Kieran Kingston was delighted to see his Cork charges fend off Tipperary at Pairc Ui Rinn but refused to read too much into victory over the All-Ireland champions.
The 0-26 to 3-16 win sees Cork end Division 1A in second place, behind the Premier County, and looking ahead to a Allianz League quarter-final against Limerick next weekend.
The Rebels recovered from the concession of two rapid-fire goals in the run-up to half-time to hold a four-point lead with a quarter of an hour to go, but ultimately had to come from behind after six unanswered Tipperary points, with Patrick Horgan rattling off six of his 15-point haul to secure a one-point success.
"We're obviously delighted with the win," Cork manager Kingston told RTÉ Sport. "We got over the line there at the end and it puts us second in the league. If you'd asked us at the start of the campaign we'd certainly have taken that.
"Going in half-time having conceded what I would consider two sloppy goals, and having 10-plus wides on top of that, to just have the slender lead at half-time was disappointing.
"But I have to say the work-rate, the effort and the never-say-die attitude of the team in the second half was excellent.
"In particular, the reaction to Tipp's third goal, and going behind, I thought our lads showed great composure in how they reacted to it."
With Tipperary already assured of top spot, Kingston was happy to place a small asterisk beside the result but knows recent performances mark another step in the development of his panel.
"We wouldn't be getting carried away with this, the game meant a lot more to us than it did to them," he said. "Let's be honest, they were going to top the league anyway, so we have to keep it in context.
"We're just delighted to be second in the league and competing in a quarter-final next weekend. That was the aim at the start of the league. It's where we wanted to be from the point of view of developing a new team."
