{"id":534605,"date":"2026-07-05T19:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534605\/"},"modified":"2026-07-05T19:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T19:14:09","slug":"comeback-kings-cork-snatch-crown-from-tyrone-to-win-all-ireland-minor-football-title-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/534605\/","title":{"rendered":"Comeback kings Cork snatch crown from Tyrone to win All-Ireland minor football title \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

All-Ireland MFC final: Cork 2-16 Tyrone 1-16<\/p>\n

An hour after completing a remarkable comeback in Newbridge to clinch the All-Ireland MFC title, the Cork<\/a> players ran out to the centre of the field and planted a red and white flag in the turf.<\/p>\n

Then they formed a circle around it and stood there for the next 10 minutes while manager Keith Ricken talked to them.<\/p>\n

We can only presume that the sage of Cork football coaching reminded them just what a special achievement this was. For a lot of them, it will be the highlight of their sporting careers.<\/p>\n

Joe Miskella, the team captain and one of the architects of their recovery from nine points down against Tyrone<\/a> with 21 minutes remaining, hardly needed reminding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the best day of my life,\u201d Miskella said. \u201cAnd I can say the same for the others, no doubt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miskella, the son of former Cork senior star John Miskella, struck two important two-pointers over the hour, and 0-5 in total.<\/p>\n

His second two-pointer, in the 40th minute, was one of the scores that ignited the previously stuttering Munster champions.<\/p>\n

\"Cork'sCork’s Riain McCormack and Aidan Farley of Tyrone. Photograph: Bryan Keane\/INPHO <\/p>\n

A year ago, it was Tyrone who came from behind at half time to beat Kerry on the same pitch. Cork won the second half this time \u2013 and how. In all, the Munster side outscored Tyrone by 2-9 to 0-3 from the 39th minute onwards.<\/p>\n

Having struggled on the kickout front in the first half \u2013 Cork goalkeeper Rory Twohig found a red jersey with just six of his 12 restarts \u2013 they suddenly came alive in the vital middle third.<\/p>\n

Distilled right down, it was three possessions that Cork won off consecutive Tyrone kick-outs between the 40th and 42nd minutes that proved decisive.<\/p>\n

The Miskella two-pointer came off the first of those, then Jacob Barry capitalised with a point. And when Cork won the subsequent kick-out, Ben Hegarty sent in a long two-point attempt that dropped short and ended in a goal for substitute Alex O\u2019Herlihy.<\/p>\n

Tyrone still led by 1-13 to 1-11 after the O\u2019Herlihy goal. Cork didn\u2019t actually get back to level terms until the 56th minute. Even at that, Tyrone nudged ahead again through Brian \u00d3g McGuckin.<\/p>\n

But all the momentum was with the young Rebels in the second half and it was no great surprise they finished strongly, Eoghan Aherne netting in the 60th minute after a terrific solo run up the left.<\/p>\n

That put Ricken\u2019s crew two points ahead and Tom Whooley added an insurance score at the death. Having trailed by 0-6 to 1-10 at half time, it was an incredible turnaround, even if Cork were assisted by the breeze after the break.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually played this game twice,\u201d Ricken said. \u201cI had this dream the other night that we were going to win by three points, coming down the home straight. I kid you not. I woke up all of a sweat. So this is my second time playing this game in a week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Cork come from behind in the dream too?<\/p>\n

\u201cCame from behind in the dream as well, yeah,\u201d nodded Ricken, who completed an impressive double, having led the Cork under-20s to All-Ireland success in 2019.<\/p>\n

\"Cork'sCork’s Alex O’Herlihy celebrates scoring a goal. Photograph: Bryan Keane\/INPHO <\/p>\n

Cork won the minor title in 2019 also. They needed seven years to regain it.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t look particularly likely initially as Tyrone dominated proceedings, reaching half time with a seven-point advantage.<\/p>\n

Vincent Gormley, a survivor from last year\u2019s successful Tyrone minor team, scored four of their first-half points and then won a 26th minute penalty that Aodhan Corry dispatched.<\/p>\n

Twohig came into the game with 0-22 from placed balls for the Championship. He wasted a couple of chances in the first half and didn\u2019t have much luck with kick-outs either. <\/p>\n

But his second half excellence summed up the never-say-die attitude of a Cork team that was only just getting going.<\/p>\n

Cork: R Twohig; C Garvey, A O\u2019Sullivan, R McCormack; C Downing, \u00c9 Lynch, C Murphy (0-0-1); K O\u2019Shea, E Aherne (1-0-5, 3f); D O\u2019Sullivan, J Miskella (0-2-1), B Hegarty (0-0-1, 1f); D Herlihy, T Whooley (0-0-2), J Barry (0-0-1). Subs: G Oronsaye for Garvey (22 mins), A O\u2019Herlihy (1-0-1) for Herlihy (h\/t), P Kelly for O\u2019Sullivan (36), K O\u2019Donovan for Barry (48), D O\u2019Mahony for Murphy (64).<\/p>\n

Tyrone: R O\u2019Neill; A Farley, J Maguire, T McCarron; MJ Daly, A Corry (1-0-0, pen), C Fyffe; T Gallen (0-0-1), C Meenan; R O\u2019Neill, MF Daly (0-0-3), L O\u2019Connor; C Canavan (0-1-1, 1 tpf, 1f), B \u00d3g McGuckin (0-0-3, 1f), V Gormley (0-1-4). Subs: C Shevlin for Fyffe (28 mins), C McKeown for Canavan (54), F Quinn for O\u2019Neill (56), C McKee for O\u2019Connor (58).<\/p>\n

Referee: S Mulhare (Laois).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All-Ireland MFC final: Cork 2-16 Tyrone 1-16 An hour after completing a remarkable comeback in Newbridge to clinch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1964,110979,61,60,6906,43,60860],"class_list":["post-534605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-gaa","tag-football-championship","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-newbridge","tag-news","tag-tyrone-gaa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}