HURLING ANALYST: Tipp will realise if Cork had taken their chances the outcome might have been very different

IT WAS nearly a great match; a better crowd than people imagined saw it nearly get to the stage where Cork seriously threatened Tipperary. But it didn’t quite happen.

The key period came in the 10 minutes after half-time. Tipp got a goal, which looked fantastic but on second viewing mightn’t have been quite as good as it looked because Séamus Callanan may have mishit it slightly. But it got the second half off to a great start.

Then Pat Horgan should have scored but was badly wide and minutes later Cork had a goal disallowed in favour of a penalty, which Brendan Cummins somehow blocked and Ben O’Connor even put the resulting 65 wide. That could have been two goals and a point, which would have put an entirely different complexion on the second half.

It became very hard for Cork to win after those misses.

Tipperary mixed the really good with the mediocre. They had problems – again – in the half forwards, as once Cork’s half backs began to dominate Tipp just couldn’t compete. It was quite a contrast with the first half when John O’Brien won some fantastic ball. Lar Corbett was in and out of the line and Séamus Callanan was very good on the ball.

After Cork’s adjustment of bringing Tom Kenny out to wing back, Tipp couldn’t win primary possession although my view is there were mitigating circumstances because the wind was worse than it seemed. But there was also lack of effort off the ball by the half forwards and that’s inexcusable. That consistency of graft and effort continues to be a big issue for manager Liam Sheedy.

It’s easy to criticise what went wrong but the fact is they beat Cork and seemed to have a bit in hand. Cork struggled with placed balls, hit poor 65s and Tipp looked the more potent attack. The subs worked well in the end, in particular Benny Dunne, who came on with Cork there or thereabouts.

In a way it was hard to believe they were so close, as they’d been working a lot harder for their scores but Dunne finished them off with what I’d call a couple of “experienced” points, knowing where to be and when to shoot.

Overall Tipp’s debutants did well and ultimately Sheedy is still blooding young players. Noel McGrath had a very good first senior match although he faded in the second half and so did Pádraig Maher. What happens now with two good centre backs is hard to tell. It’s not a problem Tipp managers have had for a long time.

Maher’s switch to centre back was a good move as Conor O’Mahony clearly hadn’t recovered from the mumps and was lighter than I’ve seen him in two years of championship. The half-back line didn’t look balanced, particularly with O’Mahony not 100 per cent.

Playing Eoin Kelly, who was also short of match practice, was on the other hand a success. He’s such a talisman for the team, encouraging young McGrath and hitting a great point on 20 seconds. Those frees he hit in the second half were crucial to keeping Tipp in control and he nailed them even if his second half wasn’t overall as productive. Cork missed two 65s and changed their free-taker.

But Denis Walsh also has positives to take from the display. He will have learned a great deal from what he saw. Pa Cronin and Cathal Naughton did well enough after coming into the game to suggest that they should have started instead of the McCarthys.

Eoin Cadogan played well at full back and that is encouraging. Aisake Ó hAilpín had a good game for someone playing his first competitive match for Cork. He looked dangerous when the right ball went in and even if the handpass for Horgan was poor he rates as a good find for Denis Walsh.

Looking at the pre-match parade, Micheál Webster’s a huge man but Ó hAilpín’s even bigger and if you assess the success of the teams’ respective long ball strategies you’d have to say that Cork were ahead.

I believe he’ll be a fixture. He has athleticism and the right attitude and I understand the selection. He brought an element of mystery to the team and there wasn’t enough mystery about Cork in general. Then again if Cork had taken those chances the outcome might have been different.

Tipp won an ugly game but that’s sometimes for the best. They hadn’t beaten Cork in the championship in Thurles for a long time and they have the potential to train on from here albeit with issues to address. There are areas where improvement is needed as the bar is higher than we saw in Thurles yesterday.

On Saturday night I was aware that home advantage would be potentially significant for Wexford. They’re very hard to beat there. Offaly had the more skilful players but Wexford’s attitude, especially fellas like Ritchie Kehoe and Stephen Banville, won the day in the end. You have to hand it to Colm Bonnar with the amount of injuries he had to cope with. I was disappointed with Offaly. Last year they looked on the way up but they were outmuscled on Saturday. They’re still not gone and can regroup because the standard on the night wasn’t hugely behind what we saw in Thurles yesterday.