Kilkenny 1-20 Tipperary 1-16With an exhausted thud, Guinness All-Ireland hurling champions Tipperary bit the dust after a gripping semi-final with Kilkenny proved a bridge too far for Nicky English's team. So the precedent against All-Ireland titles being retained proved more inhibiting than the precedent against provincial champions with their weeks of idleness before entering the All-Ireland series.
Kilkenny looked sharper and hungrier yesterday and that effectively decided the match.
It was there for Tipperary right up until 10 minutes from time but they were unable to match the Leinster champions' determined response and unarguable endgame. There were other incidentals and sub-plots but appetite and freshness constituted the main story line.
Everything went right for Kilkenny. Their defence, a shaky start out of the way, lived up to their reputation as a fine unit, not always accorded full recognition. The consensus man of the match was Peter Barry who effortlessly met the challenge of his new centre back posting at the highest level. But he had plenty of support from his dependable full back Noel Hickey and the flank players.
Captain Andy Comerford delivered a tour de force in the middle of the field. He was booked in the second minute for encouraging a fracas but improved considerably and beside him the less experienced Derek Lyng also played a role with two points.
Up front Henry Shefflin was up against Tipperary's best player but he still scored. DJ Carey started slowly on a determined Thomas Costello but finished up cutting swathes through the loosening play. Eddie Brennan might have disappointed but comparative newcomer Jimmy Coogan came in as a substitute and scored 1-1.
In a way Tipperary did better than expected. They pushed hard for most of the match but ultimately couldn't produce performances from key players up to the standard that had helped land the Liam McCarthy Cup last year. Tommy Dunne did some good things at centrefield but was fitful and incapable of containing his opposite captain Comerford.
Principal forward Eoin Kelly showed continuing signs of fatigue after a bright opening gave him three first-half points and indicated that for once he had the legs on the man marking him, Philip Larkin. But the promise faded and in the second half, apart from a brief flurry that hinted at resurrection, Kelly and the forwards were surviving on restricted rations.
Eventually it was Larkin who got the upper hand, reading and winning some hastily dispatched ball.
Perhaps the best forward in recent matches has been John Carroll but he had the misfortune to be up against Barry and had to be moved. Although he ended up with a goal, Carroll will have been more than frustrated by the afternoon's travails. Even Brendan Cummins wasn't as watertight as usual although his most spectacular slip involved his losing footing under a dropping ball and he managed to clear.
A couple of players did stand out. Eamonn Corcoran played well on his old WIT Fitzgibbon comrade Shefflin but the Ballyhale forward still managed three points from play and won his share of possession. Paul Ormonde was again imperturbable at corner back and returned a lot of ball.
Mark O'Leary was back in the magpie form that used to guarantee three points a match or more. His third score yesterday was wonderfully taken as he was under severe pressure from the covering defender.
But it was all less than adequate for the task in hand. It might have been different had the champions converted all the chances created early in the match.
From the start although Kilkenny seemed to take their points more fluently, Tipperary had the better goal chances. Eugene O'Neill posed a threat but although it was worth more than the two points he scored, he never created quite enough space off Hickey to threaten goal.
Eoin Kelly did after Carroll sent him in in the 16th minute but McGarry saved. At the end of the half, Kelly strangely went for goal from a close-in free but again James McGarry parried. Had he just taken the point Tipp could have gone in at the interval leading.
Kilkenny were quick out of the traps in the second half to establish a lead that was never overturned.
Within 40 seconds John Hoyne and Eddie Brennan had scored points and Carey added another a little over a minute later. From this point Tipperary were struggling.
Centrefield was being overrun and there were occasional scares and alarms in front of goal such as in the 43rd and 44th minutes when Ormonde had to clear off the line and when it wasn't properly cleared, Philip Maher had to flick an inviting ball away from Hoyne.
There were two critical junctures at which Tipp might have turned the tables. One was in the aftermath of the 48th minute. A cleverly worked move saw Brian O'Meara switch the ball over to O'Neill in the right corner. He picked out replacement Conor Gleeson who rolled around one tackle but shot weakly. McGarry blocked the rebound to Carroll who finished to the net.
There followed five minutes when the match hung in the balance. Carey hit a 65 wide to widespread acclaim from the Tipperary support, Cummins saved well from Carter and also plucked down a ball bound for a point from Lyng. With the champions' spirits lifting in the face of these Kilkenny misses, Comerford restored order and the lead with a point.
A tit-for-tat round of point scoring kept the teams level going into the last 10 minutes. Replacement Jimmy Coogan was the instrument of Kilkenny's next break. His 59th minute point was followed almost immediately by a spring-heeled break from Carey culminating in a ball into Coogan who drove to the net.
In final tribute to Tipperary their response to this setback was again admirable. Three points from a re-awakened Tommy Dunne, O'Meara and replacement John O'Brien cut the deficit to a minimum.
But in the closing moments when the scoreboard suggested that the match could swing either way there was something ragged about Tipperary. Even in the face of the onslaught Kilkenny looked capable of maintaining their advantage. And they did by extending the lead back to four. Fittingly it was the restored Carey who swung over the final score, booking himself a seventh All-Ireland final appearance.
It will also be Kilkenny's fourth final in five years and they will be favourites to add to the title they won two years ago and the county's 25 on the roll of honour.
HOW THEY LINED OUT
KILKENNY: 1. J McGarry; 2. M Kavanagh, 3. N Hickey, 4. P Larkin; 5. R Mullally, 6. P Barry, 7. JJ Delaney; 8. A Comerford (capt.), 9. D Lyng; 10. J Hoyne, 11. H Shefflin, 12 B McEvoy; 13. E Brennan, 14. M Comerford, 15. DJ Carey. Subs: 18. C Carter for Brennan (45 mins), 24. J Coogan for B McEvoy (55 mins).
TIPPERARY: 1. B Cummins; 2. T Costello, 3. P Maher, 4. P Ormonde; 5. N Morris, 6. E Corcoran, 7. P Kelly; 8. T Dunne (capt.), 9. E Enright; 10. M O'Leary, 11. J Carroll, 15. B Dunne; 13. E Kelly, 14. E O'Neill, 12. B O'Meara. Subs: 23. C Gleeson for Enright (45 mins), 18. L Corbett for B Dunne (49 mins), 26. J O'Brien for O'Neill (64 mins).
YELLOW CARDS
Kilkenny: A Comerford (2 mins), H Shefflin (41 mins) Tipperary: B Dunne (4 mins), M O'Leary (24 mins), T Costello (41 mins).
