GAELIC GAMES:SÉAMUS CALLANAN wanders up the narrow corridor holding his modernist man of the match sculpture and is immediately surrounded by a crowd. It seems like the first time all day that the Drom and Inch man has been pinned down.
Back after a broken collarbone, Callanan had such a smooth return to the Tipp colours it was as though he had never been away.
“I am delighted to get my place back and to come in a get a few scores after a long lay-off. Everyone chipped in there today. We know there are things we have to work on. We let Cork back in during the second half.
“We never doubt ourselves. We have leaders all over the field so we don’t have to look around for someone else to step up. You take the game by the scruff of the neck yourself. Cork coming back into the game and getting a run of points was tough but we believe in ourselves. You have to believe in yourself.
“There is a lot of hard work gone into today. That is the panel – you saw Benny (Dunne) and Woody ( James Woodlock) coming in there today and chipping away with scores and it is great to see.”
Nearby, Lar Corbett was elaborating on the same theme. Tipperary’s strength in depth was key to this win and when Cork reeled them in, they trusted one another to work through it.
“It was back to a draw. No matter who gets the score, someone is going to get it.
It is back down to the character of the team. And it is great to see. Eoin (Kelly) would have said during the week – the last three times we togged out against a Cork set-up, we didn’t get a result. We were favourites last year and we got a lesson. Thank God we learned from it.”
Cork were learning on the hoof. In the dressing room at half-time, they told themselves that the big difference had been in execution: Tipperary had nailed their goal chances. Cork had not.
“It would have made a difference,” Denis Walsh said of those early chances.
“We came here and we knew we would be fairly strong. It depended on everyone performing. I would say it was a tremendous game and I am looking forward to going back and looking at it.
“We dictated early on and then Tipp went and got 2-3 and it looked like the game was up. Then we responded in the second half and let’s be honest: the third goal we conceded was soft. The game was tremendous but we came up short.”
Declan Ryan emerges from the Tipperary dressing room with a broad smile. From the manager’s perspective, it was a perfect Munster championship opening: tough and tricky and one which confirmed the qualities they built up during last year’s All-Ireland.
“I am very proud of the players. They have put in a lot of work since January. We knew that Cork would be well prepared under Denis Walsh.
“It was a nice dry ball today but these fellas have prepared at a level that is very high and you could see that in the scores taken today and the skill level on both sides. I think Cork can take a lot of positives out of the game today. They were tremendous for most of the second half and they will be a force in the championship yet.”
Clare are next on the horizon for the All-Ireland champions. They are up and running.
