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Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Five key moments: Tipperary turnaround stuns Cork in All-Ireland decider
Yellow card is a telling moment Inside the closing five minutes of the first half, everything was going from end-to-end as both teams still searched for the first real breakthrough. After Shane Barrett scored an excellent point for Cork, their advantage went up to five. It was the first sign of danger that perhaps Tipp might drift behind. Then John McGrath was fouled by Eoin Downey, resulting in a yellow card for the Cork full back. That would later prove telling. When Eoghan Connolly's long-range free was then touched into the net by Jason Forde, it appeared Tipp's fortunes might be about to turn. It was rightly called a s, but offered them some encouragement nonetheless. Cork's Shane Barrett scores a goal despite desperate Tipp defensive work. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Potentially killer blow for Tipp Two minutes of added time were announced at the end of the first half, and on 36:44, Robert Downey won back possession to set in train Cork's first goal chance of the first half. When the ball was passed out to Mark Coleman, he quickly passed on to Shane Barrett. Approaching just left of the goal, under the Davin Stand, Barrett placed his shot with stunning accuracy into the bottom right corner, and ensured that Tipp goalkeeper Rhys Shelly had no chance of stopping it. A killer blow for Tipp just before the break, it put Cork into a commanding 1-16 to 0-13 lead. READ MORE Tipperary's John McGrath celebrates scoring a vital goal. Photograph: Inpho Cahill works the oracle Whatever was said by Tipp manager Liam Cahill at half-time was soon working a treat as his players started to win possession all over the field. After shooting five unanswered points, and shooting one wide, Jake Morris took another shot from distance, which appeared to be within the safe range of Cork goalkeeper Patrick Collins. But instead, Collins tapped the ball down and out into the path of John McGrath on 46 minutes. He displayed remarkable calmness when he collected the ball and then promptly finished his shot into the Cork net. That made it 1-5 without reply, and the game had turned on its head. Cork's Eoin Downey sees red. Photograph: Inpho Situation goes from bad to worse Cork had finally got their first score of the second half moments after McGrath's first goal, but then conceded another two points without reply. Things were about to get a whole lot worse. After 53 minutes, McGrath made another mesmerising fetch from another long ball in front of the Cork goal, and Eoin Downey had little choice other than to foul him. Downey was shown a second yellow card, and his All-Ireland final was over. When Darragh McCarthy stepped up for the penalty and blasted it into the top left of the Cork goal, Tipp went up 2-20 to 1-17. Tipperary's John McGrath scores his side's third goal. Photograph: Inpho A deft touch into the net finishes Cork The hour-mark proved to be closing time for this most unpredictable of All-Ireland final outcomes. Cork had just conceded another two points without reply, when a third Tipp goal would end all hope of them making a late comeback. Eoghan Connolly attempted another long-range shot, and once that started to fall short, John McGrath read the movement of the ball to absolute perfection, getting to it in advance of Patrick Collins. McGrath finished it off with the deftest of touches into the Cork net. After another move of magic simplicity, Tipp went up 3-22 to 1-17. Game over.
Irish Times
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Times
Nicky English: I believed anything could happen in a Cork-Tipp match but wasn't quite prepared for this
When I referred to the propensity of this fixture to throw up the unexpected and almost play into the hands of the outsider, I didn't for a second envisage something like this – an All-Ireland final that can hardly be explained such was the turnaround after half-time. To lose a second half of hurling by 3-14 to 0-2 in an All-Ireland final has to be unprecedented. It was simply a disaster for Cork , who were in a good position at half-time, leading by six points after Shane Barrett's goal. Tipperary will have been disappointed by that all the same. They had actually played quite well in the first half but for the amount of wides they had hit, which could have kept them closer in touch. Their forwards had been well contained by Cork but there was a strong breeze, which I don't think was fully taken into consideration. The ball was being held up in the breeze, typified by the disallowed goal for Jason Forde from Eoghan Connolly's free driven into the square. READ MORE In the second half, though, the Tipperary backs took complete control over the Cork full-forward line under the hanging ball. Michael Breen and Ronan Maher were just totally dominant. Tactically, Tipp got it superbly right. Bryan O'Mara stepped back as extra cover and they brought out Sam O'Farrell to the middle and Darragh McCarthy to float up front. Tipperary's Willie Connors celebrates after the final whistle. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho None of these changes should have been a surprise to Cork by the way. Everything that I thought would happen did happen, like Ronan Maher taking up Brian Hayes. Willie Connors moved to wing back, which was a strange move on paper but he played magnificently and had Declan Dalton in his pocket. At all stages Tipperary were able to get that flick in and tip the ball away from the Cork forwards and never let them settle into their running style. Also, there was never the quality of ball that Cork had managed against Dublin when it was hopping in front of Connolly and Hayes. They were just much smarter and more capable, and in the second half they just slowed Cork down relentlessly and worked unbelievably hard. I have said all year that there's no doubt that Tipp's touch is better than anyone else's in the championship, and they proved in the final that their touch was better than Cork's. In some respects, Cork getting the goal before half-time was actually the worst thing that could have happened to them. There was already a huge expectancy among Cork supporters that Barrett's goal may have turned it into a foregone conclusion. Tipperary's Rhys Shelly and Robert Doyle celebrate after the game. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho There was now huge pressure on Cork for the second half. Maybe it showed in Patrick Horgan's missed free at the start of the second half. Andrew Ormond kick-started Tipperary's comeback and Jake Morris got in on the act, as well as the outstanding Darragh McCarthy. John McGrath really showed his renewed form, having a role in all three goals. He's such a wily customer and just because he's quiet for a while shouldn't lead to assumptions. I was surprised in a way that Cork didn't replace Eoin Downey after he picked up a yellow at the end of the first half. Last year in their pivotal match against Limerick at Páirc Uí Chaoimh they replaced him in similar circumstances. I thought that first yellow was very harsh, but if you're on a card you're vulnerable and it would have been a good idea to get Damien Cahalane on earlier. It was a sobering afternoon for Cork. To score just two points in the second half was inexplicable. Last year, maybe they had excuses and only lost the final in extra time, but this year there was no such consolation. They were just crowded out and Tipp's defenders simply ate them up. Tipperary's Ronan Maher lifts the Liam MacCarthy Cup. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Their half-forward line, which had started well, was completely obliterated in the second half, with both Healy and Dalton replaced and the midfield was bypassed. Of course, when a team hits the woodwork five times they probably suspect it's not their day. I think you have to hand it to Liam Cahill and the Tipperary management. Ultimately, their decision-making was very clear. They stuck with Darragh McCarthy to start him and left him on frees and they were vindicated. The final might have been their best of the year, which is a credit to any management, but they have also been improvers throughout the season. This was the culmination of that. Cahill brought in young players and took a chance by sticking with them and they all now look like they'll be around for years to come. I said on Saturday that Donie Nealon and Theo English always believed it was easier to win when you already had medals in the team. Tipp had eight this time while Cork had none. Now, Tipperary are going to have medals in the team for at least another 10 years.
Irish Examiner
20-07-2025
- Sport
- 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.'
Irish Daily Mirror
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tipperary players open up how they used to be 'ashamed' to show face in public
Last summer Jason Forde and Jake Morris felt 'ashamed' to walk down the streets of their home town. Today they walked up the Hogan Stand as All-Ireland champions. If anything sums up sport's peaks and valleys, it's this, how a team who couldn't buy a win in 2024 learned how to defy the odds time after time in 2025. And yet their celebrations come with an asterisk, a reminder that while this end point is incredible, the starting point last summer was bitter. Forde says: 'We obviously live in such a mad, hurling county and a lot of us are living close to the big towns. 'So, when you're going out and about, you're meeting people. Like, I remember meeting Jack Morris a couple of weeks after our season ended last summer and he was like, "you're nearly ashamed going around to show your face" because of the manner in which we went out.' Tipperary Liam Cahill celebrates after the game with Jason Forde Morris and Forde were not the only ones who felt that way. For defender Michael Breen, the hardship preceded the glory, as he recalls: 'Twelve months ago, we were walking down the street and kind of ducking and diving from people because you don't want to have conversations. 'And all it took for us to recover from that was an acceptance that we needed to get back into the trenches. We had to get the work done. Like we knew where we were last year, put it that way.' Where they were was in a bad place; so they spent the winter honing their fitness and then the spring picking up results. By the time summer arrived, they survived a defeat to Cork and then went into the game when their season turned - knocking All-Ireland champions Clare out. Forde says: 'In that Clare game, the Tipp crowd came out and cheered us off the bus. We were starting to reconnect with the support. 'Then there is the fact that going down to Ennis is a really tough place to visit, as it was the home of the All-Ireland Champions. 'That game was in the melting pot with five minutes to go but a couple of big scores from Eoghan Connolly and Seán Keneally and a few others kind of got us over the line. 'And I think after that game we could see that the team was starting to open up, that we knew once we got a result against Waterford that we would qualify out of Munster. That was the big game.' But yesterday's game was even bigger, of course, a microcosm of their last 12 months. Again there was hardship - a six-point deficit at the break - and again there was fighting spirit, as they stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half, scoring 3-14 to Cork's 0-2 in the second period. And for Forde it means so much to have won a third All-Ireland, after winning titles in 2016 and 2019. He said: 'After last season finished, you were meeting people and they were asking why bother going back. Some were nearly writing you off, suggesting that you were finished. 'I met Liam (Cahill, the Tipp manager) and I just said 'we couldn't leave things like that, the year that we had'. Having played for Tipp for 13 seasons, to leave it on that note wouldn't have felt right. 'And you could see the younger players that were coming. And when I met Liam you got a really good sense that there was going to be no stone left unturned to get the team back. 'There was nobody talking about winning All-Irelands. The question was whether we could get a bit of pride back in the jersey, get out of Munster and maybe reconnect with the Tipperary supporters. The fact we did that makes this win a bit sweeter.' It was a victory that stemmed from weeks of hardship building their fitness and then moments of magic building a second-half lead. As well as that, it was also a tactical victory for Cahill, who revised his 'traditionalist' approach to the game and played with a sweeper. He had to. In the semi-final, Cork put seven goals past Dublin. Yesterday they managed just one, Tipp denying them the space they crave. Cahill said: 'I suppose the dog on the street knew that you just can't leave channels for this Cork team to run through. 'Ah look, I'm a traditionalist, I like to play 15 on 15 if I can at all. But we had to cut our cloth to measure to make sure that we gave ourselves a chance. 'You know, Brian O'Mara was superb. Like, he's such a good hurler; so comfortable in the role today. 'We stopped a lot of that real hard aggressive running from Cork and that was a real platform for us to go on then and counter-attack hard and get it into the boys inside.' Yet at times in the first half he wondered if he should return to his preferred strategy when they were hitting a high number of wides. He said: 'I did wonder if we should just abandon (the sweeper) and go at it and see what will happen?' But at the start of the second half, we got a bit of oxygen and we kicked on from there. 'I suppose when you get to a final, you have to try and win it.' And they did that. Glory is theirs, the shame belonging to the past.
Irish Daily Mirror
20-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Fans call for rule change as Tipperary goal controversially chalked off
GAA fans have called for a rule to be changed after Tipperary's Jason Forde saw a goal ruled out for a square ball offence in the first-half of the All-Ireland hurling final. Forde thought he had bagged the first goal of the game when he flicked home a long booming ball. However, he was deemed to have been inside the square before the ball entered the square, therefore a square ball was called and the goal was chalked off. In hurling, a player can only enter the small rectangle and challenge for the ball after the sliotar has already entered the square. If a player enters the square before the ball enters, a square ball is called and a free is awarded to the opposition. While the rule has been around for many years and is designed to prevent goal-hanging. However, many fans aren't big supporters of the rule. "Square ball rule is shocking. Just get rid or change it to when the ball is hit," wrote one fan on X. "Square ball should be when the ball is hit you can enter the square that was a phenomenal goal and touch and it was ruined by a bad rule imo," said another. The incident has also shown that many fans are still unsure on the rule despite it being in place for decades. "Square ball is only applicable if you are in the square before the ball was hit unless rule has been changed," to which another user replied "That's only for set pieces. From open play, they can't be in the square from when its hit." Regardless, Forde wasn't in the square when the ball was struck from a set-piece. However, he did enter the square before the ball, so the call was correct. And fans that are in the know knew instantly that the decision was a correct one. "That's the clearest square ball you'll ever see. What are they on about?" posted one fan on X "Hard to believe there's a discussion about the square ball, open and shut case here," said another. To make matters worse for Tipp, Shane Barrett netted a goal on the stroker of half-time to put Cork into a 1-16 to 0-13 lead at the break. However, the men in blue and gold roared into the second-half and lead by two points at the time of writing following a John McGrath goal in the 47th minute.
