Division Three round-up: Tipperary 2-19 Kilkenny 2-16 Kilkenny's long unbeaten run came to an end at Nowlan Park yesterday. This eagerly awaited match between the top teams in the first phase of the Allianz National Hurling League went Tipperary's way and the result opened up the race for the top two places in Division One Group One.
After all those delightfully dry weeks, the weather proved truculent with a chilly breeze and persistent drizzle making conditions less than ideal. Still the teams who had provided one of the matches of last summer, delivered another cracking match - occasionally marred by some spiteful outbreaks - with Kilkenny chasing the result all the way to the whistle. The end signalled a first defeat for last year's double winners since the All-Ireland semi-final of August 2001.
"They got a super start but I knew our attitude would be good," said a happy Tipperary manager Michael Doyle. "I knew it was possible we could be beaten but I knew we wouldn't go down without a fight."
Kilkenny were assisted by poor shooting from Tipperary who racked up three wides by the 10th minute whereas the holders were making nearly every attack pay off. In that opening quarter the Tipp defence looked at sea and when DJ Carey swivelled and converted a goal chance created by Eddie Brennan's solo run and cross, the score stood at 1-4 to 0-1 after 15 minutes.
It looked ominously easy. Whether Kilkenny themselves were mindful of the competitive vacuum such a one-sided win would create, or they just took the foot off the pedal, fears of a rout subsided quickly.
Tipperary raised the game and added a degree of urgency to their play. The forwards began to strike with more conviction and at the back they got sharper and more aggressive. As the match became less open the Tipperary defence established a tight grip on the breaks and Kilkenny's supply to their menacing full forwards was blockaded.
Doyle was asked particularly about his team's two problem positions. Ger O'Grady has been the subject of intense scrutiny as he gets the chance to fill the full forward role in the aftermath of Declan Ryan. His progress had been solid enough but yesterday he went supernova.
Noel Hickey is unused to suffering in comparison to full forwards whose company he keeps but O'Grady took him for 1-6 from play and many of those scores were eye-catching.
"We don't have him on the panel because he's a good looking fella," according to Doyle. That's for sure.
David Kennedy was, until a crisis of confidence last summer, Tipp's answer to the generation-old question of centre back and yesterday he was back after a long absence with an ideal opportunity to re-stake his claim.
"I thought he came out on top," was Doyle's assessment of the joust between Kennedy and the current king of hurling Henry Shefflin.
It was a generous verdict given that when his team were on top, Shefflin had posed severe problems but Kennedy played his part when the battle on the half-line started in earnest.
Three points in little over a minute signalled the start of Tipperary's comeback and when a speculative lob from the left by Mark O'Leary deceived James McGarry and dipped into the Kilkenny net just before half-time, the visitors took the lead.
Kilkenny fought back as if suddenly woken up an hour late and an exchange of points left the sides level, 1-9 each, at the break.
Tipperary maintained the momentum after the interval and Eoin Kelly extended his personal tally to six from play within 10 minutes of the restart. Lingering suspicions that Kilkenny would reignite evaporated as the game moved into the last quarter when O'Grady bustled down a lineball from Tommy Dunne and kicked it into the net for a 2-15 to 1-11 lead.
The gap shrank but never closed. If Kilkenny manager Brian Cody is secretly relieved that the unbeaten record has passed without much harm he will have been unhappy at the failure of his half forwards to win ball, given the pressure this unleashed on the defence.
"Conditions weren't simple but that was tough on both teams," said DJ Carey. "I'd say we are as far as we were at this time last year. You can't fault our fitness and enthusiasm and we're hurling every bit as well as we were but Tipperary just hurled better."
TIPPERARY: Cummins; M Maher, P Maher, B Dunne; E Corcoran, D Kennedy, B Horgan; T Dunne (0-2, 2f), N Morris; M O'Leary (1-2), C Gleeson (0-1), J Carroll; E Kelly (0-7, 1f), G O'Grady (1-6), L Corbett (0-1). Subs: L Cahill for Carroll (70 mins).
KILKENNY: J McGarry; M Kavanagh, N Hickey; R Mullally (0-1, sideline), P Barry, JJ Delaney; D Lyng, T Walsh (0-2); B McEvoy, H Shefflin (0-8, 7 frees), J Coogan; DJ Carey (1-3 1f), M Comerford, E Brennan (0-2). Subs: P Tennyson for Lyng (56 mins), C Carter (1-0) for Coogan (56 mins), W Bourke for Hickey (61 mins), C Phelan for McEvoy (61 mins), B Dowling for Brennan (66 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
