Cork and Tipperary set for historic final
It is a rivalry woven into the fabric of hurling history and on Sunday, Cork and Tipperary get ready for the latest instalment with the game's biggest prize on the line.Long before the foundation of the GAA as we know it, there was Cork versus Tipperary with their first recorded meeting taking place near Rathcormac, County Cork in 1741.Throughout the years, the fixture would dominate Munster final day as two of hurling's traditional 'big three' - which also includes Leinster's Kilkenny - battled for provincial honours and another step towards All-Ireland glory with Cork second in the roll of honour with 30 titles, two ahead of Tipperary in third.However, it has been 20 years since Liam MacCarthy last visited the banks of the Lee, with Cork coming up short four finals since their last triumph in 2005.Tipperary's wait is considerably shorter, with victory over Kilkenny in the 2019 final their 28th triumph, but the Premier County's hunger for success is no less ravenous as they have a proud record to defend as they have been crowned champions in each decade since the formation of the GAA in the 1884, but are yet to scale the mountain the 2020s.Ever since the introduction of the 'back door' in 1997, initially giving the losing provincial finalists in Munster and Leinster a second chance in the All-Ireland series, both counties have used this route to their advantage with Tipperary recovering from a Munster final loss that year against Clare to reach hurling's biggest day, only to fall to The Banner once again.That all-Munster clash was viewed as a novelty, but an All-Ireland final between counties from the same province is no longer considered as such. However, this will be the first time hurling has produced a Cork-Tipperary final.
There was a semi-final between the pair in 2014 that went the way of Tipp, 10 years on from an All-Ireland qualifier between them which the Rebels won on their way to the All-Ireland title, but championship meetings since have been confined to their provincial boundary.The counties have served up some of hurling's greatest games, played by giants of the game. In Cork, names such as Christy Ring, Jimmy Barry-Murphy, Ray Cummins and Jimmy Barry-Murphy roll off the tongue, just as Jimmy Doyle, Michael 'Babs' Keating and Nicholas English do across the county border.On Sunday, new heroes will emerge with Cork's Patrick Horgan desperate for a first All-Ireland medal to cap an outstanding career, while in the opposite corner, Tipperary's McGrath brothers, Noel and John, will seek to get their hands on Liam once again.It makes Sunday's final all the more intriguing and the 82,300 lucky to be in possession of a precious ticket are set for the latest chapter of the great Cork-Tipperary rivalry which has already created history.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Cardiff exit Champions League after defeat to Athlone
Cardiff City Women bowed out of the Champions League qualifiers after they lost 4-0 to Athlone Town in the semi-finals of the first qualifying Groves put the reigning League of Ireland Women's Premier Division champions ahead after 15 Molloy's two goals in the space of three minutes before the break gave the hosts a 3-0 lead at Waesch's goal early in the second half sealed the win and end the Welsh double winners' hopes of will face newly-crowned Croatian champions ZNK Agram in the final on Saturday, 2 August.
Belfast Telegraph
10 hours ago
- Belfast Telegraph
How All-Ireland Final has shown that GAA is now about playing the man, not the system… and bosses have got to adapt
The 2025 inter-county season is over, Kerry are the All-Ireland champions, the new rules have been largely hailed as a success and the future of football is looking a lot clearer. Heading into the season, most managers were going in relatively blind as the amendments meant there was no longer a template to follow or a basic blueprint to implement. It was a step into the unknown.
The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
Dan Sheehan: ‘The Lions tour has been chaos – and I've enjoyed absolutely every second of it'
Perched on the bench next to Tadhg Furlong, Dan Sheehan could only watch, gut wrenched by the familiar feeling of a fate out of your hands. Plenty of times the pair had sat together exhausted yet enraptured, their front row efforts done but a game to which they had contributed plenty in the balance. Plenty of times, too, they had come out on the wrong side; the 2023 and 2024 Champions Cup finals, or perhaps most agonisingly that quarter-final night in Paris where Ireland's World Cup dreams came crashing down. With the British and Irish Lions bashing on the door for a match-winning try at the end of the second Test, the memories came flooding back. 'I was sitting there beside Tadhg and he looked at me and I looked at him,' Sheehan explains. 'He was like: 'How many times have we been sitting on this bench in this situation and we've never won a game?' And it was tough. It's almost harder watching it sometimes. 'When you're on the pitch you're so focused and you don't let your mind wander but when you're sitting on the bench it's out of your control. Obviously, the bench were doing a great job, which was nice to see but it was something that felt like a fan in some ways. You're so engulfed in what you're seeing. But it's probably almost more enjoyable watching it happen and being able to celebrate.' The story, of course, was different this time. It is perhaps wrong for Sheehan, a Six Nations grand slam winner and recent URC champion, to suggest that Ireland and Leinster have always come up short in the big moments but near misses have been a theme of a career otherwise on an outstanding track. His first-half try at the MCG on Saturday was his 17th in Test rugby and 16th in 16 games for club, country and British Isles this season, discounting his involvement in the tour games. If it was the great Keith Wood who first challenged what a hooker could be and do, the current occupant of the Ireland No 2 shirt is his spiritual successor, as comfortable in spaces open as tight. An athletically gifted front rower, he has long demonstrated his speed and skill up the touchline but Saturday's score showcased a different discipline. The legality of Sheehan's leap for the line over two would-be tacklers has been called into question – rugby's lawbook really has taken a beating this week – but the officials were happy he left his feet in the act of scoring rather than avoiding the grasping Wallabies. Sheehan blames a Lions squad-mate for having to take the tap penalty at all. 'It's a tough job in professional rugby,' he says. 'I don't know why they pick the hooker to do it. I think Exeter started that; [ Luke Cowan-Dickie ] probably did that. 'I took the first one and I got absolutely melted trying to go low. Usually, it's one lad goes low and someone maybe is high and I just got both shoulders melted low and I didn't really get much out of it. 'Then the second one I just thought: 'If I have a dive here...' I didn't know if they had anyone in the back. It was just a throw and hope and I slipped through. Yeah, I can see all the controversy about it, but I did know that you can dive in the air if you score. I'm not sure actually if I missed the line would it be a penalty or not? The play was trying to get as close to the line as possible for the second phase. I'll take all the tries that can come my way.' Sheehan has built quick bonds with Cowan-Dickie and Jamie George in the hooking group, while he has also enjoyed turning foes into friends. 'There's a few lads your own age that you've sort of come up through age-grades like Ollie Chessum, Ben Earl. You're kind of growing up hating these lads, and then all of a sudden, you're like, everyone's a pretty good fella.' The 26-year-old will extend his stay in Sydney by a couple of days to make the most of the city and savour every moment of his first Lions experience. It seems unlikely to be his last. 'I think back to that sort of two-week block where we had I don't know how many games, where it was a Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, Wednesday, like it's just chaos going around, all these different cities and the whole organisation moving around. And, you know, you kind of get lost in it, but it just works somehow. 'It's been absolutely mental. And I've enjoyed absolutely every second of it. It's flown by. And then you think back to Perth and you're like, jeez, that was weeks ago. It'd be hard not to make a squad in the years to come when you know how special these sorts of moments can be. So I think, put the head down now for another four years, please. I'm going to try and get back on the plane.'
