Brilliant Tipperary the new kings of hurling

THE cloak of invincibility which surrounded Kilkenny hurlers over the past five years has finally been removed. Many hurling people couldn’t see it coming at Croke Park last Sunday, but they were hardly anticipating that challengers Tipperary were going to produce such a sustained performance of ferocious commitment. It’s arguable that no team wearing blue and gold has ever hit such stunning heights in an All-Ireland final.

Tipperary were simply magnificent. For virtually the entire 70-plus minutes, they were in the zone. Most of us thought that we would never see the day when an opposition would outfight this Kilkenny outfit, ground them into submission, but Eoin Kelly and his team-mates did just that with a display of total commitment, astute tactical awareness and the extraordinary sharpness of their hurling. It was close to being the perfect exhibition of all that was required to floor the mighty champions.

Never in my life, have I seen the player in possession coming under such pressure as what the case last Sunday. Players on both teams were closed down with unrelenting fury while the work ethic of the rival teams bordered on fanaticism. The tackles and hits almost made the GAA’s most hallowed ground shudder as 82,000 supporters were left entranced by a stirring battle in which absolutely nothing was spared. 

Though Tipperary always had a chance of carrying the day, nobody could have envisaged they would win pulling away and by a margin of eight points. Kilkenny’s spirit was never broken, but they couldn’t cope with their arch rivals’ savage hunger or their greater mobility about the field. Throw in a ‘Roy of the Rovers’ goal-scoring display from Lar Corbett, and you can see why the Cats failed in their heroic bid to achieve hurling immortality.

The Tipperary management of Liam Sheedy, Eamon O’Shea and Michael Ryan – so unfairly maligned by several prominent individuals in the county who ought to have known better in the wake of the Munster semi-final loss to Cork – deserve massive plaudits for having the determination and wherewithal to turn their season around. They wisely kept their heads down in the line of fire, but must derive enormous satisfaction from masterminding the county’s first All-Ireland triumph since 2001.

They had heroes all over the field. Obviously, Corbett tops the bill with his outstanding three goal haul, but the displays of Brendan Cummins, whose first-half point from that long distance free inside his own 50 yard line was one of the game’s defining moments, Paul Curran, Michael Cahill, the excellent Padraic Maher, Brendan Maher, Shane McGrath, early on, and Eoin McGrath led the way for their team-mates, while the fact that substitutes Seamus Callanan (two), Benny Dunne and Seamus Hennessy all fired over late points underlined the strength of the new champions’ squad.

Naturally, not every Tipperary player scaled individual greatness, but every one of them hurled with an unrelenting spirit, energy and drive which rocked Kilkenny almost from the beginning. On four different occasions in the opening-half, they pulled six points clear and with Henry Shefflin limping off injured after only 12 minutes, it was soon clear that Brian Cody and his mentors were facing a troubled afternoon.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.