Cork manager Pat Ryan praised the tenacity of his team after they rallied in the final quarter to rescue a draw at home to Tipperary in a breathless Munster Championship game in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
Trailing by five points early in the second half, and again with seven minutes remaining, Cork rustled up 2-04 in the closing stages, even surviving a sucker punch goal from Mark Kehoe late on to earn a point.
The home bench was key to the late revival, with Shane Kingston rattling over 0-03, Tim O'Mahony and Conor Lehane both landing important scores, while it was St Finbarr's Brian Hayes who coolly flicked home the fourth goal on 69 minutes.
"I suppose we were coming down here to get the two points. But look, obviously, 15 minutes into that second half, things weren't looking great," Ryan told RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport afterwards.
"But our fellas fought fierce hard. But we've been fighting fierce hard all year. We were behind in lots of games in the league and Munster league but players have been showing great heart.
"We know we've a very good bench and we needed it today. I think we got 1-05 off our bench which was vital.
"Tipperary are a very good team, they've an excellent management team and they've been going well. We'd have been disappointed with a couple of the opportunities that we had in the first half that would have made a difference, goal opportunities.
"I thought we did very well in defending them from goal opportunities. But typical Tipperary and typical Liam Cahill team, they got two goals in the second half at bad moments for us.
"But I thought we responded to them very well. I'm delighted with our lads."
Cork lost Robbie O'Flynn shortly before half-time, the wing-forward picking up a hamstring injury in the course of scoring his solo goal.
"It's a hamstring injury, yeah. He's going to be out for two or three weeks anyway, at the very minimum. But hopefully, it's not too bad."
The result leaves Cork top of the Munster table from Tipperary on score difference, with every team having played two games.
However, Ryan's side now face into two away games, the first in Cusack Park in a fortnight. Victory there will guarantee them progression, although they suffered a five-point loss in their only previous round robin game there in 2019 - a result which didn't prevent their qualification in third spot.
"Two weeks away, we play Clare in Ennis. It's in our own hands. If we can beat Clare, we'll probably qualify out of Munster.
"You can see, it's very hard to get out of Munster this year - it's very hard to get out of Munster every year. That's a huge game for us in two weeks."
Reflecting afterwards, Tipperary's experienced playmaker Noel McGrath said it'd been a "crazy" game.
"I don't really know what to make of that. I'd say it was absolutely crazy watching on. It was crazy in the middle of it as well," he said.
"Either team could have won it. We're happy and I suppose unhappy as well. You want to win these games. But we stuck at it when things got tough in the second half and we held in.
"You use the ball when you can, get the scores when you can and you try to get on top. Cork had their spells, we had our spells and I'd say for anyone watching on, that was Munster Championship hurling and what people come to see."
