WE go again! With just a few days to digest last weekend’s draw against Clare in the Munster Senor Hurling Championship opener, the Cork hurlers are back in action this Sunday against Tipperary in Páirc Uí Chaoimh at 4pm, live on RTÉ2.
Tipp head into this clash after a draw themselves, albeit with different kinds of emotions, having gone toe to toe with Limerick only to finish level, 2-23 each.
If Cork do manage to win this game, it would already put the Rebels in a good spot regarding progression from the Munster SHC round-robin. If Cork win their home games, Waterford being the other one, they will sit on five points which should be enough to progress to the All-Ireland series at least.
However, the Premier County have shown in the league and against Limerick that they will be no pushovers – they had 32 shots last Sunday against Limerick and converted 25 of them for a 78 percent conversion rate.
Darragh McCarthy, in his first senior championship start, Jake Morris and John McGrath proved troublesome for the Treaty defence. If the Cork backs aren’t on their A game, which was the case in the second half in Ennis, there could be trouble.
Out of the four teams in action in the first round, Tipp won the most turnovers (32) indicating that their defence in Eoghan Connolly, Bryan O’Mara and captain Ronan Maher are tough to win battles against.
In terms of recent match-ups, the two teams have played each other twice already this year, winning one game each. Crucially though, Tipp haven’t beaten the Rebels in the championship since the 2020 All-Ireland qualifier and not in Munster since 2019. Cork won last year’s fixture between the two in Thurles, 4-30 to 1-21, where Alan Connolly (3-1) and Patrick Horgan (1-9) were in flying form.
Interestingly, Cork have scored three or more goals against Tipp in their last three championship meetings. Maybe a sign that if Pat Ryan’s team can sense goals, they’ll go for the net. Tipp will be more tuned in on that stat, you would think.
This could be a tougher game for Cork than recent Tipperary games and the Rebels need to be tuned in for 70 minutes, not 35 like against Clare. Another week, another game. It’s why we love the Munster hurling championship.
