GAELIC GAMES:IT COULD well be this strange and fascinating April showdown will be long forgotten when it comes to poking through the embers of the hurling year. Memory tends to be short term when it comes to league classics but that should not diminish the quality of this match. It provided joys if no real answers. Tipperary are the league champions again and Galway are the big question again.

We knew it was not summer because the afternoon was dry and bleak, because a sharp breeze ran through the shaded Mackey Stand and only 16,354 customers showed up. Here were two vastly differing hurling traditions clashing for the right to feel good about themselves on the last public day out before the dark plotting begins.

In the end, the honours went to Tipperary, when Séamus Butler delivered the grace note of an injury-time point to end a gripping and frantic clash on a score line of 3-18 to 3-16.

Tipperary's 19th league title was a deserved reflection of the impressive stewardship of Liam Sheedy, who has wasted little time in transforming the Premier County boys into a squad who behave and play as though they believe they are contenders.

They chased down everything in maroon yesterday and responded to a late Galway charge like men who have bought into some blood-signed covenant. And even as Shane McGrath, their on-song man throughout the league, came bursting through a Galway man before palming the perfect pass for Butler's concluding score, the Tipp fans must have wondered what more their team could give in the blazing theatres of June and July.

But that is their secret. We knew this was not summer because afterwards, Liam Sheedy could shrug agreeably and say soft things about a hard hour.

"A victory is always sweet and a national title is hard to get. You saw that out there today. Real hip-to-hip stuff and very competitive all through. I thought maybe midway through the second half when we went seven up we could kick on. Then Galway came roaring back at us and we were hanging on at the finish."

The mood in the Tipperary back line may not be quite as uncompromising as in the legendary days of the Hell's Kitchen trio but they are definitely a throwback in spirit and temperament. They fought their own spot and tracked the vaunted Galway attack into oblivion over the first half hour.

Up front, the general wisdom was Tipperary would need more than the sorcery of Eoin Kelly and in Limerick they had men queuing up to oblige.

Butler had six points from play. It was a beautiful day for Lar Corbett. Fit and fleet yesterday, his public saw him at his best, always laying off the right ball and, at the peak of the excitement, exploding on to a booming Brendan Cummins delivery and delivering one of his trademark, high octane goals.

Thirty seconds later, he shimmied with his back to goal before nonchalantly clipping his third point of the day. The Tipp lads were feeling giddy now and quickly added two more points.

Galway's year may well have hinged on that long 61st minute when they trailed by 3-16 to 2-12 and might have disappeared altogether. Men like John Lee, Shane Kavanagh, Fergal Moore and Kevin Hynes had hurled admirably. But at that moment, Galway hurling people must have had the shivers. Ger Loughnane shuffled and moved his troops, intent on finding the elusive combination. Richie Murray landed a giant, glorious point early on but could not break into the game. Gone. Niall Healy found the Tipp defence a barren hunting ground. Gone. Ger Farragher, too, walked early. But for all the swaps, for all the efforts to locate the tricky heartbeat of Galway hurling, it seemed all the maroon tinted storm clouds and doubts were gathering over the Gaelic grounds again. And then, from a nothing free near half way, Joe Canning played a quick tap to Hynes, got possession and took off. It was clear he had nothing but goal on his mind and yet his assault was so clean and powerful and audacious that, when the netting shook, it had a dreamlike quality. "Ah sure, Jaysus, it was a fantastic goal," Loughnane said afterwards, the cobalt eyes lighting for the first time. "To get the ball so far out and beat so many men. And the power. It will be contender for goal of the year."

Galway came alive again. Wristwatches were checked as they reeled Tipperary back to the bare point. Hayes broke through on an electrifying run and was blocked as he pulled back the trigger.

A few seconds later, Alan Kerins was hooked as he eyed up a point. It was hectic and brilliant now. Tipp men harrying, scavenging, working those famous stockings off. Perhaps their limitations will become apparent later on but they have the fire now.

And Galway men searching and close now, praying for some sort of break but just short in the end. Back slaps and hand shakes, smiles and doubts, Tipp songs in the old stand. "That is hurling," Damien Hayes said afterwards, the jaunty smile still stretched across his face.