Kilkenny 3-20 Tipperary 2-11: Fortunately for Tipperary this was a relatively private humiliation. A lot of people were looking elsewhere as Kilkenny dismantled their old rivals before the break in front of a paltry attendance of 9,250 at Semple Stadium yesterday.
In truth, the final margin of 12 points needs adjustment. The winners simply cruised for much of the second half. They'd felt their power and were satisfied.
This was a hugely interesting game, and entertaining with it. Tipp have suffered a topsy-turvy league campaign which left cognoscenti unsure of their precise wellbeing. Kilkenny have been back to the drawing-board working away. One suspected manager Brian Cody wouldn't have hung around in front of the game's most demanding constituents if he hadn't confidence that he could produce something fresh. Yesterday was like an unveiling of a prototype.
Kilkenny have changed their style to meet the needs of the players available to them. They are thinking about Cork and in a small way working from that template. Kilkenny, having worked with big ball-winning half forwards for the bulk of Cody's successes, watched Cork respond by producing a half back line of hurling giants. So in response Kilkenny are in the process of switching to a pass and move game. And doing it well.
Their conversion isn't total which makes them intoxicating to watch. Martin Comerford gave an exhibition at centre forward yesterday from his goal in the opening minute when he drove through and flicked the ball over Brendan Cummins' head to his five points from play, each of which exploited Tipperary's uncertainty as to what precisely they were dealing with.
Sometimes Kilkenny ran and drove, sometimes they passed and flicked. They welcomed Henry Shefflin back from a long lay-off and the great man was rust free. "Henry's touch will be good forever" said Cody happily afterwards. "He's about touch. As well as a few other things."
Shefflin enjoyed himself almost as much as Comerford did. He is surrounded by quick and intelligent players and deployed a variety of handpasses, short stick flicks and dummies to keep them busy. Shefflin's total from play was a modest 1-1 but the corner forwards outside him got 1-6 from play and would have feasted more avariciously had the occasion required gluttony.
What was required after a while was restraint. Kilkenny supplemented Comerford's early goal with a string of three points and then another goal. Shefflin put his hand up and made a catch, handpassed to Cha Fitzpatrick who fired past Brendan Cummins. Thirteen minutes gone, 2-3 to no score. Indeed 33 minutes had elapsed before Ken Dunne got Tipp's first score from play.
The last few minutes before the interval allowed Tipperary to put a face on things. Substitute John O'Brien added a point and Eoin Kelly drove a free to the net, reducing the margin to 12 points.
Kilkenny looked as if they had it in their power to double the margin in the second half but that would have been gratuitous and the attention such a deed might draw would be counterproductive. In the Tipperary dressingroom at the interval manager Babs Keating and selector John Leahy were calling for passion and pride and application.
Both teams will have been relatively pleased with the second half. "They were different class at times today," said Leahy. "They were running at our backs in the first half taking them on and taking their scores. Our forwards weren't doing it for us. We thought we were nearer our championship team at 12 o'clock today. We're no nearer this evening. We showed a bit of bite in the second half but we have to play for 70 minutes."
To that end Tipperary will have been pleased with the performance of Diarmuid Fitzgerald who was introduced at full forward in the second half. Micheál Webster's party trick last summer was catching the high ball but against JJ Delaney yesterday he was plucking nothing but air. Fitzgerald brought a different sort of presence to the position and created a goal for Eoin Kelly in the 52nd minute. He also set up a number of goal chances and the Tipperary brains trust will have taken note.
But as Leahy noted balefully afterwards Tipperary are "far from the finished article." They were in trouble at midfield for most of the day, their forwards looked lightweight and the defence was all too often stretched out of shape.
In the second half Kilkenny were able to stick on a Fennelly and a Power just to spice things up. On an afternoon when they welcomed back Noel Hickey and Shefflin it was quite a display of wealth. "We lost our way a bit in the second half," said Cody trying hard to look worried.
"We will have to look at the reasons we went out of the game. We have Limerick in the final and it seemed like a great win for them. Our play in the first half was good today. In the second half it was lethargic. Maybe it was the opposite for them. We won decently enough though."
KILKENNY: J McGarry; M Kavanagh, JJ Delaney, N Hickey; J Tyrell, J Tennyson, T Walsh; D Lyng (0-1), R Mullally; W O'Dwyer (0-2), M Comerford (1-5), E Larkin (0-2, 1f); J Fitzpatrick (1-2), H Shefflin (1-3, 2f), A Fogarty (0-4) Subs: M Fennelly for Mullally (50 mins), R Power for O' Dwyer (50 mins), E Reid (0-1) for Fogarty (58 mins), PJ Delaney for Walsh (61 mins), P Cleere for Lyng (67 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; P Curran, P Maher, M Ryan; E Corcoran, D Fanning, H Maloney; P Kelly (0-2), S McGrath; C Morrissey, J Carroll, K Dunne (0-1); E Kelly (2-6, 1-6 frees) M Webster, D Egan (0-1). Subs: C O'Mahoney for D Fanning (22 mins), J O' Brien (0-1) for S McGrath (32 mins), D Fitzgerald for Webster (ht) G O' Grady for Morrissey (46 mins J Woodlock for P Kelly (65).
Referee B Kelly (Westmeath).
