Cork’s All-Ireland Hurling Final Loss
Hurling had rarely seen anything like it; the outcome and performance were so devastating and earth-shattering that Cork dominated everything, defeating dublin in July’s All-Ireland semi-final with a display of pace and brilliance.
Dublin played poorly, but the way Cork combined sublime skill and fluid movement to create devastating attacking patterns was as scintillating as the result.
The performance entertained and thrilled those far beyond their own boundaries. How could anyone not love watching a team in such a state of flow and brilliance?
HERITAGE
It woudl be hard not to, as the public always cherish teams that capture the inventiveness, teams that see style as a form of expression of their character and innate heritage, operating in a way that almost transcends the game.
It was hard to believe that so many people who loved watching a team weave its magic were also hoping that the same team would loose on the biggest day of all.
How did that make sense? It made even less sense when Cork had the most loved and respected manager in the game outside the county at that time, Pat Ryan.
That attitude was even more bizarre when Cork had gone two decades without an All-ireland, while Tipperary had won three All-Irelands in the previous 15 years.
Everybody loves an underdog, but Tipperary hasn’t always been the most popular hurling county either. Still, Cork’s pre-match status as a strong and almost unbackable favorite did garner a lot of public support for Tipp.
It’s just human nature for people to want to see somebody else taken down when they are held in such high regard. The mood in Cork had been so giddy and jingoistic in the two weeks before the final that nobody inside the county could foresee anything other than a Cork victory.
Once they lost in such breathtaking fashion, few people outside the county felt any real empathy for Cork.