Cork deployed a sweeper beneath the torrential Thurles rain and still conceded 0-14 to Tipperary in the first half of their Munster Championship quarter-final - with 10 of those points arriving from play.
Two minutes from time, with Cork still trailing by seven, that sweeper was still fully operational.
It became apparent within the opening minutes of the 81st meeting between the two provincial rivals that The Rebels' so-called 'tough, physical brand of hurling' failed to incorporate one of the key components of any hurling gameplan; namely, the ability to hurl.
Tipp were first to every ball, and bar a string of converted sympathy frees at the start of the second half, Cork were never in the game. Patrick Horgan went for goal with Cork trailing by seven with 15 minutes remaining, but saw a tame effort blocked quite easily on the line. Cork's second-highest scorer ever, Horgan touched the ball three times in play before being taken off with 10 minutes remaining.
Even that probably doesn't even adequately represent how inept Cork were on Sunday afternoon. The final score of 0-22 to 0-13 all but cemented the notion that the Leesiders team are now - by quite some margin - the second-weakest hurling outift in Munster, as Michael Ryan's Tipp march on untested to face Limerick in a Munster semi.
The fact that no Cork fan expected otherwise did little to curb the feeling of humiliation and anger at their side's paltry showing, as many neutral fans and pundits chimed in both to pile on the misery, and to lament Cork's fall from grace as a hurling power.
It's actually sad to see how inept Cork are. There would be more intensity in a training match...
— Liam Aherne (@laherne84) May 22, 2016
On 2days display Cork Hurlers will have only 1 more day out , Very Poor for a County with a proud tradition of hurling A lot of needs doing
— John Doyle / Sligo (@sligosportphoto) May 22, 2016
Always love beating Cork but this just takes the fun out if it. Good bit behind the rest of Munster.
— Michael Kiely (@KielyMichael) May 22, 2016
Must be the worst Cork team to ever represent the county! #myheartbleeds
— Charlie Barry (@BarryRedbull1) May 22, 2016
Would someone tell the Cork lads that if they move while striking they won't get hooked #standingup
— CB (@ColinBrouder) May 22, 2016
Looks like the Cork hurlers are going to be relegated into the Connacht championship #GAA
— UnOfficialGaa (@UnOfficialGaa) May 22, 2016
Tipp and Dublin through to semi finals but neither got the stern test they could have done with.... Wexford and Cork were a no show ......
— Liam Sheedy (@LiamLsheedy) May 22, 2016
As a Tipperary man I'm bullin that, that was the Cork that showed up. They're supposed to be Munster heavyweights
— Tom O'Mahony Comedy (@TOM_OMAHONY) May 22, 2016
#TIPPvCORK This has to be the worst managed hurling team Cork have ever sent to Semple.
— Angler (@CoolDabbler) May 22, 2016
That cork team would want to take a good long look at itself no commitment or no fight shown from the word go
— stephen halligan (@stephenh38) May 22, 2016
Erra we'll be fine ..when does the transfer window open #tippvcork #cork #hurling
— Urlofcork (@urlofcork) May 22, 2016
"Tipp will bate Cork back as far as Mitchelstown and they'll probably be able to make their own way from there" #QOTD lol
— Claire Walsh (@ClaireWalshy23) May 22, 2016
Anthony Daly wrote a superb article midweek about encountering Cork in the '99 Munster final.
Donal Óg Cusack was standing opposite me as we strolled off behind the Moycarkey Pipe Band. ‘We are Cork, boy, we are Cork,’ he was shouting. ‘We have 27 All-Irelands. Ye have only two.,’
quoted Daly. That perception of Cork hurling, both within the county and outside it, has long-since eroded. A nine point defeat to Tipperary was what most Rebels fans expected, but also proves just how far they've fallen in the past decade - a freak season in 2013 notwithstanding.
The qualifiers will once more test their character, but in truth you can no longer expect this current Cork squad to perform to the wounded animal adage. They lack talent, skill and depth, and that's neither the management team's fault nor the players'.
But as for their decision to stick with the sweeper, despite its total inefficiency and ultimate redundancy, it's worth noting that current selector and advisor to Cork boss Kieran Kingston - the legendary Diarmuid 'The Rock' O'Sullivan - had this to say last year:
@officialgaa outlaw the sweeper system with immediate effect so we can have game's like this every week #sundaygame #TIPPvGAL
— Diarmuid O'Sullivan (@dsully3) August 16, 2015
