Sky burns red again for Munster's elite

Ken Hogan reached the door of his side's dressing-room. John Allen made his way through the river of people under the stand at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. He's smiling but not in that happy, delirious way that winners often light up.

It's more like he's just woken from a bad sleep and discovered that he's alive and it's sunny out. He stops to talk and all the while gets pressed backwards into the flow of people.

"It was a bizarre game. I should feel ecstatic but we were so good in the first half hour I was saying 'when is it going to go wrong'. I'm relieved that it's over but bizarre is the word that would describe it."

In all of Cork's half century of Munster final victories this was perhaps the first when they came close to handing an 11-point lead back to Tipperary. Allen was still bemused.

"We totally dominated the first half and then we fell away in midfield. Our half forward line fell away. I'm relieved I'll have to see the video to see what did happen. It was extremely warm; it was warm for both teams. The way we were running in the first half, we stopped that. We lost the second half. Having said that Tipp beat and the Da Vinci code read isn't bad for the week."

The Da Vinci code might have been easier to decipher than elements of the game yesterday. There was no good explanation to be had for the whereabouts of the Cork midfield and half forward line.

"We certainly didn't feel we were after winning at half time. For five minutes at the end of the first half I felt we were showboating again. In fairness I didn't want that to creep into our game. Teams dominate and start messing and games slip away. We didn't say nice things at half time. We were tough on them. Maybe not tough enough!"

He made some housekeeping notes. Brian Corcoran has a dislocated shoulder. The midfield ran out of steam. There's work to be done. He posed for pictures with fans and headed back into the dressingroom wearing his game face.

Seán Óg Ó hAilpín recognised the essential oddness of the encounter but felt that a win was a win.

"To be honest if somebody told me this morning that we'd win by a point I'd take it. We won. We set out our stall to win it.

"It wasn't nice at times. It was ugly in the second half. But we knew. We told fellas at half time, get ready for the Tipp onslaught because they are a proud hurling county.

"We knew they wouldn't give it to us easy, we asked fellas to put themselves in their position. Eleven points down at half time. We knew they would come out. They felt if there was more game-time it could have been much closer. We'll have to reassess our performance in the second half but you're better of winning with work to do than getting pumped up. In that respect we're happy."

The eclipse of the midfield and half forwards was a surprise though and the pressure on Cork was such that Seán Óg and John Gardiner emerged form the second half as Cork's most influential players.

"Tipp never allowed us to play with the same fluency. In the first half it was copy book training stuff. Boom Boom Boom! Normal routine. Tipp will worry why they didn't do it from the outset. Tús maith leath na hoibre.

"What pleased me about the second half was that when they put us under serious pressure we got a point to give us some breathing space. In the end Munster finals are for winning," added Ó hAilpín."

And the captaincy? "It's a nice honour. I told the lads before the game I'm honoured to be captain of a special bunch of lads; it's an honour to represent them. I think this is Cork's 50th Munster final title. There have been great captains. I'm just happy to be mentioned in that bracket."

Ken Hogan made his way nearly to Tipp's dressingroom door. He paused and gave out his thoughts like a man giving evidence.

"It was looking ominous at half time. Cork playing into the Cork end, against the elements and against everything, all the odds. It was hard to lift our heads. We take this thing collectively. We played poorly as a unit in the first half.

"We decided at half-time to restore pride for our people and for Tipperary hurling and the youngsters coming along."

Hogan was gracious towards Cork, but less so toward the referee.

"The game was punctuated with stoppages. The game was just flowing and next thing there'd be blowing. The whole momentum would be taken out of it again.

"When there was just four points in it, John Devane won a ball on the wing, he was heading for goal and it was blown. The ball went down and Cork got a free and made it five and that basically was it.

"Ye're the neutrals. I thought every time we would reach a crescendo it would be interrupted. We'd get two or three points and then it would be a Cork free. I don't know how many points Cork scored from frees. That's not Cork's fault.

"I am loth to criticise refs, I respect their position, but having said that you can't facilitate people. You have to earn your frees. We expect to earn our frees. So do Cork.

"I can say no more. We have huge admiration for Cork, great people, great ambassadors for hurling, we salute them for winning. We're delighted that we restored lost pride. What more can I say.."

And so the sun went down on another Munster hurling championship. Briefly the sky burned red.