Connolly isn’t viewing Sunday’s game in FBD Insurance Semple Stadium as a revenge mission though because he reckons it would be mistake to play the game on anything other than its own merits.
“You can’t really bring that into the game,” he says. “It’s the first round. It’s more about getting the win and having a good start to the Championship and take it from there.
“I can’t wait. Tipp in Thurles, they’re things you kind of dream of really when you’re a young boy playing hurling.
“Thurles has an unbelievable pitch, an unbelievable atmosphere and stuff. And obviously the nature of the All-Ireland final last year, people are going to have their eyes on this game but you can’t play the occasion.”
Cork fans will likely outnumber the home support in Thurles on Sunday.
When the team has played well the energy they’ve gotten from their huge following has looked like it’s worth a few points, but the fall-out from last year’s final also illustrated how expectancy can quickly sour when it’s not fulfilled.
“Yeah, we love the fans and they love us, but we can’t…like, we’re the ones doing it (playing), we can’t let them, whether we’re winning or losing, take over,” says Connolly.
“We’re trying to do it, and we’re trying to do our best. In fairness, they’ve been patient and everyone in Cork has been patient about it, but hopefully now we can just do it this year.”
In last year’s All-Ireland Cork ultimately couldn’t cope with the sweeper system that Tipperary set up with.
If the Premier County go with the same game-plan this time around, it’ll be interesting to see whether Connolly and his team-mates will be better equipped to counteract it.
“We can’t control what way they’re going to play, whether they’re going to play a sweeper or not, for example,” he says. “We’ll just have to see about ourselves really.
“We kind of just focus on ourselves. We’re not trying to worry about anyone else. When we’re at our best, I don’t think anyone can beat us.”
