Tipperary Clinch 29th All-Ireland Hurling Title with Stunning Second-Half Comeback Against Cork

All-Ireland SHC final: Tipperary 3-27 Cork 1-18

A second half for the ages has delivered Tipperary their 29th All-Ireland title and at the heart of this redemption story was Darragh McCarthy.

The tyro had twice been sent off on Tipperary’s way to this final including the 15-point hosing Cork had sprayed at them in April’s Munster SHC game.

But here with 1-13 he repaid all the faith stored in him by Liam Cahill who himself has overseen an extraordinary transformation from last year’s travails.

And to think there were calls for McCarthy to be dropped after he was dismissed to a second yellow card against Kilkenny.

In Tipperary’s sixth consecutive championship win, he was front and centre.

Cork were sitting pretty at half-time, six points up, but what was to follow was an onslaught. A 1-5 blast without reply In nine early second-half minutes sent Tipperary two points clear.

After Horgan missed a free to send Cork clear, Tipperary uncoiled themselves. With two on the bounce, Andrew Ormond followed a Conor Stakelum score and McCarthy followed it up with two converted frees.

Then came the goals. John McGrath followed up on a Jake Morris shot that Patrick Collins brought down and showed a cool head to beat the Cork goalkeeper in the 46th minute.

For the second goal, McGrath had pushed into Eoin Downey before he was fouled and Downey sent off for a second booking but he had been infringed upon and McCarthy’s 55th minute penalty strike was superb.

There was nothing dubious about Tipperary’s third and McGrath’s second goal in the 60th minute, a phenomenal finish after Eoghan Connolly delivered long into him. The touch to foil Collins was exquisite and Tipperary were in raptures.

Scorers of just two second-half points, Cork struck post or bar four times in the second half but they were completely outclassed by a team whose were still keen on keeping them out at the death when Rhys Shelly denied Conor Lehane from the penalty line. And how appropriate it was that Noel McGrath picked off a point at the conclusion.

One of Cork’s few star men, Shane Barrett’s goal on the cusp of the break put a better complexion on the scoreboard for Cork following a half where they were the better team and largely for their efficiency.

Tipperary were shadowing the Cork runners on Patrick Collins’s puck-outs and Tim O’Mahony, Darragh Fitzgibbon and Barrett weren’t running onto ball in space whereas Tipperary’s runners were leaving their markers.

It was an initial smothering game-plan for Tipperary and would have been deemed a relative success but for Barrett’s goal after Mark Coleman found him in space to finish a low shot from the left in the second minute of additional time.

Barrett had earlier strung together a couple of points to help Cork into a two-point lead by the 10th minute. Darragh McCarthy cancelled that out with a free followed by a score from play that required HawkEye’s assistance.

That 13th minute leveller was the last time Tipperary were on equal terms in the half. Niall O’Leary popped up for a score and Diarmaid Healy restored Cork’s two-point lead when he sent over a strike after a Patrick Horgan pass.

Tipperary were creating opportunities but five wides in the first 15 minutes was a dreadful statistic, akin to their start in the second half of the All-Ireland semi-final when they also faced into Hill 16.

Eoghan Connolly, a sixth-minute point scorer, hit an ambitious goal chance wide in the 20th minute.

Cork’s lead grew to four by the 23rd minute when Healy added a third and was as wide as five after Declan Dalton followed up a Horgan free with a long-range version of the same.

Twice Tipperary brought it back to a three-point game, corner-back Robert Doyle contributing to his team’s total in the 29th minute, but Cork were five up once more on the half-hour mark.

After McCarthy’s fourth converted free, Jason Forde goal was rightly ruled out for square ball when he touched it into the net before the ball had arrived from the long-range free.

McCarthy double his personal score from play in additional time but then Barrett landed that first goal of the game from Cork’s first sight of Rhys Shelly’s net.

It was to the last time he was beaten on Tipperary’s phenomenal day.

Scorers for Tipperary: D. McCarthy (1-13, 1-0 pen, 8 frees, 1 65); J. McGrath (2-2); J. Morris, A. Ormond, J. Forde (0-2 each); E. Connolly, W. Connors. R. Doyle, C. Stakelum, R. Shelly, N. McGrath (0-1 each).

Scorers for Cork: S. Barrett (1-4); P. Horgan (0-4, 3 frees); D. Healy (0-3); D. Fitzgibbon (0-2); N O’Leary, D. Dalton (free), A. Connolly, B. Hayes (0-1 each).

TIPPERARY: R. Shelly; R. Doyle, R. Maher (c), M. Breen; E. Connolly, C. Morgan, B. O’Mara, W. Connors; C. Stakelum; A. Ormond, S. O’Farrell, J. Morris; D. McCarthy, J. McGrath, J. Forde.

Subs: S. Kennedy for B. O’Mara (50); A. Tynan for C. Morgan (56); N. McGrath for S. O’Farrell (60); D. Stakelum for C. Stakelum (65); O. O’Donoghue for J. Morris (66).

CORK: P. Collins; S. O’Donoghue, E. Downey, N. O’Leary; C. Joyce, R. Downey (c), M Coleman; T. O’Mahony, D. Fitzgibbon; D. Dalton, S. Barrett, D. Healy; P. Horgan, B. Hayes, A. Connolly.

Subs: S. Harnedy for D. Dalton (44); D. Cahalane for D. Healy (56); C. Lehane for P. Horgan (58); S. Kingston for A. Connolly (65); T. O’Connell for T. O’Mahony (67).

Sent off: E. Downey (54, second yellow).

Referee: L. Gordon (Galway).