Redemption song for McCarthy and Cahill as Tipp rule again

Irish Daily Mirror

21-07-2025

REDEMPTION. That was the story of Sunday's All-Ireland hurling final.
Twice this summer Darragh McCarthy left the field with red cards. On Sunday the 19-year-old left Croke Park with 1-13 to his name and the Liam MacCarthy cup after Tipp's 3-27 to 1-18 demolition of Cork.
Redemption too for Liam Cahill. The season began with some critics questioning his methods. It ends with an All-Ireland after one of the greatest second half displays ever witnessed on Jones's Road.
It was the first time Tipperary had beaten Cork in a senior Championship final since 1991. The famine is over, just not the one everyone expected.
For Tipp a 29th All-Ireland, for Cork the pain goes on.
They came into the game as unbackable favourites on the back of a seven-goal humbling of Dublin, looking to add Liam MacCarthy to League and Munster titles and end a 20 year wait.
But this was never going to be a walkover. And there were clear warnings from the past.
Brian Murphy wrote in the match programme about the 2018 Under-21 Championship when Cork dismantled Tipp in Munster only to come undone in the final against a Premier side managed by Cahill.
Darragh Fitzgibbon, Shane Kingston, Mark Coleman, Declan Dalton, Tim O'Mahony and Niall O'Leary were among that Cork underage team. Eoghan Connolly and Conor Stakelum were in blue and gold.
Once again they all faced each other in an All-Ireland decider. Once again Cork were expected to win. Once again Tipp took home the cup. Cork dejected (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)
The day began with a sea of red and white descending on the capital in expectation.
It was the kind of day when newspaper editors send photographers out to capture the magic and mayhem of the fans. The kind of day the late Mick O'Neill when would've made hay with his camera on Jones's Road.
Hats, flags, headbands were on sale from makeshift stalls. Ponchos too as the clouds gathered, but never burst.
John Allen was Cork manager the last time Liam MacCarthy rested on Leeside in 2005.
On Sunday morning he read a piece on RTÉ Radio One's Sunday Miscellany about the dressingroom energy in the moments before the players are called onto the pitch.
'Those moments of concentration just before the match begins, when all the preparation is done... The final words dispensed. Quiet. Deliberate. Nothing more to be said.'
Cork were out first yesterday, hitting the turf right on the stroke of three o'clock, warming up at the Hill 16 end, ready to bare their souls for the ultimate prize. Tipp followed soon afterwards.
Michael D Higgins got an almighty cheer as he met the teams ahead of his last hurling final as president. Next year it will be someone else on the red carpet.
At 37 Patrick Horgan is just about old enough to run for the Áras and still young enough to run the show for Cork.
Much of the pre-match talk had been about his and Cork's want and they got off to the better start.
Horgan, the pride of Cork's northside chasing his first Celtic Cross at 37 years of age, settling any nerves with an early free.
When the two sides met at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in April, the day ended in tears for McCarthy after an early red card tilted the balance heavily in Cork's favour.
Sunday was different. Very different.
McCarthy was moving freely and causing problems for the Rebels, while Cork's much-vaunted full-forward line of Horgan, Alan Connolly and Brian Hayes were not firing like before.
Ronan Maher was depriving Hayes of primary ball, but Horgan kept the scoreboard ticking over for the favourites and the Rebels held the early advantage.
We expected goals and they came, but the 82,000-plus at Croker yesterday had to wait until the stroke of half-time when Shane Barrett fired to the net for the first.
Cork led by six at the break. The Promised Land was in sight. And then it wasn't.
Tipp came out swinging, quickly reducing the six-point deficit, before John McGrath's goal sent a shockwave through the stadium.
Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins will not want to watch it back.
RTÉ had 22 TV cameras at the game, many of them seemed to be trained on Pat Ryan and the Cork bench as the game slipped away from them to a chorus of 'Tipp, Tipp, Tipp'.
A penalty from McCarthy in the 54th minute put Tipp six clear. An outrageous flick to the net from John McGrath six minutes later put them out of sight and a point from the veteran Noel McGrath in injury time put the cherry on top.
Despair for Cork. Another year without Liam MacCarthy. Nothing more to be said. Tipperary's John McGrath scores his sides third goal (Image: ©INPHO/Bryan Keane)
As he collected the cup, Ronan Maher paid tribute to the late Dillon Quirke, another from that 2018 Under-20 team saying: "You were in our hearts, we hope we did you and your family proud today."
He paid tribute to Cahill too and shouted, "Liam MacCarthy is coming home" before Bruce Springsteen's Glory Days rang out.
McCarthy admitted there was never any doubt in the Tipp dressingroom, even when Cork were leading by six at the break.
'The conversation was all positive. We kinda planned for that. We kinda said, 'If we're five, six down at half-time we're not going to panic. We know what we're capable of,' he said.
'We've come back from worse margins before. We won't panic. If we play our game the way we know we can play, we're capable of beating any team. Stick to the process.'
They did. And then some.
In the aftermath of his sending off against Cork earlier in the summer, McCarthy's phone was hopping with all 40 members of the panel texting the teenager that night to make sure he was okay.
You can be sure his phone was hopping again last night.