Kilkenny 0-19 Tipperary 0-10: February can be an ugly month for hurling. A time of soft ground, foul winds and bitter cold is no time for the better skills of the game. None of which fully explains the bleak and often tiresome display of hurling in Semple Stadium yesterday.

In fairness, Kilkenny weren't that bad. Tipperary were. With the exception of a brief period early in the second half, the home team were totally outclassed, and very nearly outscored by a record margin. Had Brendan Cummins not made four amazing saves - including two penalties - this Tipperary defeat would have been truly embarrassing.

Those great goalkeeping moments didn't save Michael "Babs" Keating from being approached with the first hard questions since taking over as Tipperary manager.

After drawing with Limerick last week, Keating reckoned his team would improve, but this marked several steps back. Yet, his way of dealing with those questions was to avoid them, and he exited the dressingroom afterwards announcing he'd nothing to say.

Fortunately, someone had tipped off Tipperary supporters about the current form because they showed up in surprisingly small numbers. Either that or they just couldn't care less about the league.

The fact is Tipperary are several players short of full strength, but the problems here were widespread. Kilkenny controlled midfield without really trying, and the Tipperary half forwards didn't fare much better.

As expected, Kilkenny looked leaner and meaner than any team deserves to be at this time of the year. Brian Cody juggled several players since the opening win over Laois. Richie Power had two penalties stopped by Cummins in the 10th and 13th minute, by which stage they'd slowly eased a point ahead.

Those saves in fact sparked a Kilkenny onslaught, and Cummins performed two more feats in the acrobatic category in the next 15 minutes, saving yet again from Power, and then at point-blank range from Eoin Reid. All the while, though, the Kilkenny points mounted - with James "Cha" Fitzpatrick and Aidan Fogarty leading the way.

So Kilkenny were up 0-9 to 0-3 and Tipperary were in real trouble. Only the free-taking of Seamus Butler gave them any hope. They changed directions with Kilkenny leading 0-10 to 0-3.

Three half-time changes - including the introduction of John Carroll - seemed to ignite a bit of fire in Tipperary, but it was really only a quick spark. Two long-range frees from Conor O'Mahoney and further input from Butler reduced the margin to three points, 0-11 to 0-8, with a good 20 minutes left to play.

Unfortunately for the sparse Tipperary support, all the play from then on was by Kilkenny. After exchanging another point each, Kilkenny hit six unanswered points, five from Power, and the last by Eoin Larkin.

Cody, as expected, was in affable form afterwards, and it's already clear what his league ambitions are. "Yeah, four points after two games is nice," he said, "but the performances were more important and I'm happy with how the lads are going. There's good spirit in the team and we definitely have lads who want to play. And they're not bad either.

"I mean they made an awful lot of chances in the first half and I'm always pretty happy when that happens. We didn't play as well in the second half, but we're still in transition at the same time. We have players new to the scene and we'll keep moving things around, while trying to win every game. So I'm reasonably happy with the way things are going."

It's put to him that maybe Tipp aren't taking the league as seriously as Kilkenny. "Everyone says we take the league too seriously, but we just try to win every game we play. I've yet to meet a team that doesn't.

"People that claim teams don't try to win the league, well, I don't believe that. Players are looking to secure their place or win their place, and once the ball is thrown in I don't believe any team is thinking about anything else other than winning."

With Keating deciding on the quiet route out of Semple Stadium, it was left to man-of-the-match Cummins to voice Tipperary's disappointment.

"Well Kilkenny were coming though the field in waves", he said, "but still I think we took everything they had to throw at us and still only went in seven points down. We rallied quite well in the second half, but then faded again. But I still think we can take a few positives, like the way we dug in and got going again."

"The championship doesn't begin next Sunday, so it's important we keep learning things along the way. Hopefully, by the time May comes around we'll have learnt a lot and all this will be in the past."

KILKENNY: J McGarry; J Tennyson, JJ Delaney, S Maher; J Tyrrell, J Dalton (0-1, a free), T Walsh; R Mullally (0-1), M Rice (0-1); R Power (0-7, six frees), D Lyng (0-1), E Larkin (0-1); E Reid, J Fitzpatrick (0-5), A Fogarty (0-2). Subs: E McCormack for Reid (53 mins), E Brennan for Lyng (64 mins).

TIPPERARY: B Cummins; D Fanning, P Maher, P Curran; D McGrath, C O'Mahoney (0-2, both frees), H Moloney; K Dunne, E Brislane; B Dunne (0-1), C Morrissey, G O'Grady; S Butler (0-6, three frees), J O'Brien, J Enright. Subs: J Carroll for Enright, D Egan for Morrissey, S McGrath (0-1) for Brislane (all half-time), P Kelly for O'Brien (53 mins).

Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).