Veteran Conor Lehane keen to make his mark for Cork after 12-year wait for return to All-Ireland final stage
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Irish Examiner
20 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Jason Forde: 'I said to Liam we couldn't leave things the way they were'
Ace attacker Jason Forde said he never contemplated walking away from the Tipperary set-up following their dismal record in last year's championship. The Silvermines club man wanted to put pride back in the jersey. 'After the season finishes you're meeting a lot of people and they're wondering if you're going back. People are nearly writing you off. 'I said to Liam (Cahill) we couldn't leave things the way they were. Having played with Tipp for 13 seasons and won All-Irelands to leave on that note wouldn't have been right. 'You could see the glimmer of hope with the younger players that were coming. There was no one talking about winning All-Irelands, it was about getting pride back in the jersey.' That the transformation came about in such a short space of time is attributed to a number of factors he said. 'This is Liam's third year with this group of players. And the couple of younger lads we are after finding, exceptional players in Darragh (McCarthy), Sam (O'Farrell) and Oisín (O'Donoghue) that we didn't have last year. 'We just went back to the grindstone and we trained really, really hard. We've been finishing the games really strong and we put that down to the work our S&C has done. When it comes down to the last 10 minutes we have the legs. The boys coming off the bench finish the job as well. 'We were so hurt after last year. Tipp is obviously such a mad hurling county and a lot of us are living close to the big towns and meeting people. I remember meeting Jake Morris a couple of weeks afterwards and you're nearly ashamed walking around after the manner we went out. 'We said as a group all year there is nobody going to come and save us. We had to go back and put in the work and drag ourselves out of it. And Thank God we did.' The day they put four first-half goals past Clare in the Munster championship to emerge 4-18 to 2-21 winners was a day he felt the Tipp public were starting to get behind them. 'Munster is so tight, that Clare game and the Tipp crowd cheering us into the stadium. We were starting to reconnect with the supporters. To go down to Ennis, it is a really tough place to go to the All-Ireland champions. That game was in the melting pot with five minutes to go. A couple of big scores got us over the line. After that game things were starting to open up.'
RTÉ News
20 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Teenage kicks for Darragh McCarthy as nightmare turns into a dream
With 12 minutes to go in the All-Ireland semi-final, it looked like Darragh McCarthy's debut year was going to end on a scarring note. Sent off for the second time in the championship, after missing two scoreable frees, he watched on from the sidelines as his 14 team-mates came from behind against Kilkenny and tears of relief flowed at the finish. Retained in the starting line-up by manager Liam Cahill for the final against Cork today, the youngster scored 1-13 of his triumphant Tipperary side's total of 3-27 as they stormed back in the second half to win by 15 points. "It's all a mind game, really. If you let it get to you, you're going to be curled up in a ball at home in bed." the 19-year-old told RTÉ Sport in the aftermath of winning his first senior medal. "[Tipperary performance coach] Cathal Sheridan, our man, played a big part in that. I went in for a few chats to try sort the head out. You have to steel the mind and just forget about it. "[My team-mates] are the best in the world. What they've done for me the last 12 months, and even after the first sending off against Cork, I'd say all 40 men on the panel texted me after it. Jake Morris texted me the following morning, saying 'we'll go for a coffee'. Just to get back around the lads again. "They're all so good. The last day, again, they looked after me there… I've no words for them. "Noel McGrath, my favourite hurler of all time. Jason [Forde] and John [McGrath] are unreal to play with. No better man to pass to than Noel (for the last point). He thanked me. No need to thank me. I am so grateful to him." McCarthy scored four points from play, dispatched a penalty and didn't miss a single place ball, despite constant whistles from the Cork fans who made up about 70% of the 82,300 at Croke Park. "I know he was getting jeers from the crowd, but he just didn't hear it, he blocked it out," marvelled team-mate Michael Breen. "Darragh's on the field every day for hours practising frees and that's no exaggeration. "He's 19. So resilient already in the journey [the Tipperary Under 20s] they have come. They lost an All-Ireland against Offaly last year. Came back, won it this year. "Even coming up on the bus, he's playing games on his phone and he's having a laugh. There's no seriousness or up-tightness to it. "And I think the whole camp was that way today coming up. We just kept talking about enjoying the day, enjoying the moment and you could see that fully come out, I think. That was a fun second half to play." Cahill's decision to keep faith in McCarthy was completely vindicated. And afterwards he spoke of the young forward in the same breath as "legendary players like Jason [Forde] and Eoin Kelly and [Seamus] Callanan. "They can't be hanging around forever and you'll say 'where are you going to find the next one?' And suddenly up pops McCarthy, 19 years of age - he's now arrived on the scene. "He's from a serious club up there in Toomevara – them fellas up there would eat you alive. So there was never going to be a case of Darragh's character being questioned or he doubting himself. "That's the class of this young man and the resilience he has. And he just loves his hurling. When you love hurling like that, you get your rewards. He got his just reward today and I'm really, really happy for him."
The Irish Sun
20 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Liam Cahill declares Darragh McCarthy ‘arrived on the scene' after Tipperary GAA starlet's All-Ireland final masterclass
LIAM CAHILL hailed Darragh McCarthy for catapulting himself into the Tipperary Hall of Fame. The 19-year-old Toomevara thunderbolt capped a dream debut senior season by 2 Liam Cahill hailed Darragh McCarthy Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile 2 Darragh McCarthy scored 1-13 in the All-Ireland final Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile The Premier have a reputation for producing young stars and won All-Ireland minor crowns in 2022 and 2024 before Still, his temperament was questioned this season when his boss gave him his shot on the big stage. He was But Cahill kept faith in his star talent and that was rewarded as he fired Tipp to their first Liam MacCarthy since 2019 thanks to a Read More on GAA The manager said: 'That's the class of the man. We produce legendary players like Jason Forde and Eoin Kelly and Séamie Callanan and all these. 'And some of them can't be hanging around forever and you'll say, 'Where are you going to find the next one?' 'Suddenly, up pops McCarthy, 19 years of age — he's now arrived on the scene. From a serious club in Toomevara. Those fellas up there would eat you alive. 'So, there was never going to be a case of Darragh's character being questioned or him doubting himself. Most read in GAA Hurling 'That's the class of this young man and the resilience he has. And he just loves his hurling. And when you love hurling like that, you get your rewards. And he got his just reward today and I'm really, really happy for him.' Tipp had their resilience questioned 14 months ago when they bowed out of the Championship without winning a game. Finishing bottom of the Munster SHC was a sickener for their management and players. Liam Cahill speaks to RTE after Tipperary GAA win All-Ireland final But then came a stunning rise from the ashes. Cahill revealed they had to go back to basics and earn the trust of the Tipp public all over again. And his players did just that to storm to their 29th crown. The Premier won SIX Championship games in a row to go all the way, stunning the hot-favourite Rebels who only managed TWO POINTS in the entire second half. On their recovery, Cahill explained: 'It was about bringing back a bit of identity to our play — 2024, we just didn't contest for the jersey the way we should have. 'I'm not going to go there after today because for me it's in the past now. We started at a very low base, all of us, management, the whole support team, players. 'And we just started to go game by game, bit by bit and suddenly these younger players really started to integrate into the more seasoned players. 'Suddenly you had serious options and then the momentum of our Under-20s winning the All-Ireland, it starts to take off. 'I'm just very, very fortunate to be from Tipperary and to have the talented group of players that were there. 'OK, they're a little bit off of maybe their maturity and we did always say that was a three-year-plus plan. 'But these players, when they get belief and confidence in them, they mushroom into really good players. 'Again, it's just testament to the ruthless mindset of the players as they gathered momentum.' REBELS WITH A CAUSE And as his players partied in the dressing room, Cahill was already thinking of next season. Cork, on the other hand, their long and painful wait for glory goes on. The Rebels were everyone's front runners to prevail and were on course to end their 20-year famine when Shane Barrett's goal put them six ahead at half-time. But it all fell apart for them after the restart when John McGrath netted twice either side of McCarthy's penalty, which saw Cork go down to 14 when Eoin Downey collected a second yellow. Cahill felt for counterpart Pat Ryan given the pressure to deliver and knows the Rebels will be back. The Tipp chief said: 'We've arrived now. It's easy to be the hunter going after teams and now it's going to turn to us into being the hunted — so it's going to see a different side to management, our prep and our mindset going into next year. 'To be fair to Cork, all week, I can only imagine what it has been like for Pat and his management team and everybody to try and manage that expectation. It's huge. 'Cork have been superb all year, league champions, Munster champions, bringing massive crowds back to the stands. 'As I said to Pat after, I wish it was anybody bar him that I was shaking hands with today because he's put so much into it. He's after having a difficult year as well, personally. But I know that Cork team will be back and I know that Cork will have their day in the sun soon. 'We're just proud that it wasn't today and that Tipp thankfully got over the line. We never had it won. Looking at the watch, 55, 60 minutes, 'Would it just get to 70 minutes, please, as soon as possible'. 'But anyway, we're here, really proud to be associated with this group of players. Really proud to have been given the honour to bring through this crop. 'It's been a tough road but just immensely proud of everybody involved, the whole collective. 'Fortune favours the brave and our hurlers were really brave today.'
