Cork pulled off a memorable upset when they beat Tipperary in the Munster Hurling Championship, on Sunday.
By their own high standards, Cork hadn’t quite performed to the level expected of them in recent years but a promising league campaign meant that there was room for optimism.
A second place finish in Division 1A proved that there are the makings of a good side but few expected that they would put it up to Tipperary. And yet they did.
Ashling Thompson has plenty of experience playing for Cork, she also has plenty of experience in winning – she captained the county to All-Ireland glory in 2015.
But she believes that when you don the red of Cork or represent your county in any field that it is not about winning.
“In Cork, it’s not about winning, it’s about performing,” Thompson said on SportsJOE Live.
“After the game ever talking to a few of (the Cork players) they were just so delighted that they got the performance whether they won or lost because of course there’s so many doubters and so many negative people and negative comments that go around about Cork GAA.
“Everyone has a purple patch and other teams don’t and for a long time they haven’t but to come out and just do what they did and come out on top of every odd that was out there. Everyone wrote off Cork and just to come out and perform the way they did was unbelievable.
“It thought me a lesson, it thought GAA a lesson that Cork are going nowhere and it was spine tingling”
Also hailing from Cork, and joining Thompson on SportsJOE Live, was Ronan O’Gara. Although agreeing with Thompson, he summed up the difference in expectations from now and a decade ago.
“I’d say 10 years previously it was all about winning for Cork, this team I think they didn’t know how to win. They never got over the line.
“Let’s not forget they’ve won one match but I think it will give them huge belief.”
Cork will play Waterford in the semi-final of the Munster Hurling Championship on June 18.
You can watch the full episode of SportsJOE live below.
