Last Sunday Tipp took to the game like a team possessed. They hurled out of their skin in front of a crowd of 81,765. Kilkenny on the otherhand looked a little tired and with the recent bad luck with injuries it was always going to be an uphill battle.
The first stroke of bad luck hit the Cats when Henry’s injury flared up again and he hobbled off 12 minutes in. While it doesn’t take one man to win a game it certainly affected the team without Henry’s leadership skills. Tipp on the other hand were totally focussed with constant reminders to each other to keep their head. Last year they didn’t take their goal chances, this year they made up for it with four fantastic struck goals and a hat trick for Lar Corbett. The first goal came when Shane McGrath's delivery was collected confidently by Corbett, who turned stumbling full-back Noel Hickey and fired the ball in the net from close range past PJ Ryan who didn’t stand a chance.
Kilkenny had a goal chance of their own soon afterwards when Henry Shefflin sent TJ Reid through, but his shot was comfortably dealt with by Brendan Cummins. If that wasn’t enough Shefflin’s injury got the better of him and he left the field of play. Nevertheless the Cats narrowed the gap with some excellent pointed frees from Richie Power and a point from Aidan Fogarty. However, Tipp still led proceedings and were a point ahead at the break. In fact Kilkenny only had parity twice in the game, as Tipp remained in cruise control.
If people were expecting an all out attack from Kilkenny on the restart they were sadly disappointed. Playing against the wind in the new half Tipp held no mercy as they continued to drive at Kilkenny’s defence. While JJ Delaney and Jackie Tyrrell played a stormer it wasn’t enough as Tipp continued to drive through the middle. Liam Sheedy's decision to put on Seamus Callanan had an instant effect, with the big attacker sweeping over two superb points.
Fellow substitutes Benny Dunne and Seamus Hennessy also added to their tally, and Padraic Maher was like a gladiator protecting the Tipp backs. Brendan Cummins was magnificent in goal for Tipp with his brilliant saves and he even added a superb long range point.
But the glorious moment for Tipp came deep into stoppage time, when their victory was sealed when Corbett drilled home his hat-trick of goals. After the game the pride in the Tipp camp was immense with Captain Eoin Kelly experiencing joy like no other, “this is such a joyous, proud moment, the hurt from last year made us hungrier and we made sure to keep our heads right until the very end. This is a remarkable day for the team and management and for our county.” Lar Corbett remained modest despite his hatrick, “those three goals may have come from my hurl but they were set up just as much by my team mates. One thing we’ve learnt is it doesn’t matter who scores the goals just that we score them and work as a team.” As for the Cats’ camp manager Brian Cody refused to make any excuses and instead was very emphatic, “The better team won, there’s no excuses, however our lads hurled until the end and kept their dignity and they have a lot to be proud of. We’ll have a four month break now from county and then it will be back and will start again.”
Teams and scorers:
Kilkenny: PJ Ryan; J Dalton, N Hickey, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, J Tennyson, JJ Delaney; J Fitzpatrick, M Fennelly; T J Reid (0-4 ), H Shefflin (0-1 ), E Larkin; E Brennan, R Power (1-9 ), A Fogarty (0-1 ). Subs: M Rice (0-1 ) for Shefflin (13 minutes ), D Lyng (0-1 ) for Brennan (50 ), M Comerford for Fitzpatrick (50 ), R Hogan (0-1 ) for Fogarty (54 ). Yellow cards: Tennyson (41 minutes ), Walsh (48 ), Tyrrell (55 ), Dalton (56 ).
Tipperary: B Cummins (0-1 ); P Stapleton, P Curran, M Cahill; D Fanning, C O'Mahony, P Maher; B Maher (0-1 ), S McGrath; G Ryan (0-1 ), P Maher, J O'Brien (0-2 ), N McGrath (1-2 ), E Kelly (0-7 ), L Corbett (3-0 ). Substitutes: C O’Brien for O’Mahoney (56 minutes ), S Callanan (0-2 ) for O’Brien (58 ), B Dunne for S McGrath (62 ), S Hennessy (0-1 ) for B Maher (68 ). Yellow cards: S McGrath (34 minutes ), Kelly (48 ), O’Brien (56 ).
Referee: Michael Wadding (Waterford ).
