Liam Cahill riding the wave with the good ship Tipp

RTÉ News​

16-07-2025

If we truly learn more from failure than success, Cork's hurlers could live to regret their two most recent victories over their counterparts from Tipperary when two sides clash in the marquee match in the calendar at Croke Park on Sunday.
The Rebels are favourites to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup for a 31st time when they face the Premier County in the All-Ireland SHC final at HQ, while Liam Cahill's charges are third on hurling's totem pole with 28 championships to their name.
Last season was one of underachievement and bitter disappointment for Tipperary. A chastening 11-point drubbing by Clare in the semi-finals of the league was followed by an even more underwhelming championship campaign, where they failed to emerge form Munster, with their nadir a 4-30 to 1-21 hammering at the hands of Cork.
But what a difference a year makes. Limerick and Cork are the only teams to have beaten the Premier County in 2025 between league and championship, and Cahill and his troops are enjoying their trajectory after the travails of their last campaign.
"It's been a brilliant journey for all of us, everyone involved with Tipperary, from players, management, to supporters alike, Cahill told RTÉ Sport.
"Huge change, I suppose, in personnel on the field as well as anything else.
"I think there is huge excitement and encouragement around the way our team is performing at the moment.
"People have heard me say it numerous times, when the Tipperary supporters are looking at a team giving it everything for the jersey and fighting for everything that's on offer, they back their players, regardless of the result, and I think we're both feeding off of one another really well.
"Our underage success has helped as well.
"Things in Tipperary, while we get criticised maybe the odd time for not doing things that well, we do a lot of things right.
"Our county board, our games development, our underage structure, I think the alignment with everybody in that regard, and huge support from a lot of really successful GAA business people as well outside of of what has to happen on the field have come in and supported a lot of people in the whole collective of of rising the ship that was, we won't say fully sunk, but maybe half halfway down.
"But we're glad that the tide has risen again and we're back up and looking forward now to our flagship team and Tipperary being in the last two of the championship."
Tipperary, who had beaten Cork at Semple Stadium in the Division 1A in February, proved no match for the same opposition in the league decider, with Pat Ryan's sharpshooters recording a 3-24 to 0-23 victory.
However, Cork already led by 3-16 to 0-12 at the interval, leaving Cahill's outfit facing a task that proved insurmountable.
"The real learning from the league final was that to beat this Cork team, you have to hurl for a full 70 minutes and you really have to to start the match," Cahill opined.
"The first 15 minutes there of the league final, Cork really got a foothold on the game and we were playing catch-up for most of it."
When the sides met again in the Munster final, the Rebels built a similarly daunting half-time buffer, leading 3-12 to 0-12 en route to a 4-27 to 0-24 final.
However, an asterisk arguably needs to be inserted beside that scoreline as Tipperary's Darragh McCarthy was dismissed for a pre-match off-the-ball incident.
The 19-year-old is in danger of becoming a Tipp enfant terrible after again seeing red in the semi-final against Kilkenny.
Nevertheless, his manager opted to accentuate the positives from that final defeat to Cork.
"In hindsight, it has been a big part of why we're in the last two of this championship," he said. "We left hugely encouraged that day, believe it or not.
"I know that the scoreboard might not have been pretty, but I thought with the way our players applied themselves – being down to 14 men for all of the game – the chances we created, and I think the players in general left, left Páirc Uí Chaoimh that day saying 'you know, we have a real chance in this championship if we can stay, performing'."
Cahill is all too aware that only Tipperary's best will do against a prolific Cork outfit, and praised his rivals, saying: "They're a really, really formidable outfit.
"We will really have to be defensively really good.
"We cannot afford to to give Cork the opportunities to score goal chances or goal opportunities like they've done right through this championship.
"So our key priority will be to really start the match well and make sure that we shut down any real goal threats as much as possible for the full 70-plus minutes."
The task facing the manager and his players is a formidable one, but Cahill is relishing the prospect, with his own sense of eagerness palpable, as he added of the mood in the camp: "It's, it's one of real, real excitement.
"I'm really, really proud to have achieved what we've achieved to date, but there'll be a burning desire to really go after this.
"We don't know when we'll find ourselves back up here again.
"So we're going to embrace this with everything we've got and really give it 100% and see where it takes us.
"For me, I'm just thrilled to have the honour of leading this group of men that have been so brilliant all year into the All-Ireland final."