TOM HUMPHRIESfinds a mood of quiet satisfaction in evidence amongst the Cork camp after their unexpectedly comprehensive victory

IN THE corner of the boardroom in Páirc Uí Chaoimh Denis Walsh drew the microphones and tapes toward him with the same implacable calm that he brings to the Cork job.

This was a day when the Cork team and their manager would have been forgiven if they had indulged in a little fist-pumping, some conspicuous high-fiving and a little bit of trash-talking. Hey suckers! Who da man now?

But no. it was all rather more polite and prosaic.

“All we did at the end of the day was pick what we thought was the best 15 for the job, the players with the form, including Tom Kenny who proved his fitness there today.”

Oh. Well, we said, if that’s all there is to it, how come the Cork team are so choosy about managers? Not really.

We just asked what had been said at half-time. The answer was a little more revealing in terms of the details.

“At half-time we wound the clock back to zero really. We made sure that we would be as strong at the start of the second half as we had been at the start of the first half. Go back last year, Tipp in the championship, Galway in the championship, go back to Galway in the league final.

“We conceded at least a point or two on each of those three occasions after half-time and handed back the momentum. We said that wouldn’t happen again.”

If we were getting a flavour of Walsh’s attention to detail he was keen to get his message across. Having hay saved and Tipp bate counts for little these days.

“The challenge for the lads is to repeat it the next day. That’s always a challenge at this time of the year, to rise up and meet the challenge head-on. Our players are very self-motivated and that is a positive thing. From the point of view of what we asked them to do for the team we had 15 who delivered today.

“Niall Mac (Carthy) was the first to come off today and he was excellent. A few lads will be disappointed they didn’t get a run but, listen, it isn’t a charity we are running.”

Not a charity. Tell Tipp.

John Gardiner must have aged a few years during last year’s strike. Yesterday he turned the clock back, wiping out his marker, scoring twice and dropping a deluge of balls into Aisake Ó hAilpín. His thoughts were for his lanky friend and clubmate.

“I’m delighted for him, he was written off a lot, nasty enough things said about him, rumours on the street even. We knew within the group there was a performance in these big guys. Seán Óg proved them wrong.

“The big guns came out today and gave big performances. The likes of Seán Óg, Eoin Cadogan, Tom Kenny, Ronan Curran. Outstanding. Tom wasn’t 100 per cent right but gave it his all. We all know our place and we all know we have to work hard. To be written off the way we were and come back and perform like that. Very pleasing.

“We know where we stand. It’s one game. It was the Munster championship. It was important to perform but it was still only one game. It would be foolish to look beyond that though.”

Eoin Cadogan, as is almost his trademark these days, had blood over the lower side of his face. He had turned in an incredible performance at full back but like his comrades he was on message.

“Every one had a job to do and they did it to the best of their ability, even the lads coming in Paudie (O’Sullivan) and Michael (Cussen) creating such an impact. That was great to see. We’re delighted to have our first championship win in a while. We can only look forward to the Limerick outing.

“It was tough missing out on a league final a few weeks back, seeing the lads beaten by an excellent Galway side. To pick ourselves back up and have the win in the manner we had today was excellent but you can only take it a game at a time.”

Last words to Liam Sheedy, who returns to the drawing board this morning knowing that things most likely aren’t as bad as they seemed but with that gnawing doubt settling into his head. The burden of favouritism does that.

“If we had got a goal early on maybe. I was happy with our play in the first 10 minutes. They got the goal from the penalty and then another goal. Two points at half-time.

“After half-time we got a score and I thought we would come back but Cork showed all the hunger and all the drive. They did all the damage and they created all the spaces.”

He praised Aisake and all his deeds, took it on the chin and left with his head as high as it had been when he came in.

Tipp will be back. Cork are back. Summer is on.