All-Ireland Hurling Final - Kilkenny 2-22 Tipperary 0-23:THE CROWD at yesterday's GAA All-Ireland hurling final was denied the promised fireworks display, as the intended new on-field presentation disintegrated amidst crowd invasions and urgently-intoned declarations of 'Plan B', 'Plan B'.

But no one in the capacity crowd had gone short of fireworks, as an enthralling final unfolded. Tipperary, underdogs by circumstance if not temperament, put up a fantastic display, dictating the course of the match up until the dramatic closing minutes but in the end there was no denying Kilkenny’s rendezvous with history.

The All-Ireland four-in-a-row was completed and Cork’s 65-year old record emulated. It was fitting that an achievement of such historical magnitude should have taken nearly the entire 70 minutes of a wonderfully absorbing final to be decided and when the match was there and available, Kilkenny got the scores that clinically unpicked the challenge of the Munster champions.

There may have been a perceived ominous inevitability about what was going to happen, given the champions’ remorseless ability to put away opponents no matter how disturbing the challenge posed. But Tipperary pressed and threatened to the extent that a sensational upset was drifting into the realms of reality when the explosive events of the 64th-minute dramatically realigned the tie.

For Tipp, and most neutral observers, the crucial incident was unfortunately a refereeing error when Diarmuid Kirwan awarded a penalty for a foul on Richie Power by Paul Curran that took place outside of the area.

At that stage, Tipperary led by two points – a pretty endangered margin when Henry Shefflin is striding through the smoke to attempt the shot.

It hadn’t been his best of afternoons, even though a final total of 1-8 left him just three short of Eddie Keher’s all-time championship scoring record. But Shefflin was ruthless with the chance, declining to be satisfied with the plausible safety of taking his point and instead blazing it high into the net.

Still, there was only a point in it, but the coming seconds, reminiscent of Offaly’s later knockout blows on Limerick 15 years ago, saw Michael Kavanagh – like Shefflin pocketing a seventh All-Ireland medal, just one short of the Christy Ring and John Doyle benchmark – hurtle past Lar Corbett to keep the ball in play and clear it to Eoin Larkin.

Martin Comerford, dropped on Friday night to the surprise of many but making a major impact when introduced in the 55th minute, made the run and Larkin spotted him. In an instant Brendan Cummins was taking the sliotar out of the net for the second time in a minute.

Still, Tipperary came but the match was beyond them, as Kilkenny sensed victory, and attempts to get the margin to within a score foundered in a late burst of point-scoring with Jackie Tyrrell venturing up from corner back to swing over one and Larkin, after a couple of wides, finding the range and supplying two of his own.

So in a few business-as-usual minutes, the champions wrote themselves indelibly into history but for so long that conclusion had looked far from certain.

The first task for Tipperary was always going to be to avoid the sort of catastrophe that had befallen Kilkenny’s most recent All-Ireland opponents Waterford and Limerick – the concession of early goals and a resulting surge in panic levels.

This they managed in an opening quarter not for the squeamish. Tyrrell charged Seamus Callanan, switched into full forward before the throw-in, shoulder into chest and pole-axed him without even the sanction of a free. Referee Kirwan enthusiastically let play flow but, as generally happens in such cases, occasionally at the expense of the rules.

Otherwise the match was a terrific spectacle. Tipperary’s young defence played superbly.

Pádraic Maher overcame a ninth-minute error that let in Shefflin for a shot that Brendan Cummins crucially saved, but the full back went on to have an exceptional first senior final – recovering from his error within two minutes to stand his ground well with Shefflin under a dropping Aidan Fogarty delivery.

Less anticipated was the competitiveness of the Tipp half backs where Declan Fanning, no sign of his reportedly damaged hamstring, hurled a lot of ball as Power roamed and Conor O’Mahony locked the rearguard together.

One problem that continued to haunt the Munster champions was the ball-winning deficiencies of the half forwards. Pat Kerwick did some good things, but John O’Brien had a disappointing afternoon. The situation was partly remedied by the locating of Corbett at centre forward from where he ran Kilkenny ragged at times and ended up with four points from play.

On the wings, though, John Tennyson and Tommy Walsh were in control, the latter outstanding in his familiar ability to magic high ball out of the air and hit telling deliveries up the field. In the 16th minute he hit a wonder point from around his own ‘65’ line.

Tipperary might have had more of an attacking platform but the scoring was tit-for-tat and seven times the sides were level in the first half. If Shefflin wasn’t firing on all cylinders the rest of the attack were ticking over and Eddie Brennan excelled with three first-half points from play.

Eoin Kelly made a huge contribution to Tipperary, shooting 13 points in all and providing nearly-flawless (one wide) scoring from dead ball opportunities and managing to get away a point from play amidst a thicket of three defenders to tie up the match at 0-11 each going into injury-time; but Kilkenny still added two before the break for a half-time lead.

Although the Croke Park surface wasn’t as much of an ice-rink as it had looked a week previously there were occasional slip-ups.

Just as Tipperary survived the initial first-half exchanges without suffering a blitz from the champions, they came out on the restart and showed renewed application.

Kerwick set up Callanan for a shot that PJ Ryan – who had claims on the Man of the Match accolade for two important saves – turned away for a ‘65’. None the less emboldened Callanan scored two points within a minute and Shane McGrath, who went on to have a better second half, restored the lead shortly afterwards.

Tipp kept pushing and by the end of the third quarter led by two, 0-17 to 0-15.

Disaster however lurked. Replacement Benny Dunne was red-carded in the 55th minute for a crazy swipe at Walsh and the match swung to Kilkenny.

For a while it looked like the dismissal had driven on Tipperary, suddenly giving them an alternative focus to the daunting prospect of closing out the match.

Three points from Kelly and Callanan put them as much clear, 0-20 to 0-17 with 10 minutes to to.

But the countdown to history was about to begin in earnest.