healing could begin.
*****
2017
11 March – Round 4.
Tipperary 2-17 Kilkenny 3-14
Heading into the All-Ireland final of 2016, it felt as if Kilkenny’s success would never end. To the watching public, they were an anonymous group, entirely motivated by their own needs.
Jackie Tyrrell’s autobiography, The Warrior’s Code, has an eloquent exploration of how they felt about every opposition at that time.
“We wanted to beat the shite out of everyone. We wanted to embarrass players. To mentally dominate them. A common phrase in our dressing room was, ‘Let’s put hurling out of these fellas’ heads for a long time.’
“That basically translated into, ‘Let’s psychologically scar these fuckers so much that when they come up against us in the championship, they’ll run from us.’
“We had the mentality of assassins. We’d leather the living shite out of a team and it wouldn’t even register with us.”
But nothing lasts forever. From 2006, Kilkenny had won ten out of 12 All-Irelands. Tipperary, with Seamus Callinan in serious form, stopped them in 2016 and made it a nine-point margin for good measure.
Kilkenny would have wanted to make an example of Tipperary in the league, but John McGrath and Niall O’Meara got the goals and they finished level in a severe test of both teams.
Kilkenny have been back to the All-Ireland final three times since but have not won it. They are into their eleventh season without Liam MacCarthy, which is their longest drought since winning it for the first time in 1904.
*****
2022
27 February – Round 3
Limerick 1-13 Cork 2-19
In front of a half-full stadium in the previous year’s All-Ireland final, Limerick hit their ‘Kilkenny 08’ peak as they rattled up a record score in the showpiece final, a whopping 3-32. Cork’s 1-22 wasn’t a bad total, but Limerick toyed with them that day.
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12,081 showed up for their next meeting in the Gaelic Grounds in late February.
Shane Kingston fires to the net. Bryan Keane / INPHO
Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO
Cork equalled their All-Ireland tally, boosted by two goals from Shane Kingston. Limerick’s league tally was just a shade more than a third of what they gathered in Croke Park.
Even entering the final quarter, Cork were 2-18 to 0-9 ahead before a measure of respectability was brought to the scoreboard.
*****
It can be done. It must be done.
How much good you get out of it, however, is up to you. It could be the greatest thing ever, or something to bank with quiet confidence. That’s the weakness of the league, but it’s also a great glory of the league.
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The 'hiding to nothing' game – how do teams approach All-Ireland final rematches?
IT’S GOT NOTHING really to do with Ben O’Connor, but it’s still his mess to clean up.
When Cork face Tipperary tonight, it will dredge up all the horror of the All-Ireland final second half.
The shortcomings. The instant loss of form. The inability to get any traction, across all sectors.
The rumours and wild theories that shouldn’t have got any traction but ended up becoming huge talking points. And the winter retirement of Patrick Horgan, without a Liam MacCarthy medal. The departure of the honourable Pat Ryan and the candyfloss emptiness of a season that brought so much but not the ultimate prize.
So Cork have a few sides of the bargain to keep up, in front of what county board officials in the county are confidently predicting will be a record attendance for a league fixture.
And it is one of those ‘hiding to nothing’ situations. Win, and the ancient ‘only the league’ clause is invoked by Tipperary, and it is a fleeting joy. The real stuff is down the line.
All the same, name a bigger sporting event in the country all weekend?
There is an alchemy to getting these games right. You must win, but you have to act like it means nothing all the same. It must be desperately confusing.
Sometimes the team with the upper hand can take any meaning out of it. Just look at Ballyshannon last Sunday when Kerry travelled to face Donegal, a repeat of last July’s football final.
It could have been combustible and one of those days when markers had to be laid down. Instead, Kerry didn’t play ball. They sent up a Kerry selection, not the Kerry team. Wisely, they kept David Clifford back at base camp.
And while Donegal had to scrap hard enough for a four-point win, it was a victory of the pyrrhic variety.
But how have similar meetings unfolded when teams faced each other in the wake of an All-Ireland hurling final, with a lot more than league points on the line?
*****
2005
In the 2004 All-Ireland final, Cork’s running game reached its height as they won 0-17 to 0-9.
No team had been held to as low a score in the All-Ireland final since Galway in 1953. So much of that was down to Cork controlling possession and the tempo of the game.
It was the moment that Kilkenny began to think that spite might be a necessary spice in the relationship between the two. That had already been fractured somewhat when only Andy Comerford joined the Cork players in the famous ‘socks down’ protest during the parade of the 2002 league final.
Anyway, Kilkenny arrived to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a mood to atone and by the 13th minute, had scored more than they had in 70-plus minutes of the All-Ireland final. What’s more, in rattling up 1-7, they held Cork scoreless in that period.
Gradually, by unloading Brian Corcoran, Tom Kenny and Joe Deane, Cork got to the tempo of the game, and it finished a narrow win for Kilkenny on a day that featured Derek Lyng and Ben O’Connor doing battle.
*****
2009
The result of the 2008 All-Ireland hurling final was an utter massacre as Kilkenny stunned wide-eyed innocents Waterford early, and kept driving on with no let up. By the finish, it was 3-30 to 1-13.
Ken McGrath, an incredible hurling talent, subsequently remarked in his episode of Laochra Gael that he was never the same hurler after that game.
The scoreline of 3-30 was the highest recorded in a final, and it remained so until Limerick’s pasting (3-32) of Cork in the 2021 final.
So when they met on a crisp March day in 2009, there was a determination in Waterford’s play. They were helped along by a booted goal from Stephen Molumphy to leave them 1-11 to 0-11 ahead at the break. They then used Jack Kennedy as an extra defender against the wind, which worked for them.
A Dan Shanahan goal five minutes from time brought out some of the old Waterford exhibitionism with a fist pump or two to the crowd.
For some at least, the healing could begin.
*****
2017
Heading into the All-Ireland final of 2016, it felt as if Kilkenny’s success would never end. To the watching public, they were an anonymous group, entirely motivated by their own needs.
Jackie Tyrrell’s autobiography, The Warrior’s Code, has an eloquent exploration of how they felt about every opposition at that time.
“We wanted to beat the shite out of everyone. We wanted to embarrass players. To mentally dominate them. A common phrase in our dressing room was, ‘Let’s put hurling out of these fellas’ heads for a long time.’
“That basically translated into, ‘Let’s psychologically scar these fuckers so much that when they come up against us in the championship, they’ll run from us.’
“We had the mentality of assassins. We’d leather the living shite out of a team and it wouldn’t even register with us.”
But nothing lasts forever. From 2006, Kilkenny had won ten out of 12 All-Irelands. Tipperary, with Seamus Callinan in serious form, stopped them in 2016 and made it a nine-point margin for good measure.
Kilkenny would have wanted to make an example of Tipperary in the league, but John McGrath and Niall O’Meara got the goals and they finished level in a severe test of both teams.
Kilkenny have been back to the All-Ireland final three times since but have not won it. They are into their eleventh season without Liam MacCarthy, which is their longest drought since winning it for the first time in 1904.
*****
2022
In front of a half-full stadium in the previous year’s All-Ireland final, Limerick hit their ‘Kilkenny 08’ peak as they rattled up a record score in the showpiece final, a whopping 3-32. Cork’s 1-22 wasn’t a bad total, but Limerick toyed with them that day.
12,081 showed up for their next meeting in the Gaelic Grounds in late February.
Cork equalled their All-Ireland tally, boosted by two goals from Shane Kingston. Limerick’s league tally was just a shade more than a third of what they gathered in Croke Park.
Even entering the final quarter, Cork were 2-18 to 0-9 ahead before a measure of respectability was brought to the scoreboard.
*****
It can be done. It must be done.
How much good you get out of it, however, is up to you. It could be the greatest thing ever, or something to bank with quiet confidence. That’s the weakness of the league, but it’s also a great glory of the league.
*****
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Cork GAA Hurling Tipperary we meet again