Pat Ryan's words of advice to his Cork players ahead of All-Ireland final
It is a first-ever meeting in the Croke Park decider between Cork, who are the reigning Munster champions, and their provincial rivals And there has been massive hype around Ryan's team after they came so close to lifting the Liam MacCarthy Cup 12 months ago when they lost by a point to Clare.
Cork have won three of the last four championship meetings between the counties and drawn the other - and also prevailed in this year's league final this year.
"We'll be built up, we'll probably be favourites going into it, but we were favourites too last year and that didn't work out," said Ryan. "We just need to concentrate on ourselves and make sure we're ready."
Tipp have recovered brilliantly from the real low point of their 18-point hammering by Cork in Thurles last year, a result that ended championship hopes with a round to spare in Munster.
Cork fans outnumbered their Tipp counterparts in Semple Stadium that day but Liam Cahill's side have captured the imagination of the Premier county support with their revival this summer.
"It wasn't a surprise, they've brilliant players," stressed Ryan. "There was probably a bit of negativity after that game, I remember Liam being asked a question about was he going to be staying on. Cork's Declan Dalton and Craig Morgan of Tipperary in the Munster SHC round two clash between the counties in April (Image: ©INPHO/James Crombie)
"But you could see the difference within the county board, within the people, even the Tipperary people in the media, they've really got around this team, they've got around Liam. They've backed him since day one, since the start of the league. And they've taken off.
"Look, Liam's got unbelievable expertise. He's got a great CV behind him, what he's done in different teams, different age groups. That wasn't a surprise.
"They were in the league final, they qualified out, beat the All-Ireland champions already, drew with Limerick. We're under no illusions."
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