Tipperary 4-17 Kilkenny 1-17:Kilkenny have been denied an unprecedented fifth All-Ireland hurling title in a row by a truly inspirational performance from Tipperary, who outfought and outscored their opponents for the entire 70 minutes.
In the end it was an eight point win but the dethroning of Kilkenny was a much closer run thing than that. Two late points from substitutes Benny Dunne and Seamus Hennessy, and Lar Corbett’s third goal, added the sheen but they came as Kilkenny scrambled to close a four-point lead that was never quite a lost cause.
Kilkenny weren’t helped by Henry Shefflin’s 11th minute departure after his seemingly Lazarus-like comeback from a cruciate ligament injury proved a false prophecy, but that wasn’t what brought Liam back to Tipp for the first time in nine years.
Last year, Tipp were beaten after being outfought in the dying stages and not taking their chances. They learnt their lesson well and never let up today. They starved Kilkenny of scoring opportunities and for much of the game only Richie Power’s frees were keeping them in touch.
Then, when the time came to kill it off, they didn’t flinch. A one-point lead at the break was built upon by goals from Corbett and then Noel McGrath, but Kilkenny threatened to get off the canvas, until three sucker punches ended the bout.
“I’m just so proud of this bunch of players, you couldn’t fault their effort, their commitment and their honesty,” said winning manager Liam Sheedy afterwards. “We were gutted last year but we said we’d be back. Maybe some people started to doubt us along the way. I never doubted us.”
From the first whistle, belief wasn’t an issue for Tipp. It was Shefflin who missed the target first and Eoin Kelly opened the scoring with his first sight of the posts from a free.
Shefflin responded with his second attempt but Kelly had added two more before the first 10 minutes were up after Tipp won the opening skirmishes, with Brendan Maher and Noel McGrath particularly lively.
Corbett hit the net for the first time when outmuscling Noel Hickey under the high ball and firing past PJ Ryan. Then came Shefflin’s departure, and the first hints of Kilkenny’s demise, after his knee buckled beneath him by the touchline. Michael Rice replaced him and the show went on.
Aidan Fogarty and TJ Reid pointed from play, but Richie Power was carrying most of the burden from the deadballs as Kilkenny tried to eat into the six-point lead.
Brendan Maher showed his mettle when picking himself off the floor after a foul by Tyrell to point brilliantly from play and even goalkeeper Brendan Cummins pitched in to keep the Cats at distance.
As is so often the case, though, they’re never fully out of reach and the tide looked to have changed when Eoin Larkin burst through the Tipp halfback line and fed Power with a handpass. The Carrickshock man turned and buried it into the net from the leff-handside.
He added another two frees before the break to close the gap to one and, suddenly, the omens weren’t good for Tipp. Or so we thought.
Reid levelled the scores early on in the second half but Kelly, like Power, was ruthless over the deadball, and restored the lead before Corbett struck again. It owed everything to Noel McGrath, however, whose reverse handpass wrong-footed the entire Kilkenny defence and left the corner forward with just Ryan to beat. He made no mistake.
McGrath then latched on to a dropping ball on the edge of the small square to sweep another one into the net and Kilkenny were staring at a seven-point lead. Again, Power was tasked with reeling them in and did so with two more frees before Reid helped out when gifted the ball by Cummins.
Brian Cody began emptying the bench and Derek Lyng and Martin Comerford replaced Cha Fitzpatrick and Eddie Brennan respectively. Lyng made it a three-point game but Kelly bit back with another of his seven frees.
Reid got his fourth but then came the first of two superb points from substitute Seamus Callanan. Time was really running out at this stage and the pressure told as Power fired a free wide and then Tennyson did the same.
Power recovered and got his first from play, as did sub John Mulhall, but the desperation lead to distraction and Dunne and Hennessy took full advantage.
The final act was reserved for Corbett whose third came via patience on the edge of a scramble, a fine first touch on the breaking ball and marksman’s finish into the corner with the second.
Corbett killed the Cats.
Tipperary:B Cummins (0-1, f); P Stapleton, P Curran, M Cahill; D Fanning, C O'Mahony, Padraic Maher; B Maher (0-2), S McGrath; G Ryan (0-1), Patrick Maher; J O'Brien (0-2); N McGrath (1-0), E Kelly (0-7, 7f), L Corbett (3-0). Subs: C O'Brien for O'Mahony, S Callanan (0-2) for O'Brien, B Dunne (0-1) for S McGrath, S Hennessy (0-1) for B Maher
Kilkenny:PJ Ryan; J Dalton, N Hickey, J Tyrrell; T Walsh, J Tennyson, JJ Delaney; J Fitzpatrick, M Fennelly; TJ Reid (0-4), H Shefflin (0-1, f), E Larkin; E Brennan, R Power (1-9, 0-8f), A Fogarty (0-1). Subs: M Rice (0-1) for Shefflin, M Comerford for Brennan, D Lyng (0-1) for Fitzpatrick, R Hogan for Fogarty, J Mulhall (0-1) for Reid