Terrific Tipperary go the extra mile to reach dreamland
All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Final 2010
TIPPERARY 4-17
KILKENNY 1-18
Was this Tipperary's greatest-ever All-Ireland triumph? Probably. A team hewn from the county's very best traditions delivered a performance that combined attacking brilliance with the required resilience to crush Kilkenny's ambitions of becoming the first county team to win five All-Ireland titles in-a-row, and land Tipp's 26th crown.
After a game of ceaseless enjoyment the Tipperary joy was boundless. And why not. The players and management who chiselled out this famous victory, their backroom team and the wonderful supporters who had pumped up the volume in Croke Park from start to finish on Sunday were united in their celebration on this day of days.
It was vintage stuff, an occasion that gloriously evoked the spirit of Killarney in 1987 when the famine ended.
Kilkenny last tasted defeat in the All-Ireland semi-final five years ago, against Galway, before embarking on a run of 21 straight victories in the championship. On Sunday they were odds-on favourites to win again but ran up against a brick wall of defiance and determination that toppled them from their lofty perch.
The Tipp defence was tightly-knit, the midfield inventive and the attack lethal. In attack the real magic was delivered by Lar Corbett. On a day when a swirling breeze and a filthy drizzle hung around the cacophonous cauldron that was Croke Park - with 81,765 spectators shoehorned inside - the Thurles Sarsfields player plunged Kilkenny into a deep depression with his hat-trick of goals. When he scored the first in the 10th minute, beating Noel Hickey to Shane McGrath's delivery before thumping the ball to the net, it was an early indication that Kilkenny were in for an afternoon of toil, predictions that were subsequently confirmed.
When Corbett struck for his first goal, the Tipp supporters dared to dream. When he scored the second seven minutes into the second half, after the groundwork had been laid by Gearoid Ryan and Noel McGrath, the dream moved a step closer to becoming reality, especially when Noel McGrath prodded home the third goal a minute later.
John Tennyson was booked for throwing his hurley at Corbett in the build-up to that second goal, a desperate but understandable attempt to distract Corbett that earned the Kilkenny man a yellow card. But nothing or no one could deflect Corbett from his voyage to greatness. When he stylishly slammed home the third in additional time, following Patrick Maher's handpass, Kilkenny's resistance had withered completely, despite a late point from Michael Rice.
The scoreline was every bit as convincing as the performance. Despite the 8-points margin at the final whistle the constant Kilkenny bombardment, that was mostly splendidly repelled by Tipp's teak-tough defence, was a reminder that they could take nothing for granted, perhaps until the three minutes of additional time were being played out. In order to be crowned champions, they were forced to dig deep under intense pressure.
From the start Tipp reproduced the high-octane performance that saw them go so close in last year's final, another affair of epic proportions, and one in which they saw a 3-point advantage wiped out in the last 10 minutes. Twelve months on this latest battle of hurling's heavyweights ebbed and flowed magnificently once again. It was intense from start to finish on a day of raw emotion and strong passion at headquarters.
Tipp were never behind on the scoreboard as they seized the initiative from the off. Yet they only led by a point at half-time against a team that appeared as if it was still capable of moving up several notches.
Gearoid Ryan's point gave Tipp a six-point cushion (1-10 to 0-7) three minutes before the break, but within a minute Kilkenny underlined their menace. Eoin Larkin cut a swathe through the Tipp rearguard (the only occasion it was significantly breached) and his pass was a blank cheque that Richie Power willingly cashed. It was a goal that kept the holders' challenge bubbling.
Power followed up that score with a pair of points from frees that cut the deficit to the bare minimum. Half time arrived at just the right time for Tipp, who badly needed a breather.
With the primarily diagonal wind in their favour for the resumption the stage looked set for a Kilkenny takeover, especially when their captain T.J. Reid equalised with a superb sideline cut in the 39th minute. But Tipp, as they say, hadn't read the script.
Having shaded the first half they returned with their supplies of enterprise and energy replenished to win the second period as well, a task they achieved with their abundance of youth and hunger.
Eoin Kelly's free six minutes after the re-start gave them a lead they never relinquished, and then came those two goals in as many minutes from Lar Corbett and Noel McGrath that really rubbed the scent of victory into their nostrils, as they opened up a 7-points lead.
However the journey was still some distance from its destination. Two Richie Power frees inched Kilkenny closer and then T.J. Reid scored when the Tipp defence got the yips, as a short Brendan Cummins puckout went astray. The gap was down to three when Derek Lyng found the target.
Tipp badly needed a lift and they got it when Eoin Kelly steered a free between the posts into the wind, which was their first score in 14 minutes since McGrath's goal.
Kilkenny responded through T.J. Reid and when Seamus Callanan drove a shot between the posts to re-open a four-point difference, with 11 minutes remaining, a Tipperary voice cried out "Blow it up ref!"
The blue and gold ribbons still weren't fastened to the McCarthy Cup but Tipp could almost touch it. They had heroic figures dotted all over the pitch during this phase, none more so than Padraic Maher who was imperious in defence. He started at wing back and then moved to the centre when Conor O'Mahony departed injured and his lionhearted display typified the spirit and confidence that was coursing through the Tipperary veins.
The Thurles Maher was involved in both points scored by Seamus Callanan – who proved a great impact sub – to leave Tipp 5 points ahead.
And yet they still weren't out of the woods. They went six clear when Eoin Kelly converted a free with 6 minutes remaining but two minutes later Richie Power pointed when he beat Paddy Stapleton to the ball and had a clear glimpse of the goal. A green flag for Kilkenny then would have worsened the tension that had already reached almost unbearable levels for the Tipperary throngs.
As the last act of this gripping drama was played out John Mulhall had a point before Michael Fennelly, who had been particularly prominent in the first half, frittered away his team's last meaningful chance when he missed the target a minute from the end of normal time.
From then on Tipperary rammed home their superiority. Benny Dunne and Seamus Hennessy had late points before Lar Corbett applied the coup de grace with the last goal in additional time, and Tipp had crashed through the finishing tape to claim their first All-Ireland Championship in 9 years.The team ethic and the side's incredible workrate was central to the success. But as in any such occasion there were individual highlights.
Apart from Lar Corbett and Padraic Maher, many others were high on the list of the team's best performers. The midfield powerhouse unit of Brendan Maher and Shane McGrath, the attacking flair of Noel McGrath, Eoin Kelly and Seamus Callanan, the industry of Patrick Maher and Gearoid Ryan and the stubborn defensive work of Paul Curran, Paddy Stapleton, Brendan Cummins and Michael Cahill was all interwoven into a euphoric team performance.
In the early skirmishes Eoin Kelly and Henry Shefflin traded frees before Kelly gave Tipp the lead from another free. Another Kelly free was the appetiser for Lar Corbett's opening goal, and immediately afterwards Brendan Cummins saved from T.J. Reid. The Tipp dander was up.
John O'Brien scored from an acute angle before Henry Shefflin hobbled off in the 12th minute. For any sports fan one of the game's greatest-ever players cut a sorry sight leaving the pitch but his early departure highlighted the sheer folly of him even togging out, let alone playing him from the start.
Richie Power scored from a free before Aidan Fogarty had Kilkenny's first score from play after a quarter of an hour – when was the last time a Kilkenny team had to wait so long to open its account from play? Their final tally from play was just 1-8, while Tipp's was 4-9. For the record, Tipp had 5 wides and Kilkenny 7.
Eddie Brennan shanked a shot from a good position wide, after Brendan Maher and Eoin Kelly (free) had put six points between the sides in the 18th minute. The only faults in Tipp's game at this stage were their tendency to play one pass too many and the concession of too many frees (13 to 7 at the end of the first half). The industry of Eoin Larkin and T.J. Reid and Richie Power's freetaking also helped keep Kilkenny in touch at that stage.
Tipp produced an unlikely freetaker of their own seven minutes before half-time when Brendan Cummins landed an effort from deep in his own half over the bar to put his side ahead by 1-8 to 0-7.
There were six points in it before Kilkenny's late surge sliced the scoring difference to a single point, and showed they were still very much alive and kicking. It set up a second half, the quality of which somehow managed to surpass the first.
Tipperary – Brendan Cummins (0-1 free), Paddy Stapleton, Paul Curran, Michael Cahill, Declan Fanning, Conor O'Mahony, Padraic Maher, Brendan Maher (0-2), Shane McGrath, Gearoid Ryan (0-1), Lar Corbett (3-0), Patrick Maher, Eoin Kelly (0-7 frees), Noel McGrath (1-0) and John O'Brien (0-2).
Substitutes - Conor O'Brien for Conor O'Mahony (57 minutes), Seamus Callanan (0-2) for John O'Brien (58 minutes), Benny Dunne (0-1) for Shane McGrath (62 minutes), David Young for Declan Fanning (67 minutes) and Seamus Hennessy (0-1) for Brendan Maher (69 minutes).
Kilkenny – P.J. Ryan, John Dalton, Noel Hickey, Jackie Tyrell, Tommy Walsh, John Tennyson, J.J. Delaney, James Fitzpatrick, Michael Fennelly, T.J. Reid (0-4 including 1 sideline), Henry Shefflin (0-1 free), Eoin Larkin, Eddie Brennan, Richie Power (1-9 including 0-8 frees) and Aidan Fogarty (0-1).
Substitutes – Michael Rice (0-1) for Henry Shefflin (13 minutes), Derek Lyng (0-1) for James Fitzpatrick and Martin Comerford for Eddie Brennan (both 51 minutes), Richie Hogan for Aidan Fogarty (54 minutes) and John Mulhall (0-1) for T.J. Reid (62 minutes).
Referee – Michael Wadding (Waterford).
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Weather for Clonmel
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 4 C to 6 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 6 C to 8 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: South
