Dónal Óg Cusack rubbishes Cork ‘hype’ criticism

The Rebel legend was having none of it.

There was controversy from the off, when Tipperary youngster, Darragh McCarthy, was sent off after striking Seán O'Donoghue before throw-in.

With the Premier County a man down, it was plain sailing for the Rebels, who, despite a third-quarter dip, finished strongly.

The win puts them top of the Munster SHC table, with a win and a draw.

Before and after last week's draw with Clare there had been criticism of Cork and the hype surrounding the team.

However, following today's win, Cork legend Dónal Óg Cusack rubbished the claims of 'hype'.

In the RTÉ studio, he said: "Where was that hype thing coming from, that was makey-up stuff.

"Listen to me now, let me make a point on that now.

"Cork have a big following, sure isn't that great, what's wrong with that.

"Cork last year in the All-Ireland final could have been doing a lot of talking about that last-minute decision that was made by the referee, they could have if they wanted to.

"No, they took it, on they went, put the head down, had a really good league in that they won it.

"Last week, they learned tough lessons in the second half, they turned up there today, yeh we conceded some points in the third quarter where you could accuse them of being a bit casual, but like they're 10 or 11 points up, and they finished really strong."