GAELIC GAMES: ALTHOUGH THESE things never get confirmed at the time, there was a distinct air of football undergoing a generational shift at Croke Park yesterday. Tyrone – for much of this decade implacable masters of artfully defusing the strengths of opponents – arrived as All-Ireland champions and departed thoroughly dethroned.

The level of anticipation surrounding this All-Ireland semi-final was immense: the two best teams of the season meeting head-to-head. Cork’s formidable combination of big, physically powerful players and the sort of fifth-gear mobility not usually associated with such size would, we all knew, test Tyrone seriously.

Cork manager Conor Counihan said afterwards they themselves had come into the match looking for a test, maybe needing one in the wake of assorted heartaches at the headquarters venue over the years.

“We have come through the championship really wanting a good team to test us. Tyrone are three-time All-Ireland champions in the last number of years. It doesn’t come much bigger.

“They have brought an awful lot to the game. They have come an awful long way in a short period of time for a county that hadn’t been traditionally winning All-Irelands. They were the benchmark. Thankfully today we came out on top.”

He said that he hadn’t seen the incident leading to the 30th-minute sending-off of centrefielder Alan O’Connor, a loss that Cork made light of in the remaining 40 minutes, never deviating from their hard-working, tight-marking game plan, which ultimately subjected Tyrone to the sort of breakdown that the Ulster champions have fostered in opponents so often in the past six years.

Once they took the lead in the eighth minute with a blistering finish to the net by Daniel Goulding, Cork never relinquished it.

As is often the case with champions, the weight of money was conservative, banking on their trademark pressing game and the tactical mastery of manager Mickey Harte to pull through this meeting with the game’s most serious pretenders to the prevailing duopoly of Kerry and Tyrone.

Harte’s side suffered a major setback before the throw-in when last season’s footballer of the year Seán Cavanagh had to withdraw because of illness.

“Just this morning Seán told us he wasn’t feeling good. That’s very disappointing, of course, in a game like this where the whole emphasis was on the physique and size of Cork and we lose one of our biggest men and one of our biggest players. That was a big setback but that happened and we have to live with that.”

Harte was, however, generous in his concession of defeat.

“Some days you meet teams that are better than you and we certainly did that today. I suppose for me the crucial score was the goal, even though Cork were hungry for the game and looking sharp. If we hadn’t conceded the goal I think there was still every chance that we could have kept in touch.

“That made it difficult for us as they had that cushion. They continued to play good football and coped well with losing a man.”

Thriving in adversity was another positive that Counihan took from his side’s win. Croke Park has been a graveyard for the county’s ambitions this decade but virtually always at the hands of Kerry. Against other teams Cork’s record is good but yesterday was a major championship scalp.

“I suppose they dealt with it admirably,” said the manager of his team’s ability to win with 14 men. “People questioned the team for a long time. Even last year again. They’ve shown a lot of character. Maybe we came out short in All-Ireland semi-final and final stages in the past but there can only be one winner in this business.

“That doesn’t mean the other teams are poor. I’d be very proud of the way they performed today but we would equally acknowledge that wouldn’t be enough to win the All-Ireland.”

Cork are one match from the county’s first Sam Maguire in 19 years, the second of back-to-back titles won by the team on which Counihan played. The spectre at the feast may well be Kerry, who next week face Meath in the other semi-final.

In six previous Croke Park meetings with their neighbours, Cork have yet to win – despite having frequently beaten them in the more familiar surroundings of the Munster championship. That, assuming Meath don’t spring the surprise of the championship, is the challenge ahead.

At half-time there was an evocation of Croke Park’s past as an athletics venue and the GAA’s historical links with track and field in a relay race between Gaelic games players and athletes representing the four provinces. As in the senior football match, Munster’s representatives did best with Derval O’Rourke – four days after coming fourth in her world championships race – leading the province to victory over Ulster.