Cork boss Pat Ryan gives his take on Tipperary-Kilkenny scoreboard cock-up

Irish Daily Mirror

08-07-2025

Cork boss Pat Ryan insisted the better won the Tipperary-Kilkenny All-Ireland semi-final despite the controversial finish.
Ryan's side will face Tipp in the decider on July 20 after coasting past Dublin on Saturday but the other semi was a much closer affair, with the major talking point the scoreboard error that left Kilkenny hunting a goal when a couple of points might have saved them.
It has been confirmed that referee James Owens recorded the score as 4-20 to 0-30 in his report, a two- rather than three-point win for Tipperary, as was recorded on the Croke Park scoreboard.
Ryan said: "To be honest, I didn't even notice it myself when I was watching the game. My idea was that it was three points they were down.
'It's amazing really with all that's going on with technology that something like that can happen. I heard some kind of comment along the lines that the Kilkenny management should have known or been able to get a communication on.
'Unfortunately with the way things are now, even if they did know, you can't get the communication on. That's the problem. It's disappointing. But I think the best team on the day won."
With Eoin Cody and John Donnelly going for match-saving goals for Kilkenny as the game reached its climax Ryan said that, for the most part, he would hope that his side would take the easier point opportunities in those scenarios.
"It depends what way the time is. If you look at most teams, if you start tipping away at the points, you'll end up getting an opportunity for a goal. If you go chasing goals, you'll never get them.
'I think any advice we'd do if we're down is to keep taking your scores and build pressure on the team.
'We saw that perfectly above in Ennis this year when they [Clare] tipped away with their scores, it put pressure on us and then the momentum changes.
'All of a sudden they get a goal and you're lucky to hang on and get a draw. That's the key. When you go chasing a goal, you'll rarely get it. I think tipping the ball over the bar is the best thing."
Meanwhile, Ryan said that Cormac O'Brien will be available for the final after missing the Dublin game with a quad injury, though the outlook is less encouraging for Seamus Harnedy (hamstring), who also sat out the semi-final.
"I think Cormac will be perfect, to be honest. He should be back in fully on Wednesday night. Séamus will be touch and go. Hopefully he might be back in next Tuesday. We'll see how it goes."
He added: "Everyone is missing players but obviously missing Séamus is a huge blow to our team. It's a huge blow to himself firstly. But we'd be confident that he'll hopefully be able to take some part in it.
'Our medical staff are working hard on it and Séamus is working hard himself. He's putting every day into it and there's a lot of recovery needed for that.
'What'll happen is if he's right, he's right. If he's not right, we'll go with what we have. We have great confidence in the lads we have."