Cork have romped to their biggest win over Tipperary in 80 years to book their place in the knockout stages of the All-Ireland SHC.
The result rendered the outcome of the Clare-Waterford tie in Ennis irrelevant as a Cork win would ensure Waterford’s elimination, though Liam Cahill’s side saw to that themselves in any event as they suffered a heavy defeat.
Cork now go on to meet the losers of the Joe McDonagh Cup final between Antrim and Kerry in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final on the weekend of June 11/12.
In a madcap first half, Cork fell six points behind early on before recovering spectacularly to lead by 11 points at one stage.
Tipperary, needing to win by at least seven points to have any chance of staying in the Championship, made a good dent in that within 40 seconds as Jake Morris batted in a goal that was followed by three points by the sixth minute.
Cork were all over the place but finally got a grip after a Patrick Horgan free opened their account, with Conor Lehane quickly adding two points.
Conor Stakelum pushed Tipp four clear again and then came the game’s turning point. Noel McGrath stepped up to take a penalty for the home side in the 12th minute after Robert Downey dragged down Mark Kehoe and though his effort was sweetly struck, it came back out off the post and Cork swept upfield, their counter-attack ending with Alan Connolly hitting the net.
Rather than being seven down, Cork were back within one and Tipp heads dropped from there
Cork pushed one ahead before Darragh Fitzgibbon zipped through all too easily for a second Rebel goal in the 15th minute.
The visitors, and particularly Lehane, were rampant from there, with the Midleton man bringing his tally from play to 0-6 in the first half, with Cathal Barrett relieving Craig Morgan on marking duties.
A run of three points for Tipperary before half-time made the deficit slightly more manageable at 2-14 to 1-9 but hardly made their cause any less hopeless.
The game petered out quickly in the second half with a Tipperary comeback never looking even remotely likely and for a period it looked as though Cork would record their biggest ever victory in the fixture as they went 15 points clear and missed a goal chance to push it out further.
After Tipperary sub Alan Flynn was sent off for a striking offence on Lehane in the 60th minute, Cork got their third goal through Tim O’Mahony before the same player was denied another shortly afterwards.
A run of points coming down the stretch ensured that Tipp staved off the possibility of their worst ever defeat, an 18-point loss to Kilkenny in 2012.
TIPPERARY: Barry Hogan; Cathal Barrett, Ronan Maher (0-1f), Craig Morgan; Dillon Quirke (0-1), Seamus Kennedy, Barry Heffernan; Conor Stakelum (0-1), Dan McCormack; Michael Breen, Noel McGrath (0-13, 0-12f), Ger Browne; Jason Forde (0-5), Mark Kehoe, Jake Morris (1-2).
Subs: Alan Flynn for Heffernan (HT), Patrick Maher (0-1) for Browne (HT), James Quigley for Barrett (41), Conor Bowe for Breen (47), Gearoid O’Connor for McCormack (69).
CORK: Patrick Collins; Sean O’Donoghue, Robert Downey, Damien Cahalane; Niall O’Leary, Ciaran Joyce, Mark Coleman (0-3, 0-1f); Darragh Fitzgibbon (1-0), Luke Meade; Shane Kingston (0-4), Seamus Harnedy (0-3), Robbie O’Flynn (0-3); Conor Lehane (0-8, 0-1f), Patrick Horgan (0-5, 0-3f, 0-1 ‘65’), Alan Connolly (1-1).
Subs: Tim O’Mahony (1-1) for Horgan (44), Tommy O’Connell for Meade (57), Jack O’Connor (0-2) for O’Flynn (60), Ger Millerick for Downey (66), Shane Barrett for Lehane (66).
REFEREE: Sean Stack (Dublin).
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