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The Irish Sun

Tipperary's performance in All-Ireland final was best I have ever seen – Liam Cahill has restored pride in the jersey

HATS OFF to Liam Cahill — that second half was the best Tipperary performance I've ever seen. Pride has been restored in the blue and gold in serious style. 3 Tipperary won the All-Ireland hurling title for the first time in six years Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile 3 Babs Keating called it the best performance he had ever seen from Tipperary Credit: Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE And there are In that ruthless second period, Tipp did to Cork what Cork have been doing to us in recent times. The Rebels mauled us in Munster last year, beat us in the league final this season and sent us packing by 4-27 to 0-24 in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in April. Read More on GAA But Tipp left them absolutely shell-shocked in a There will be some scenes when they arrive back in Thurles with the Liam MacCarthy — given that the team looked Fair play to Cahill for sticking at it. I've been that soldier and it can be an incredibly unforgiving place. He got them into serious shape over the winter and that all came to fruition in this campaign. Most read in GAA Hurling Drawing with And they bounced back from a big reality check against Cork on Leeside to win six matches on the bounce and land the big one. Liam Cahill speaks to RTE after Tipperary GAA win All-Ireland final They looked beaten against The same thing happened yesterday when Cork went 1-16 to 0-13 up at half-time before a blue and gold surge like we've never seen before. It was a simply wonderful performance from a brilliant group of players who hadn't been doing themselves justice. A new approach was needed with some new faces. They went back to basics and winning the Under-20 All-Ireland under Brendan Cummins gave them a huge lift. A rising tide lifts all boats and four of those players were in Liam's squad yesterday — Oisín O'Donoghue and Paddy McCormack on the bench, while Sam O'Farrell has nailed down his jersey at wing-forward. And what do we say about Darragh McCarthy? I questioned his discipline when he was sent off twice this summer . And I questioned if he was the right man to take Tipp's frees. But he silenced all that on the biggest day of all. He only had one wide, scored eight frees and took his penalty brilliantly to send Tipp six ahead — and they never looked back. Tipp had nine first-half wides but it didn't put them off. There was no waste after that, they grew with every ball and their confidence hit the roof as soon as John McGrath scored that first goal. 3 Darragh McCarthy got 1-13 in the All-Ireland final Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile There was a bit of luck involved but McGrath made his own luck and it summed him up as a player. He was always on alert for the ball to drop and that's exactly what happened when Patrick Collins went for that long ball lumped in by Jake Morris. McGrath also won the penalty which McCarthy scored after Eoin Downey picked up his second yellow card. And he all but put the game to bed when he flicked Robert Doyle's ball into the net on the hour mark. Ronan Maher was absolutely immense too and put in a real captain's display. He controlled the Tipp defence and made life so easy for his team-mates around him. His judgment and anticipation were superb and he also man-marked Cork's dangerman Brian Hayes and held him to a point. Our midfield thrived as well, as O'Farrell switched to partner the brilliant Conor Stakelum. Stakelum's semi-final performance saw him keep his jersey. Picking him between him and Alan Tynan must have been a very tough call. Willie Connors was tasked with ­nullifying Declan Dalton and did that brilliantly — and Darragh Fitzgibbon was halted on many of his forward runs that have made him such a threat for Cork. I tipped the Rebels to win in yesterday's column but that prediction did come with a health warning. Collins was responsible for both of McGrath's goals and seriously malfunctioned on his second-half puckouts. Ref Liam Gordon had an OK game and the two yellows for Downey were probably justified — but going to Hawk-Eye four times in an All-Ireland final raises questions about the quality of his umpires. In fairness to the Cork fans, a lot of them came up to me and congratulated me in the stand at the final whistle, despite how hurt they were by what they'd witnessed. For a proud hurling county, to be still waiting for so long to reach the promised land isn't easy. You'd have to feel sorry for Pat Ryan given the year he's had personally with the tragic death of his brother, Ray, in March and all the pressure that was on him coming into the game. The expectancy on Leeside was ­massive and they looked certain to end their 20-year famine. They won the ticket race as well given the amount of red at Croker but many of them hit the road as soon as McGrath scored his second goal. Tipp know the talent that is coming but Cork's Under-20s were beaten in the Munster semi-finals by Clare and their minors were beaten by the Banner in the All-Ireland semis. Patrick Horgan's quest for glory has ended in failure again and at 37, it's hard to see him coming back next year. But the joy on the stands when 'Slievenamon' came on after the game was truly special. Tipp no longer fear the Rebels — and thanks to Liam Cahill, the pride is back in that jersey.