IT would be wrong to say no one saw this coming, but very few people saw it coming this way. Tyrone, putative team of the decade, were ultimately blown out of the water by 14 ravenous Cork men.

The greatest tribute you can pay to Conor Counihan's workaholic troops is that you'd never have guessed they were numerically challenged for the last 40-plus minutes.

But that is also the biggest indictment of a Tyrone team that looked physically sluggish and mentally spent long before the final whistle.

A team that has long specialised in creating overlaps, via supreme athleticism and brilliant support play, found it almost impossible to engineer clear-cut chances in the scoring zone -- despite having an extra man.

For this, you must salute Cork's savage intensity and also their tactical savvy, in successfully clogging up space in their own half of the field.

They had an array of individual heroes -- be it Graham Canty and John Miskella in the half-back line, the old midfield warhorse Nicholas Murphy, all three half-forwards at different stages, along with goal hero Daniel Goulding and their precocious rookie Colm O'Neill, who illuminated Croke Park with three fine points and plenty more besides.

Question marks

But you must also pose serious question marks about the fallen champions.

When Tyrone weren't running up blind alleys and cul-de-sacs, they were panicked into shooting from low percentage positions wide on the flanks. When they weren't passing possession away, they were being turned over in the tackle.

Even before throw-in, the fates had conspired against Tyrone with Seán Cavanagh ruled out with a stomach bug. Last year's Footballer of the Year came on after 47 minutes but, by then, even a Cavanagh in the whole of his health would have struggled to overturn the collective malaise afflicting so many of his teammates.

At no point in the entire second half did the merest hint of a comeback suggest itself to the watching attendance of 52,492. It could have been even more comprehensive, when you reflect on Cork's 13 wides compared to nine for the losers.

The closest Tyrone came was in the 40th minute when Stephen O'Neill escaped the despairing tackle of Anthony Lynch to kick his fourth point, and third from play.

That left four points between the sides, and you waited for Tyrone to suddenly relocate their 'mojo' and kick on. Instead, Owen Mulligan badly miscued a free from the left wing soon after.

Then Donncha O'Connor stretched the lead out to six by kicking the next two points, from a free superbly won by Colm O'Neill and then from play.

Cork never looked back, and now they can look forward to an All-Ireland final against either their great rivals Kerry, or Meath, on September 20.

The general presumption is that Jack O'Connor's men will complete the All-Ireland equation next Sunday, affording Cork another chance to end their Kerry Croker hex.

Five times this decade, they have faltered to the arch-enemy at Headquarters -- four times at the semi-final stage and once in the final, two years ago. Three of those defeats ('02, '05 and the '07 final) were massacres; '06 was comprehensive; and even the two-game duel of last August was a case of heroic comebacks rescuing Cork from the abyss.

Meath boss Eamonn O'Brien will probably relish all this presumptuous speculation about another September collision of southern heavyweights, so we'll park that debate for now after one final thought: on the evidence of this entire season, and again yesterday, Cork would never have a better chance of flooring their green-and-gold nemesis.

Let-down

And if it's Cork/Meath? Then the Rebels will be scorching-hot favourites to get their hands on Sam Maguire for the first time since 1990, when a certain Conor Counihan was holding the fort at centre-back.

Back to yesterday's fraught and at times fractious semi-final. It was billed in advance as the Match of the Year but, judged on that vaulting expectation, it was a major let-down.

Not because of Cork, who were irresistible for much of the opening half and then toughed it out impressively after Alan O'Connor's controversial dismissal approaching the half-hour mark.

Rather, this game failed to justify all the hype because Tyrone were only a shadow of last year's trailblazing champions. Afterwards, the Sunday Game discussion among Messrs Brolly, O'Rourke and Spillane carried the air of a Red Hand wake. The Kerry version of the three wise men went typically over the top in his dismissal of this glorious Tyrone era, but there is no doubt that Mickey Harte is facing a long winter of introspection as he plots a way back from this latest failed defence of Sam.

Batteries

Will Brian Dooher be back? Does that fearsome competitor, Conor Gormley, still have the legs to stick with younger, faster forwards?

Dooher is the most likely candidate for retirement: the Tyrone skipper could claim three assists before his substitution, but the legendary Duracell batteries look like they could be finally running out of juice.

In Gormley's defence, he was obviously struggling from the moment he shipped a blow to the chest during the second quarter. Even before then, though, he was finding the going tough -- epitomised by the 18th minute cameo when he was robbed in the tackle by Daniel Goulding and immediately punished by another Cork point.

Earlier still, with Tyrone ahead by 0-2 to 0-1, Goulding had sent Cork self-belief into orbit with a seventh minute goal. This time, Tyrone post-mortems will surely focus on how Graham Canty was afforded a criminal amount of space to release Colm O'Neill. When O'Neill's shot was blocked by PJ Quinn, Goulding reacted in a flash to the rebound and the Hill 16 net danced.

From there on, Cork took off with the next five points and by the 21st minute they led by 1-8 to 0-3. There followed the first flickers of a Tyrone rally -- they scored three of the next four points -- and then came the hugely contentious dismissal of Alan O'Connor.

The big midfielder had started impressively, but two yellow cards in an eight-minute spell spelled personal disaster for the St Colm's man.

You could argue that his first yellow was unfair, on the premise that he only halted Enda McGinley's charge having lost his footing. We lean to the view that this booking was the right call -- but his subsequent 'foul' on Owen Mulligan, more an accidental collision of legs after Mulligan had laid off possession, looked anything but justified.

So at half-time, despite being swamped on their own kickout, Tyrone 'only' trailed by 1-9 to 0-7. But O'Connor's red had no discernable impact, for a variety of reasons -- partly due to Cork tenacity, partly to Cork cynicism (check out the number of blatant fouls inside Tyrone's half) and partly to the Ulster champions coughing up cheap possession, leading directly to Cork's last three points.

Swipe

Each team only managed four points apiece during a poor-quality second half. That won't remotely bother the winners, but they will be nervously waiting to see if the CCCC takes any retrospective action over John Miskella's off-the-ball swipe at Brian McGuigan (which prompted two simultaneous melees and an eventual booking for the Cork wing-back).

That debate is for another day. Yesterday was all about red-hot contenders -- and fallen champions.

- Frank Roche