All-Ireland Minor Hurling Semi-Final - Kilkenny 1-21 Tipperary 2-16:MANAGER RICHIE Mulrooney hailed the character of his players as Kilkenny booked their place in the All-Ireland decider yesterday.
Kilkenny saw off Tipperary for the second successive season at the semi-final stage with just two points to spare, in contrast to last year’s nine-point victory.
After 15 minutes, it appeared a case of how much Kilkenny would win by as they cruised into a 0-10 to 0-2 lead. Playing catch-up against the breeze, the beaten Munster finalists badly needed a fillip and it arrived in the form of a superb David Collins goal in the 19th minute, drilled into the corner of the net from 20 metres.
At half-time, Kilkenny led 0-15 to 1-6, but John O’Dwyer netted Tipp’s second goal four minutes after the restart to cut the gap to three points, 2-7 to 0-16.
And, after 44 minutes, Tipp midfielder Brian Stapleton levelled the tie at 2-12 to 0-18 – the momentum now very much with Mark O’Leary’s team.
However, in typical Kilkenny style, the game’s next score was a 46th-minute goal and full forward Walter Walsh supplied it, after Tipp had cheaply coughed up possession once again. Tipp rallied again to within a point and Stapleton had the chance to equalise again in stoppage-time, but his effort sailed wide.
Martin Gaffney’s free proved the insurance score for Kilkenny and a proud Mulrooney reflected: “It showed true character of our guys – we had six players 17 years or under on the starting 15 and they had massive character to respond to Tipperary drawing level. This is Croke Park; these are young players and the crowd was coming in right throughout the second half. The character in them was just fantastic.”
In the final, in four weeks’ time, Kilkenny will be chasing a 20th title at this grade. And back-to-back titles could be secured for the first time since 2003, but Mulrooney is anticipating a huge challenge from Kilkenny’s final opponents.
“Last year we played a very fancied Tipperary team and we won by nine points,” he said. “We were installed as really warm favourites to play Galway. That’s not going to happen this tie – we struggled through today and Waterford are a quality team. They showed that in the Munster final and Galway are always quality. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing in the final – it’s going to be a really difficult assignment for us.”
He was unconcerned by a tally of 11 wides on a day when all six of Kilkenny’s starting forwards registered scores from play.
Tipp manager Mark O’Leary, scorer of 2-1 in the 2001 senior final, added: “The fact we could never get ahead meant Kilkenny were never chasing the game.”
KILKENNY:J Power; I Duggan, W Phelan, J Lyng; L Harney, R Doyle (0-2, 65s), J Gannon; C Kenny (0-1), O Walsh (0-1); G Brennan (0-5), S Kehoe (0-5, four frees), C Buckley (0-1); G Aylward (0-1), W Walsh (1-2), C Maher (0-1). Subs: S Phelan for Gannon (42 mins), M Gaffney (0-2, one free) for Aylward (43 mins), J Cassin for Kehoe (58 mins).
TIPPERARY:D McCormack; S Maher, L Butler, A Ryan; D Maher, W Ryan, J Meagher; A Hogan, B Stapleton (0-1); S Curran (0-3), T Butler (0-1), E Murray (0-2); D Collins (1-1), J O'Dwyer (1-8, seven frees), A Cleere. Subs: D Butler for Cleere (41 mins), P Heffernan for L Butler (51 mins), M O'Brien for Collins (53 mins), J Forde for Hogan (54 mins).
Referee:D O'Driscoll (Limerick).
Next up . . .
The winners of next Sunday’s clash between Galway and Waterford will play Kilkenny in the final at Croke Park on September 6th.
