By William Dunne

Tipperary manager Michael Ryan paid credit to an 'excellent' Cork team after his team fell to the Rebels in today's Munster SHC Quarter-Final. 

Tipp were comfortable winners when the sides met at this stage of the championship last year, and Ryan feels the progress that Cork have made since then proves they're now back with a bang as a genuine hurling force. 

“This is Cork lads. This time last year we were here saying they weren’t themselves, but I tell you they are back and we can take that as a certainty”, said Ryan shortly after the defeat.

“We wouldn’t have been happy in terms of how we did play but I thought it was a cracking game of hurling and to be fair to Cork I thought they were excellent.”

After suffering a heavy defeat in this year’s league final to Galway last month it was expected that the Premier County may have been revitalised heading into the Munster championship.

Despite the defeat, Ryan feels that the commitment of his players cannot be brought into question and that dealing with the loss is just a new hurdle to overcome on the county’s quest to win back to back All-Ireland titles.

“Our lot now is we have to find a new route, and, look it, the challenge is ours and we have lots of soul searching to do," he said. 

"A couple of facts that need to absolutely confirmed here. We have a super bunch of fellas down there. They care a huge amount about Tipperary hurling.

"And, you know, they didn’t do anything wrong here today. They just came up against a really, really good Cork team and we weren’t sharp enough."

In 2010 Tipperary found them in an almost identical situation after Cork eliminating them at the same stage and although Liam Sheedy turned it around to claim the Liam McCarthy the following September, Ryan believes that no comparisons should be made.

“Well look, that’s the challenge," he said. "I wouldn’t be too keen to draw too many parallels. We got a 10-point beating that day. This was a real game of hurling out there today.

“There wasn’t a gulf in class or anything going on there but I thought Cork trumped us for that middle third energy and intensity, it was theirs rather than ours and I thought they were really sharp all over the field to be honest."