CONOR COUNIHAN can take the plaudits that now follow having become the first manager in a long time to figure out the tactical subtleties of Mickey Harte’s Tyrone.

It has been apparent since the Munster semi-final replay against Kerry that Counihan has found the correct balance between young talent and battle-hardened warriors to finally make a national breakthrough.

Now all they have to do is stay the course.

The immediate challenge was to win a big game in Croke Park; the place where Cork experienced death by a thousand cuts (primarily inflicted by Kerry’s Colm Cooper and Kieran Donaghy) two years back. A season on and they lost to Kerry again on the main stage.

It makes victory over their primary enemy earlier this summer irrelevant. Even beating Tyrone, the undisputed best team in Ireland until yesterday, will become a little hollow should they fail in September.

Meath, we suspect, will not deny them a tilt at Kerry in the All-Ireland final. This time they arrive devoid of the fear that uncertainty of their own ability brings.

Counihan would laugh off the suggestion, but really he has just become a manager of high tactical repute. That is the reward for figuring out a methodology to contain the flowing raids of Tyrone.

“They have led the way in that and fierce credit to him because that’s what management is all about,” he said of the Harte revolution in Tyrone.

“Mickey and his boys have been streets head.

“We were just fortunate today that we have a particularly good group of players who just performed on the day because that’s what it is all about now. You’ve seen some games this year where margins can be quite wide because one team is up for it.

“From our point of view our focus has to be about being up for a performance here in four weeks’ time and hopefully maybe complete the job.”

Granted, Cork had an ideal start but Tyrone have won three All-Irelands since 2003 due to an unrelenting ability to let pace and quality overrun the opposition. The scoreline does not reflect it but that was because Cork held firm in the face of a storm that was never allowed to rage.

“There are crucial stages in the game where you either stand up or you crack, and I felt we stood up at times. You know there is only so many times a team can come at you. I felt we reached that at a certain point today, midway through the second half, where we stood firm in the battle and pushed on. But you are never happy you are out the gate until the final whistle goes,” said Counihan.

The loss of Alan O’Connor after 30 minutes seemed like the break Tyrone needed to begin returning fire. Instead, we witnessed another example of the 14-man stubbornness that a red card can have on good sides.

“It’s probably (more) straight-forward when you’re down a man. It can be difficult at times when you actually have the spare man. When you are down to 14 it’s throw caution to the wind whereas if you have the extra man there is always a tendency that people around become complacent and they are not pushing on as much as they can.

“I won’t say we want to have someone sent off everyday,” joked the Cork manager.

Regarding Tyrone, Counihan was complimentary.

“We came 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.”

Such a great victory but they cannot celebrate it just yet. Penultimate performances quickly become irrelevant if they are not repeated when the ultimate test comes.

Centre forward Pearse O’Neill was asked about progress. “Progress is winning the All-Ireland.”

A clear intention stated.