BBC pundit and GAA legend suggests potential reason behind Cork's dramatic second-half collapse in All-Ireland final
Pat Ryan's Rebels cut
Advertisement
2
Cork surrendered a six-point half-time lead to lose to Tipperary in the All-Ireland hurling final
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
2
Shane O'Donnell suggested a potential reason why
Credit: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
They were six points up at half-time against Tipp and well-placed to end their 20-year All-Ireland drought.
But they were overwhelmed by a
Clare legend and
'When Tipp were getting shots away and
Advertisement
Read More on GAA
'Tipp were getting so many opportunities because they were getting shots away, getting it dead and they were beating Cork on the puck-outs.
'Cork often do this long puck-out and when it goes well it breaks through and you see all these goals spilling out of it.
'But when it's not working well the ball can come back at you very quickly and give a lot of opportunities to the opposition.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Vikki Falconer ‘happy to be back' after horror injury as Waterford camogie star targets All-Ireland redemption vs Cork
FOR Vikki Falconer, facing Cork in the Championship brings back memories of a big day that was over for her before it got started. Today, her Advertisement A leading Player of the Year contender when she lined out in the 2023 Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior final against the Rebels, Waterford's specialist marker won the first battle with Cork captain Amy O'Connor. But she crumpled to the turf after just three minutes when attempting a change of direction. A torn ACL and that was that. O'Connor went on to score 3-7 from ten shots, 3-2 from play, and the Rebels were All-Ireland champions, a title they held on to last year. Falconer's recovery preceded a brief return in last year's campaign, which ended at the quarter-final stage for a Déise side who were without her again when knocked out by Advertisement Read More on Camogie Waterford have looked better this summer and surely a factor is the fresh return of the Tramore defender who, after a quad injury had halted that 2024 comeback, went to Falconer, 31, said: 'I know I'm very lucky to be back. I know that not a lot of players can do that. I'm grateful towards management and the girls to be left back into the panel. 'But after the cruciate and everything, I felt I just needed a bit of a break. It was something I've always wanted to do. It gave me the opportunity to work on myself as well. 'It gave me that break from just the usual training. I was able to go to the gym and I trained with a club, Central Coast, over there as well. So it was really good and I'm happy to be back.' Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Three weeks ago, on Falconer's Croker comeback, it took fellow veteran Niamh Rockett bagging 1-11 against Clare to deny her the player of the match gong as today's All-Ireland semi-final renewal with the Rebels in The Banner were beaten 2-20 to 2-10 and while it was a big moment to be back at Palestine GAA players watch camogie match on laptop She added: 'I tried not to think about it. There were a few comments during the week but for me, I was just excited. 'In the All-Ireland final, when I did my knee, I was a bit later on in my career so I did have those thoughts — the last time I played in Croke Park, is that going to be the last game? And I didn't want that to be the case. Advertisement 'Coming off, I was really happy. Looking back, I'm just delighted that I was back up there. Every player, every GAA player, every camogie, ladies football player, you want to be playing in Croke Park. 'At my age, you always do wonder, when would be your last year. And 2023, bar in the finish obviously, was a good year. And when the injury happened, well I'm a bit stubborn and I said I was not finishing like that. 'Even last year when I did get back, I got injured again. There was a big mix of frustrations so I was eager to get back this year too.' She agrees Waterford started slowly against Clare and that it took her 'three or four balls' to get to grips with the dangerous Róisín Begley. Advertisement The test against three-in-a-row-chasing Cork should prove tougher again but as she aims for another All-Ireland final outing, Falconer would not want to be going into it alongside any other team-mates. She said: 'It's a really good atmosphere, everyone's getting on really well. When you're coming back into a group like this, it makes it a lot easier. There's something special in the team.' 1 Róisín Begley of Clare in action against Vikki Falconer of Waterford during the Glen Dimplex Senior All-Ireland Camogie Championship quarter-final Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
Irish Examiner
41 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
In numbers: Cork's camogie dominance and the story of those attempting to stop them
Saoirse McCarthy has heard the question before. She's heard the question enough times to know what's being asked is far more of an issue for those outside the Cork dressing-room than inside it. Cork are in All-Ireland camogie semi-final action early on Saturday evening. They arrive in Nowlan Park carrying an average winning margin 23-points strong. The 0-21 to 1-9 victory over Clare in Round 4 is as close as any team came of them in their four outings en-route to the semis. 'That gets thrown around a lot, but we don't read into it,' replied Cork half-forward McCarthy when put to her that Cork are severely undertested ahead of facing Waterford. 'Our performances haven't dipped to where we would let them. We've gone out and tried our best every day, regardless of who we are playing, and that is the test for us. It is something other people worry about, but something we don't think about in camp.' The below numbers paint a further picture of Cork's dominance, as well as telling the story of those attempting to overthrow them. 0 - Goal conceded by Tipp since they were carved open in their championship opener on May 31. Cork came to the Ragg that Saturday and took the hosts for 3-21 and an 18-point thumping. Mairéad Eviston told the Examiner this week the result wasn't so much a setback as it was 'a rude awakening'. Wexford, Clare, Limerick, and Kilkenny failed to breach them for a green flag in the weeks since. 1 - Games lost by champions Cork in 2025. And that solitary defeat comes with an asterisk bigger than their All-Ireland final winning margin of two years ago. In their final outing of the League round-robin, and with progression to the Division 1 decider already secured, an under-strength Cork lost at home to Galway by 0-19 to 0-13. Ten wins from 11 outings will have to suffice. 2 - Minutes remaining in the regulation 60 when Tipp moved two clear of Galway at the end of last year's All-Ireland semi-final. They would fail to hold on. An Aoife Donohue point either side of Carrie Dolan frees edged the Tribeswomen first across the line. The counties' latest last-four collision throws in at 3pm. 3 - Current Tipperary panelists who played in all six of the county's All-Ireland semi-final defeats over the past seven years. They are Julieanne Bourke, Eimear Loughman, and Karen Kennedy. 4 - Goals banged in by Clodagh Finn this summer. The Fr O'Neill's forward was a pivotal contributor off the bench in the closing stages of last year's All-Ireland final. Her status has been upgraded to first team regular in 2025, a promotion she's vindicated with 4-7 in the championship. As if there weren't already enough assassins in the Cork front six. 5 - Goals banged by Cork when last they ran into Waterford in the All-Ireland series. That was the chronically one-sided 2023 final. Five points was the difference between the sides in their one championship meeting since, that the 2024 Munster final. Can Waterford keep today as close? 8 - Season count of Galway's Cathal Murray, the longest serving manager of the four on duty today. Came in towards the end of the 2018 League following player unhappiness with the previous management. Has delivered three Leagues and two All-Irelands. Most recent O'Duffy Cup triumph dates back to 2021. 12 - Of the 22 games in this year's championship, a dozen have finished with the end margin in double-digits. There's a severe imbalance. An eight-team championship would be a much better fit than the current 10-team model - for all involved. 15 - Date in April when Carrigtwohill native Michael Boland was appointed interim Waterford boss. The need for an interim Déise manager was created by Jerry Wallace's shock mid-season departure a fortnight earlier. 24 - The respective scoring totals of Cork's Amy O'Connor and Waterford's Beth Carton, who sit joint-top of the from-play scoring chart. O'Connor has 5-9 to her name, Carton's more out-the-field role reflected in her 2-18 tally. 57 - Percentage of Galway's championship total supplied by Carrie Dolan and Niamh Mallon. From 5-74, Dolan (0-36) and Mallon (0-15) are responsible for well over half that figure. While Dolan's superb form in the captaincy role has been a standout feature of their campaign to date, the dependency on the pair is a concern. Case in point is the League final defeat to Cork where Galway managed just 0-4 from play and 0-10 overall. 1972 - Cork's camogie class of 53 years ago were the last from the county to achieve an All-Ireland three-in-a-row. The current crop are driven to match that feat after the three-in-a-row attempts of 2016 and '19 fell short. 2006 - Tipp's last successful negotiation of the semi-final stage. The two-point win over Kilkenny at today's venue secured an eighth consecutive final appearance. Their eight subsequent ventures to the championship's last-four stage have all been unhappy ones. 7,257 - The record semi-final crowd from two summers ago. Such is the attractiveness of Saturday's double-header, and the strong possibility of an improved Tipp following off the back of the hurlers' exploits, that figure could be under threat. Record attendances is a constantly repeated goal of new president Brian Molloy, chief among them being 50,000 pouring through the Croke Park turnstiles for the 2026 All-Ireland final.
Irish Examiner
41 minutes ago
- Irish Examiner
Kerry selector Aodán Mac Gearailt on Graham O'Sullivan's transformed role
Graham O'Sullivan's 2022 breakout season concluded with a display that offers clues to his current role. Although wearing No.2 and named at corner-back for the concluding Sunday of fare three summers ago, O'Sullivan found himself as the spare person in the Kerry defence and so found himself covering ground far beyond his corner-back patch. A couple of days after the All-Ireland final win over Galway, the eulogising of his old UCC boss Billy Morgan offered further clues as to his current role. 'Because he is such a good footballer, he can play anywhere on the pitch. He always had the football, and he has the know-how to go along with it. He was the ideal person to be the free man because we knew he'd use the ball well,' Morgan told the Irish Examiner. For this latest All-Ireland final, No.2 has been swapped for No.12. The swap was not seamless. In the extra-time Munster semi-final epic against Cork, O'Sullivan seemed lost in the chaos. His role and its effectiveness were hard to distinguish. It was another three championship games further on before he was again in the half-forward line at throw-in. Time spent in that line is brief. 'We looked at the new rules and what we could work on that might benefit us. And one of the things we looked at was converting, if you want to use that word, players with serious athleticism,' explained Kerry selector Aodán Mac Gearailt. 'Because, for me, playing half-forward isn't that different to playing half-back under the modern rules because you're actually going to have to go forward when your team is attacking, and you're going to have to go back when you're defending. 'It's not necessarily man-marking either. So it's players that can cover certain roles, and the role we wanted him to to cover, he was ideal. He ticked an awful lot of boxes for us. So it wasn't a difficult decision to make, and I felt it was pretty seamless, while Graham might have said himself he struggled at the start.' Struggling no more, even if the less glamorous grafting rarely puts him in the spotlight. Mind you, it's a role, such is the opposition's flying column attacks, that could put him centre stage for another final. 'There's an awful lot of running involved. His GPS will be through the roof after games. So I have nothing but respect for what he does. I wouldn't say it's a thankless job, but it doesn't always get seen. But if he's not doing his job, there's lots of gaps in our defence. 'And if he's not doing his job on the other end of the field, you're not creating space for other forwards. I'm so proud of the fact that he's adapted to the role so effectively and so quickly. As a management, we can't take credit for that. We just had to put our trust in him.' Mac Gearailt's first exposure to Jack O'Connor was when graduating straight from the Kerry minor set-up into the U21 fold at the end of the 1990s. For all three years, Jack was the man in the middle of the dressing-room. 'I'd see him a lot calmer in my role as a selector than when I was a player, definitely. He's very straight, which I like about him. He's straight with the players. He's very protective of them. "It was a difficult position to be in after Meath to try and get everyone refocused and almost rewired to go again. And credit to him, he managed to turn that around and get the whole thing going again.'
