Since early June Méabh Cahalane and the hugely influential Ashling Thompson have returned from injury to produce a more formidable line-out. However the challenge will still be to get the newbies upping the ante once more to take on Tipperary playing in their county grounds. It’s a strange statistic that Cork have met Tipperary three times already in 2026 and it has been evens to date – one win each and a draw. The draw came towards the end of that league campaign that saw Cork lose to Waterford, Antrim and Galway. Tipperary’s 3-20 to 3-13 quarter-final win over Clare three weeks ago was a lot more convincing than the final scoreline suggests.