Cork manager Denis Ring admits his side never recovered from the concession of four goals in the opening eight minutes of their All-Ireland U20HC final defeat to Tipperary last evening.

The Rebels were caught cold as Tipp's early onslaught made for a surprisingly one-sided decider at the LIT Gaelic Grounds.

"Very disappointing, devastating because our lads had put so much time and effort into it," a crestfallen Ring told the Echo.

“We thought going into it that we were in a pretty good place, but they blitzed us with those goals early on. They did that against Wexford as well and they have done it in all their games really. They have scored goals with ease and unfortunately we could not counter it."

Ring backed his players to bounce back from this setback.

"They are a fantastic bunch of lads, what they have given us over the season has been phenomenal. Some of these guys are going to go on and become very good senior players," he continued.

"They will learn an awful lot from today, but that’s not much consolation for them after this game. I could not be prouder of them, even in the circumstances after that terrible start, they tried to make a fist of it in terms of what they did and they are fantastic young lads.

"They could have capitulated altogether which might have happened to a lesser bunch, but they fought valiantly there in the second half to try and get back into the game." 

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