ALL-IRELAND HURLING FINAL: Keith Duggancharts the history of the old rivalry between Tipperary and Kilkenny and pinpoints the 1967 final as a defining moment for both counties

IN THE days before the 1991 All-Ireland final, Declan Carr was not quite sure what to make of Tipperary’s opponents. They knew Kilkenny quite well from league encounters but in terms of the championship, they had no useful reference points.

“Absolutely nothing,” the Holycross man, who captained Tipperary to victory that September, recalled this week.

“It was a funny situation, really, because we had finished the 1980s quite well and we were a very confident team. But Kilkenny were not really on our radar and there was no rivalry to speak of. We had some great league games but it wasn’t quite the same as the cut-throat atmosphere of the championship. This was a tradition that we had only heard about. We had no memories of it.

“We had won the All-Ireland in 1989 and perhaps were not given much credit for it because we had beaten Antrim in the final – unfair as that was a fine Antrim team. But 1991 did feel like the ultimate All-Ireland because we had gone through Limerick and Cork and Galway and now Kilkenny awaited us.

“We were more focused on ourselves that on any rivalry. And Kilkenny were probably building again – they went on to win consecutive All-Irelands after that year. We knew Kilkenny were a fine team but because we were not used to meeting them, they just were not on our radar. I mean, Galway was the county that defined our rivalry at that time.”

And that is the peculiar thing about this weekend’s hurling final. Enshrined in tradition as the old derby is, it has a novel edge to it.

“There was a time when people were getting browned off at seeing Tipperary and Kilkenny appearing in All-Irelands,” observes Donie Nealon, one of the outstanding stars on the peerless Tipperary side of the 1960s.

“And that was understandable. But I think now they are saying: ‘look, we have had a couple of very disappointing games for the last couple of years and maybe Tipperary can pull out something the other counties have not been able to.’ Because above everything, the game needs a good final.”

Hearing and reading about the seeming invincibility of the current Kilkenny team prompts an obvious comparison for Nealon. In the mid-1960s, the very same quality was attributed to the team he played on. Sweeping wins in the All-Ireland finals of 1964 (when they beat Kilkenny by 5-13 to 2-8) and 1965 (when Wexford were dispatched by 2-16 to 0-10 had made Tipperary seem untouchable.

They turned up for their first round Munster championship meeting against Limerick under -strength and were punished by an inspired performance led by a young Eamon Cregan, who finished with an extravagant personal tally of 3-5.

Normal service was restored in 1967, when Tipperary and Kilkenny again qualified for the final. That match was Nealon’s seventh All-Ireland final and he had already won five, the first of those against Galway in 1958. Tipperary had Kilkenny in the grip of a frightening hex at that time.

The Cats had not beaten Tipperary in a senior final for 45 years. Tipperary, physically strong and imperious, were the favourites but, even as he prepared for the game, Nealon had the feeling it was going to be a very close encounter.

“It wasn’t a great All-Ireland. We lost by four points, but Pa Dillon made a terrific interception on a pass that, had it reached me, I think I would have been able to finish. And that had a huge bearing on the outcome of the game. Ollie Walsh, God rest him, hadn’t a good game in 1964 but he had an unbelievable game that day. He denied us, I think, probably three certain goals.

“Kilkenny weren’t quite sure against Tipperary because everything had gone our way for so many years. But once they got over that match, it was the monkey of their backs. Before that match, they had beaten us in a league home final on a very bad day and it was a low score. We looked to have it won at half-time because we were only two points down with the wind and the rain behind us but by God, their youth came to the fore that day because they held on to beat us.

“I think that day may have been the turning point for them. Now, Tipperary came back and beat them in the 1971 final but I think once they got over the ’67 match, it took a great weight off them.”

The rivalry during that period was, Nealon confirms, just as intense as it is reputed to have been.“There was a huge amount of intensity all through that time. Too much, really. Maybe there was some bitterness there and it did go overboard a few times. We played in London a few times at the Wembley tournaments and that broke the ice because we socialised a bit and after that, relationships improved a lot.”

The 1967 loss marked the beginning of the end for Tipperary. As he had promised, it was John Doyle’s last game. The Holycross man walked away having missed out on securing a record ninth All-Ireland medal.

Habit and class pushed Tipperary into a 2-6 to 1-3 lead at half-time but an injury to Theo English weakened them at midfield and, with eight of their players over 30 years old, Kilkenny overwhelmed them in the second half.

The aura vanished over the course of that second half and although Tipperary did return to beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final of 1971, they were about to enter a period of hitherto unimaginable decline.

When Declan Carr moved from Dublin with his family to Holycross as a 15-year-old, stories of that 1960s team were legion. His father had a vivid recollection of the 1960s finals. Carr recalls:

“In fact, he used to talk about the fact that Kilkenny had not beaten Tipperary for that long period before the 1991 final.

“That statistic of 45 years is mind-boggling now. . . Tipperary imposed their physical power on Kilkenny throughout those years and Kilkenny were not able for it. Now, you are looking at a good physical Kilkenny team imposing themselves on other teams.”

Nealon too can see similarities between Kilkenny now and the Tipp team of his own vintage.”

“There would have to be. At that time, our back line was physically very strong. That Tipperary steel thing was still there and that edge was in our favour. But those Tipperary fellas could hurl as well. And at that time there was a lot more emphasis on centrefield play and we were nearly all the time unbeatable at centre field. You had Theo English there for years and Mick Roche and before that John Hough, these were extremely good and dominant players.”

And what happened to Tipperary post 1971 proves that everything is cyclical. He believes in the midst of all their success, insufficient attention was paid to the nurturing of new talent.

“You could see we were running out of talent after ’71 and then, when you enter a losing sequence it is very hard to break it, as Galway are experiencing now despite all the underage success. It is hard to stop the drift.

“I always find that if you haven’t some All-Ireland winners on your team, it is a big drawback. And the talent that Kilkenny has produce for the past 12 years has been terrific and has helped them to go on and achieve what they have done.”

By the time Tipperary mounted their next All-Ireland push of conviction, Nealon was back as a selector with Theo English on a managerial team led by Babs Keating. The trio were appointed in the summer of 1986; a year later, Tipperary became Munster champions for the first time since 1971.

An All-Ireland followed two years later and Tipp hurling flourished again. But the success has been intermittent. McCarthy Cups in ’89, ’91 and 2001 hardly represent a satisfactory return in a hurling-mad county. It has come full circle. Now, Tipperary face a Kilkenny team that seem to have hypnotised all-comers.

“It probably hurts a lot of Tipperary people that we have three All-Irelands in 37 years and Kilkenny have six in this decade alone,” Declan Carr says.

“It is a sore subject. Yet when we go and play Kilkenny, we do not have a great fear of them. I think the frequency with which we meet at underage level and the history we have probably accounts for that. . . .

“Down the years, we would have put ourselves on a par with Kilkenny so there would be some envy there, of course. And this would be a very sweet victory if Tipperary could win it. But the same would be true for Kilkenny: the whole thing would be complete if they beat Tipp’ to win their fourth in a row.”

Donie Nealon knows all great eras, including Kilkenny’s, must reach a natural conclusion.

“Well, it has to! If it doesn’t, I don’t know what we are going to do,” he laughs.