Cork v Tipp: Four Burning Questions Ahead Of The 2025 All-Ireland Hurling Final

The 2025 intercounty hurling season ends with a corker this Sunday at Croke Park. Cork and Tipp meet for the first time in All-Ireland hurling final.

Here are four questions that will determine who is lifting Liam MacCarthy around 5.15 on Sunday evening.

Will Tipperary go man to man on Cork and follow their half forward line when they go back deep? This is the big conundrum for any team facing Cork. If you do it leaves an ocean of space in front of your full-backline. Connolly, Hayes and Horgan are absolutely lethal as Dublin found out in the semi-final.

Niall O’Ceallachain had an interesting take on facing this challenge.

"The way we went at it there’s always a chance of conceding goals, but what are we here for? stepping off and providing more cover inside? Against a team like Cork with the abilities they have you mightn’t concede seven goals but you will lose the game."

So if Tipperary were to get Ronan Maher to sit back in front of their full-backline and get a midfielder to cover his man, they won’t concede goals but then Cork would score 30+ points from distance. Time will tell.

The Nenagh Eire Og man is only 26 but this is his eight year on the panel, he’s playing the best hurling of his career at the moment notching 0-22 all from play his pace and movement has lit up the Championship. He’s popping up all over the field, mostly on the half forward line but drifting inside too. He spoke this week about the effectiveness of having a fluid attack.

"Tipperary have always had forwards rotating,it’s easier to get a handle on a fella when he stays in one position all game. You find yourself on the ball in different places ,it makes our team tick better when we are rotating especially when Darragh McCarthy goes out to take a free we make sure someone slips into the full-forward line to cover him."

You’d imagine Ciaran Joyce will be given the task of putting the shackles on Morris but what happens when he drifts into the full-forward line? Will Joyce follow and upset Cork’s shape or will there be a handover to someone like Sean O’Donoghue? If Tipp were to win on Sunday Jake Morris would be the favourite the win Hurler of the Year. Yhey love a left-sided forward with a yellow helmet in Tipp. Lar Corbett in 2010, Seamus Callanan in 2019 and Jake Morris 2025?

Early in the year Pat Ryan made no secret that this was a clear plan from the Rebels "we’re targeting goals all the time we’re targeting fast starts."

In the first Championship game this year against Clare, they were nine points ahead after twelve minutes. Against Tipperary in Páirc Ui Chaoimh they were twelve points ahead after sixteen minutes and in the semi-final against Dublin they were twelve points ahead after thirteen minutes.

This will concern Tipp as they only had one score on the board after fourteen minutes in their semi-final. We could see some defensive and game management tactics early on from the premier to settle themselves into the game.

Tipperary slightly shade the battle of the benches in terms of scoring. Their substitutes have scored 3-15 in this year’s championship compared to Cork’s 0-21 albeit having played an extra game.

U20 star Oisin O’Donoghue has had the biggest impact for the premier he’s a lethal finisher with an eye for goal his introduction will be massive on Sunday.

As for the Rebels they have a mix of speed and experience Seamus Harnedy and Conor Lehane have been around since 2011 while Shane Kingston causes chaos with his speed when the opposition are tiring.

Don’t be surprised if this game is decided by players on the sideline.