Former Tipperary star and RTÉ analyst Shane McGrath spent Saturday night in Cork and left believing that the home side's remarkable 3-28 to 3-26 win over Limerick was one of the greatest games he’d ever witnessed.
Four points down with as many minutes left to play, the Rebels reeled off 1-04 to a solitary point from the All-Ireland champions to send the majority of the sell-out crowd home on a high and keep their All-Ireland dreams alive.
Patrick Horgan was the Cork hero with the penalty which swung the game after Shane Kingston was dragged to the ground by Kyle Hayes.
"It was everything that people saw, and more," an awestruck McGrath said of the gripping encounter on the RTÉ GAA Podcast.
"The official attendance was 41,670. I'd say when people are saying that they were at it, it will probably go up to around 300,000 or 400,000 for people that said they were at it.
"It was unreal. I've been lucky to be involved in some classics and watched them down through the years.
"Everything that it was, with the atmosphere, Saturday night… There's a different buzz about Saturday night games. I'd be all for more Saturday night games as well.
"Just what we got, what was on the line, just the way it finished. It was one of the best hurling matches I've ever seen.
"I know people were saying maybe the art of defending is dying a death, with the amount of scores.
"The art of defending is still not bad, but I just think the quality of ball that's going in now has gone through the roof.
"I think before it was mainly 50/50 balls going IN there, but now they're getting into zones in the pitch and the ball going in is probably 80/20, 70/30 in favour of the forward.
"As a defender, no matter how good you are, if there's that quality of ball going in, it's very hard to defend against it.
"I still think there were some brilliant defending, maybe none more so than actually by Nickie Quaid.
"All these things got lost in the absolute mayhem."
Cork's win over the game’s kingpins means they will travel to Semple Stadium on Sunday with a weight of expectation after reigniting belief in their fanbase.
McGrath expects supporters of the Premier County to be significantly outnumbered.
"It will be three or four to one for Cork fans in Thurles next weekend," he opined.
"The fans are going to come. The Cork crowd are great craic, and when they come to Thurles, they're great.
"Larry Corbett and all the rest of them will love seeing them coming up and the craic they will have in the bars before and after. .
"And they want a performance now to back up."
Watch the Munster Hurling Championship double bill, Clare v Waterford and Tipperary v Cork, on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
