Deane loves these great days against Tipp's finest

Munster SHC Final: Keith Duggan had fond memories of the good old days rekindled in Thurles yesterday.

Maybe it does not define the summer in the south as it once did, but there was something redolent of the old days about yesterday in Thurles, with the crowds and the great weather and the two most illustrious hurling counties in the province coming back for a Munster final that carried a different significance for both teams.

"Twas nice that at least Cork didn't come up and we would just say thanks, you are going to walk away with a Munster final," joked Babs Keating afterwards.

But though the words were light hearted, the message was serious. A heavy beating yesterday would have been deeply hurtful to the Tipperary icon and, although his team lost here, it is a measure of how utterly they have turned things around that they can prepare for the All-Ireland quarter-finals with plenty of optimism.

"Tipperary were fantastic, in fairness," acknowledged Joe Deane after watching Pat Mulcahy give an acceptance speech which made pointed reference to the perception that the qualifying system has somehow devalued the importance of this storied provincial day. It was a thought that Deane, who contributed an excellent 0-8 over the afternoon, was happy to elaborate on.

"I love playing Tipp, it is always a great battle and there is never a dirty stroke. Like, going in at half-time, there we were disappointed to have let a three- or four-point lead slip. But afterwards we came out and got the first few scores and they were never ahead, I think, in the second half.

"A tough game like that was something we badly needed because it reminds you that you need to be at your level best. And we are used to these big days now, this is our fourth Munster final in a row so you can enjoy it as well as concentrating on the ball. But they are great days."

Popular wisdom made the All-Ireland champions substantial favourites to win comfortably here. Diarmuid O'Sullivan, standing sallow and bare chested outside the winning dressing room, scowls for a moment when asked if he expected the kind of torrid fight Tipperary put up.

"Course we expected," he said. "None of us are fools. Coming down to Thurles? We knew we were coming down to a tough game. The odds were ridiculous. For a two-horse race, it was madness."

Although O'Sullivan and Cork recovered from the early goal to fall back into the imposing, assured defensive unit the Leeside game has been constructed upon, it was the quietly deadly show of Brian Murphy, marking Eoin Kelly, that stood out.

"Look at the odds, Eoin Kelly is a good player, we all know that," reasoned O'Sullivan. "Look at Brian Corcorcan and Joe Deane; try marking those guys week in week out. And Brian Murphy is fantastic, he always pulls it out of the bag for us. And then the forwards got the scores we needed and Donal Cusack made some great saves."

The goalkeeper was literally unbeatable yesterday and maybe the still point of a furiously turning game came with 10 minutes remaining when Eoin Kelly, in the happy circumstance of possession with space, tested the Cloyne man with a snap shot.

It was not the most vicious strike Kelly has hit - but the poise with which Cusack killed the ball and set Cork on an immediate attack.

Afterwards, Cusack, wearing red-tinted contact lenses for the occasion, retreated quickly into the dressingroom, happy with being another step closer to where this Cork team ultimately want to finish.

"Donal Cusack is a magnificent . . . human being," said Allen. "He is a fantastic fella, he works like a Trojan at his game. And when he has the ball, I have the ultimate confidence in him. If work-rate is anything to go by, he is the best goalkeeper in the country. He is a professional in every aspect.

"But sure," he laughed, "that is what he is paid for."

Strangely, Allen seemed more animated and relieved by this victory than after their September triumph over Galway. Certainly, it felt like a classically hard contest and with Keating patrolling the sideline, it also marked a return to the high life of one of the great presences to have emerged from hurling in the last half century.

And yet the mild spoken teacher from Cork city continues to guide his team against the best of the rest.

"If you do the statistics on our team and their team you would see that we were vastly heavier in the amount of starts and the pendulum was well in our favour.

"But this is Tipperary's second Munster final and they were certainly a lot better this year.

"We played adequately. And that can only be good for us."