Cork's Munster Championship opener against Tipperary on Sunday will make or break their season, says Diarmuid O’Sullivan.
Regardless of the outcome, Cork will have three more games from which to emerge from Munster but if they are left pointless after their first home game with a trip to face All-Ireland champions Limerick the following weekend, they would be staring down the barrel of early elimination.
Three-time All-Ireland winner O’Sullivan said: “The Tipp one is huge. It'll be the one that'll make or break Cork. You're at home to your biggest rival.
“We know what the Cork-Tipp rivalry is like, it's raw, it's unapologetic, you can put all the words you want on it but when it comes down to it, it's Cork and Tipp.
“Tipp are in transition with their new management, Cork we know where they're at in relation to championship pace from last year. They're still licking their wounds, can they pick up and build again? Is a Munster Championship a priority?
“There's a few questions to be asked but they have to beat Tipperary, at home you have to beat Tipperary because Munster's a minefield.”
Since their first All-Ireland in 1890, Cork have won the title at least once in every subsequent decade though 2019 is their last chance to maintain that record in this one with the Liam MacCarthy Cup not having wintered on Leeside since 2005.
“It would be a shame of that goes,” O’Sullivan admitted. “This is a massive year of all years. It's the last year in the decade so we want to protect our history and what's gone before us by wining one this year.
“Time is running out, rapidly. Hoggy, Lehane, Joycey, Harnedy, Nasher: there's not too many more opportunities are going to come their way if it doesn't come right over the next four to five months.”
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