Eamonn Sweeney: Net gains by Cork and Tipp are showing a new way forward for the game of hurling
Goodbye taking your points, hello going for goals. One point good, three points better. Much better.
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The 42
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Kerry duo ruled out of All-Ireland semi-final
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Irish Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
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Back from the brink - how Liam Cahill sparked a revival in Tipp hurling
We'll start with the question about Liam Cahill's future because that is where the Tipp revival started too. In the windowless corridor underneath the main stand at Semple Stadium, only minutes had passed since Tipp's 2024 Championship had ended. Their record, one draw and three defeats, was appalling; the 15-point slaughter by Limerick and 18-point hammering by Cork accentuating the negative gloom that hung over the team. 'Are you considering your future?' Cahill was asked. His answer was defiant. No, he would not go, he said. And yes, the team could turn a corner. But no one really believed him until they met Clare again in the Championship this summer. Before then, the only certainty in hurling was that the Tipp Munster Championship campaign was going to be a misery, just as it had been in every other year of this decade. Then over the course of eight days in May, Tipp beat Clare and Waterford, getting as many Munster victories in a week as they had in the previous five seasons. A year earlier Cahill had been forced to talk about Tipp's good name 'being on the line'. Significantly, though, the one thing that wasn't on the line was his job - which he knew was safe. And now that the story of Tipp's revival can be told, we need to remember that. Jittery county boards would have shown Cahill the door. Tipp's board, however, had faith. Fourteen months on, they have been vindicated. For a county like Tipperary, anything less than an All-Ireland is deemed unsatisfactory. Yet they got used to unsatisfactory years after winning their 28th Championship in 2019. But there was a significant difference between Cahill finishing bottom in 2024 with Michael Ryan and Bonnar's failures in Munster in 2018 and 2022. First were the circumstances. By the time Cahill had been lured from Waterford in 2023, it was clear that a period of transition was required. He had lost or was losing Brendan Maher, Padraic Maher and Seamus Callanan - three of Tipp's finest ever players. Then there was the injury to Seamus Kennedy and the persistent doubt about Cathal Barrett. Come his second season only three starters from the 2019 All-Ireland winning team were making his starting XV. Yet Cahill had signalled the change that was needed and had a plan in place to counteract it. In three seasons, he handed out inter-county debuts to 13 players who made up his panel on Sunday, the county board sold on his rebuilding policy and as dependent on its success as the manager was. Because, we must remember, they were the ones who went after him as early as 2022. So, they knew they had to stick by their man, because the player-heave on Bonnar wasn't a good look. The optics behind a second manager in three years getting the heave-ho would have been disastrous. What helped was the fact they could see the Cahill blueprint would benefit Tipp down the line. It just so happened that success came quicker than anyone expected. Tipp were in a mess when Cahill arrived and appeared to be in an even worse state last summer. But he stuck by his new kids on the block. Five of keeper Rhys Skelly's nine Championship appearances have come this summer. And it wasn't the only inspired decision made by the manager. Cahill handed Robert Doyle his Championship debut this year, the corner back making the last minute goal line clearance from John Donnelly to see Tipp secure their All-Ireland place. Another 2025 debutant is Darragh McCarthy, scorer of 0-31 in the Championship prior to Sunday, scorer of a vital first-half goal against the Cats. But trumping Doyle, McCarthy, Skelly on Sunday was supersub Oisin O'Donoghue who now has 3-2 from play in this year's Championship, including Sunday's match-winning goal. All in, there have been five debutants this summer, 14 in the three seasons Cahill has been in charge. He said: "To go after a little element of culture, the key was to get the right players in the dressing room that would embrace that. I think now that we have a mix of a number of younger players with the real, real, genuine, more experienced cohort, it's a lovely, lovely balance." Among them are a trio of their U-20 team that landed a Munster title this year. "They bring no fear because they have no baggage," said Cahill of the younger players in his squad. "They come in to a set-up where they're just absolutely mad eager.' Their enthusiasm paid off on Sunday. Bryan O'Mara and Michael Breen made the same point on Sunday, how they had to endure plenty of soul-searching over the winter. Three defeats and a draw does that to a team. But it was actually a Tipp victory - by their minors in last year's All-Ireland which really shocked their senior team into action. For here were 16-and-17-year-olds had been willing to "fight on their backs," to win a 22nd All-Ireland minor title against Kilkenny at Nowlan Park - despite being reduced to 13 players. "I was down in Nowlan Park myself that day and there's no point in saying it, we were embarrassed walking out," said Jake Morris in May. "In terms of being a good battling Tipperary team, that never-say-die attitude was inspiring. We thought about it with regard to ourselves. "You never mind losing a game as long as you've shown up and you've performed and you've fought on your back and you can come away together on the bus afterwards and you can look at each other. "The manner of some of the defeats last year wasn't acceptable. Players are in the trenches. You have to go to work, you can't hide away. We were in the trenches after last year. We had to deal with it face on and take our constructive criticism and move on and look in the mirror.' Last night they couldn't stand the image of their reflection. This morning they can. Pride has been restored.
RTÉ News
3 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Niall Moran: Cork won't win All-Ireland without Séamus Harnedy
Cork won't end their All-Ireland hurling famine without Séamus Harnedy in the starting team, according to former Limerick hurler Niall Moran. The 36-year-old has enjoyed another stellar season in red, but missed the rout of Dublin in Saturday's semi-final with a hamstring issue. Ahead of the game at Croke Park, manager Pat Ryan said the influential St Ita's man would be available for the decider should the Rebels progress. His replacement in the half-forward line, Declan Dalton, delivered a strong performance, picking off 0-05 including some long-range missiles both from play and placed balls. With the full-forward line plundering 5-11 and the likes of Shane Kingston and Conor Lehane impressing off the bench it means Ryan has plenty of options up front. Whether to restore Harnedy to the team to face Tipperary could be the biggest decision. Now in his 13th season, he took the Premier County for five points from play in the Munster round-robin victory and starred on the half-forward line in the Munster final success over Limerick. Speaking on 2fm's Game On, Moran feels the three-time All-Star should be included from the start. "He has to find a place for Seamie Harnedy," he said. "In my book, Cork don't win any All-Ireland without him. Who will be the unlucky person to miss out?" Moran says that while the swashbuckling nature of Cork's run to the final has caught the eye, the mounting pressure to win Liam MacCarthy for the first time since 2005 could play into Tipperary's hands. "The real weight of expectation is going to be on one team and one team only and that's Cork. "If Cork are only a point or two up, with 10 minutes left, how will the psychology of that work for them? "Whose camp would you prefer to be preparing for? I definitely think Liam Cahill has all the aces up his sleeve in terms of that. "Can Tipp bring that level of performance and a little bit extra? It's not beyond them." Also speaking on the programme was decorated Kilkenny hurler Eddie Brennan. The eight-time All-Ireland winner says given the resounding defeats to the Rebels already this season, Tipperary head into the decider brimming with motivation. "After what happened in the league final and the round-robin in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, if Liam Cahill had a wish list, this is the one he wanted to get," he said. "I'd imagine they are saying, 'are these boys going to put on an exhibition against us again?' That's the sole motivation. "Tipp are in a great place, their collective has really impressed me, but I'm not sure they can hold Cork for 70 minutes, plus the three or four forwards that are going to come in full of energy."
