Cork keep iron hold on Munster domain

Munster SHC Final: Indomitable. The enigma of this most controlled and ambitious band of Rebel brothers deepens after an old-fashioned and thrilling Munster final at the high altar of hurling.

Tipperary, supposedly the sick man of the old game, gave a storming and brave performance yesterday and pushed and harassed those famous red shirts for 70 minutes of gripping, occasionally molten, hurling.

They announced their intentions with a screaming, glorious goal from Lar Corbett after three minutes and were still hounding and barracking Cork deep into injury time.

In between times, they yielded nothing easily, but they could not prevent Cork emerging as 2-14 to 1-14 victors.

They were buckled at the end, those Tipperary boys. They were spent and brave and learned more about what is emerging as the most frightening characteristic of this deep and serious Cork team intent on nailing their place in GAA history.

Cork appear to have no breaking point, at least not one that has been identified. Cork have achieved that rare faculty in team sport whereby their self-possession and composure is beyond compromise. So it was that on a hot afternoon, when they dug deep rather than soared to the formidable heights from which they vaporised Clare last month, they were able to retain the Munster final with a taut, clean, granite display.

"It's a hard sport out there," murmured Babs Keating afterwards, greying fringe falling over the blue eyes that called upon vivid memories of long-past Munster finals in seeking to make sense of this one.

"Winning Munster finals, it's not for the easy guys. They don't come that way. And our team have to learn a bit more toughness. We cannot be leaving John Gardiner catching balls out of the sky without him being disputed for it. We will work on those areas.

"But we've come on a long journey since the early spring. And we stood shoulder to shoulder. Being in Semple Stadium today, it's one of the great days in Irish sport. I don't know what will be written about this match but the second half was not good enough from my point of view. But there's a lot of hurling to be played yet."

And Babs has ambitions that Tipperary's colours should streak through those contests. Yesterday gave the Tipp backroom boys plenty to praise and plenty to ponder.

After Corbett's sensational opening move, the teams tore into this occasion at a stunning pace and intensity. Brian Corcoran restored the Cork pulse rate with one of his typical out-of-the-blue goals, working clairvoyance with Joe Deane.

On 20 minutes, they breached Tipperary again, a sweeping move involving Ronan Curran and Tom Kelly and finished with the killer speed and daring of Ben O'Connor.

Cork would not fall behind thereafter, taking care of business with their customary variety of weaponry: John Gardiner with a monster free, Donal Cusack with a succession of fine, brave stops, Kieran Murphy landing maybe the score of the day with his very first touch in the 68th minute.

That was a heartbreaker, that snappy point with Tipp's gallant defence bearing down on him, and there seemed something inevitable about the calm closure of the match by Cork with a Joe Deane free.

"Was it a good game?" mused John Allen. "It's hard to know when it's that tight. It was certainly the most tense I was involved with for the past few years. I felt our touch was a bit off. We didn't play great today but we weren't allowed to. And I was concerned that we gave away some soft scores.

"The hurling was probably good enough but not brilliant. We played adequately. And that can only be good for us."

And the worry for all would be that Tipperary may have helped Cork tap more deeply into their ferocious instinct for winning. The challengers had lionhearted showings from Paul Ormonde and Paul Curran and Eamon Corcoran and found a way to keep in touch on the scoreboard during the intense, slow-scoring second half.

The big feature, though, was Tipperary could not benefit from another outrageous individual show from their brightest hope, Eoin Kelly. He delivered one beautiful score, on the run, struck over his shoulder when Tipperary were parched. But overall he was shadowed and hounded by Brian Murphy and lost behind the intimidating Cork half-back line.

"It was never going to be easy for Eoin Kelly," Babs said quietly, standing on the field of his boyhood feats, half proud and half-regretful. "I go back to tradition and I said it to Eoin, that what happened against Limerick and Waterford would never happen again. And we all heard the story of how Christy Ring got no score off Tommy Doyle for two and a half hours. We all know what happened DJ Carey in an All-Ireland final in 1999. So Eoin Kelly was up against the same today."

He was, and more. Perhaps the Mullinahone genius will get another tilt at this shining Cork team. For there is the sense now that it will take actual genius, something beyond mere will and courage, to halt them.

Munster is Cork's. It will not sate them.