If Cork are to be crowned All Ireland Winners this September five matches will have to be now won following the defeat to Tipperary in the Munster Hurling Semi Final. This looks to be a very tall order now for the Rebels considering the performance against the Premier County and considering the age profile of one half of the team and the inexperience of the rest of the squad. The Qualifier Route which is also known as the Scenic Route looks like pitting us firstly against either Offaly or Dublin, going on both those sides losing to Kilkenny and Wexford. After that judging on form, it could be either Galway or Waterford in the next round and that would get us to Croke Park at the Quarter Final Stage. If my memory serves me right the last time either a Cork Senior Hurling Team or Cork Senior Football team failed to play a Championship game in Croke Park in a given year, was 1998 and there is a real possibility of this happening this year!!!

Another McCarthy with an association to Cork hurling stretching back to the 1960s has much to ponder this week. Gerald McCarthy will not find himself in the same position as his namesake Justin last week. Or even close to it. The same desperation for an All-Ireland title doesn't exist in Cork and the tolerance levels between manager and players haven't eroded to the point of no return. And after playing their part in removing one manager already this year, albeit a football manager, the Cork hurling squad couldn't countenance a response in the same vein as Waterford last week. But Cork's six-point defeat to Tipperary and the relinquishing of 86 years of home rule over their greatest southern rivals has changed the landscape for a second McCarthy.

By virtue of a 1-19 to 1-13 defeat of Cork in front of almost 43,000 people at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Tipperary have delivered their first championship victory on Leeside for 85 years. This was Liam Sheedy’s first championship game in charge of the Premier County and seven points in the last ten minutes saw them maintain their unbeaten run in 2008. Shane McGrath fired Tipp ahead after ten seconds and Cathal Naughton equalised before Lar Corbett got out in front of Diarmuid O’Sullivan to put the Premier County back in front. O’Sullivan won the next ball that came in his direction but Ben O’Connor missed the target from the resultant free. The Tipp defence was totally exposed on seven minutes and O’Connor latched onto Timmy McCarthy’s pass to send the ball to the net for the game’s opening goal. Twin brother Jerry added another Cork point and Naughton followed up with the eleventh-minute minor that made it 1-3 to 0-2.

Senior panellists Leigh Desmond and Stephen White have been included in the Cork intermediate hurling team for Sunday’s Munster semi-final against Tipperary at Pairc Ui Chaoimh. The pair line out alongside one another at midfield, while former senior Jonathan O’Callaghan is named at top of the left. Cork (IHC v Tipperary): M. Collins (Ballinhassig); J. Crowley (Newcestown), R. Cashman (Kilbrittain), C. O’Driscoll (Oliver Plunketts); J. Hughes (Blarney), P. Dwyer (Ballymartle), B. Murphy (Fr O’Neills); L. Desmond (Youghal), S. White (Ballygarvan); R. Dwyer (Ballymartle), P. O’Brien (Kildorrery), A. Mannix (Kilworth); M. O’Sullivan (Ballyhea), JP Murphy (St Vincents), J. O’Callaghan (Castletownroche).

Cork’s 85-year unbeaten home record against Tipperary in the Munster SHC will count for little on Sunday, Sean Og O hAilpin has claimed. Tipperary haven’t recorded a championship win over Cork on their home patch since 1923, but O hAilpin insisted: "It’s not really a factor. Okay, don’t get me wrong, we respect the past and the traditions but at the end of the day when the ball is thrown in, no one will be thinking of 1923. "It’s 2008, there’s a Munster final at stake and that’s all the two teams will be thinking about."

Cork camogie was very much to the fore in the week gone by with the announcement that Bord Gáis Networks have come on board as sponsors to the senior team for 2008. It’s a major boost for the team with the Gala All Ireland senior championship starting. The company held the launch of their sponsorship at the UCC Farm Curraheen on Thursday night last and team captain Catriona Foley was joined by the members of her panel the selectors led by team manager Denise Cronin, herself a former All Ireland winning captain and the county board officer team led by Chairperson Marion Mc Carthy. John Barry Managing Director of Bord Gáis Networks presented the girls with their new playing jerseys and training gear all which sport the company logo which the girls wore for the first time at their training session on Thursday last.

Paudie O’Sullivan is the only debutant in the Cork hurling line-up for Sunday’s eagerly-awaited Munster championship semi-final with Tipperary at Pairc Ui Chaoimh, but he has been named in a very inexperienced forward line. The Cloyne clubman, the brother of full back Diarmuid who is named in a much more familiar back line, will start the game at right corner forward. The full forward line is made up with Cathal Naughton and Pa Cronin, who have both shone in patches in short Championship careers to date. Boss Gerald McCarthy has named a fourth young player, Kevin Canty, at centre forward, Canty appeared as a sub against Offaly in the qualifiers a year ago, with only the men flanking him, former captain Ben O’Connor and Timmy McCarthy, providing lengthy forward experience in inter-county summer hurling.