Cork minor football boss Keith Ricken hailed his side’s never-say-die attitude after they came from nine points down in the second half to edge out Tyrone in a dramatic All-Ireland final.

The young Rebels’ 2-16 to 1-16 victory in Newbridge went some way towards atoning for the disappointment of the senior hurlers’ defeat to Galway 24 hours earlier as they lifted the Tom Markham Cup for the first time in seven years.

“You’re always believing in them no matter what,” enthused Ricken, who also led Cork to All-Ireland U20 glory in 2019.

“At half-time we said: if we can settle into the game, get a few scores, and if we can get close coming down the home straight, I think we’ll win it. They have that tenacity in them. If that game went on longer, we could have won by even more. We just found that second wind.

“You’re thinking about our own going through the emotions, and you’re thinking about the Tyrone lads going home. Credit to Tyrone — they were excellent. Superb ambassadors."

Ricken added: “All the young lads in the stand today were part of this process — the trials, the extended panels. They’d love to be here, but all their hard work pushed up the standards and created what we saw.

"From that point of view, I’m very happy.” 

 

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