What I had to say about the match on Saturday more or less came true and Wexford discovered that it's harder to defend an All-Ireland than to win one. Tipperary went in with a definite plan to keep the ball moving as quickly as possible and to create space for their forwards. Eugene O'Neill was played wide and pulled Ger Cushe out which was a definite tactic as there'd be no point playing a small man on a big man if he remained static and by moving out he created space for John Leahy to run into.

This led to the first goal, a situation where Leahy ghosted in onto what looked a mishit ball and scored. It was an awful mistake to leave Leahy of all players not picked up, a mortal sin. Tipperary also kept the game simple and moved the ball out to the wing or low into the forwards.

Wexford suffered a serious blow with the loss of Rod Guiney. In his absence the half-backs lost the stranglehold that they've taken in all games in the last two years.

There was a great hunger in Tipperary's play. I know that word is over-used but the team looked well motivated whereas Wexford were flat. There was an ease about Tipperary's scores which was impressive. I don't mean there was anything easy about how they were created - it's just that when they created the scoring space, there was seldom a Wexford man within half a yard of them.

Their half backs also kept it simple, closing off their men and clearing the ball or batting it away, keeping the game moving.

Then at centrefield, Adrian Fenlon and Larry O'Gorman were not in the game for Wexford and didn't perform.

At full back Noel Sheehy sometimes looked vulnerable, at the beginning of both halves but he wasn't the only one and Paul Shelly also looked in trouble for the first 10 minutes.

One regret the losers might have is that early on, a ball came into Gary Laffan and he didn't finish it. If Wexford had got that, it might have been a different matter but he didn't get it. Last year when everything was going well for the team, he probably would have scored.

They were unlucky with injuries as Laffan didn't look fully fit and Rory McCarthy was hopped upside down by a shoulder challenge after which, as a slight player, he was in difficulty.

I was concerned that referee Joe O'Leary at first didn't allow him receive attention when he was obviously injured. Referees aren't doctors and it worries me that they have a say as to whether a player receives medical attention.

An old problem that returned to haunt Wexford was their free-taking was poor and they missed the sort of frees that that they had always missed until last year.

At half-time, if I was in the Wexford dressingroom I'd have been asking how do we stop Leahy. The obvious way was to move Sean Flood onto him because Flood's a smaller player, more Leahy's size and might be able to close him down.

This is what happened for the first 10 minutes or so of the second half and now we know it was because Leahy's eye was closed by an injury but whatever the reason, Wexford began to dominate in the half backs. Unfortunately for them, the quantity of good ball into the forwards didn't come to much as the forwards squandered chance after chance and missed frees.

When Leahy went, Michael Cleary took over his mantle on the half-forward line. Tipperary's team was also able to stand up to the physical side of the game and it was shrewd of Len Gaynor and his selectors to pick the team they did. It was a horses for courses selection and the horses came through.

Clare are a similar sort of course but I don't think Clare will like having to play them again because Len Gaynor has improved them. It will be an unusual All-Ireland and will be anybody's game. Tipperary lasted the pace yesterday extremely well and were snapping up ball in the confusion of Wexford's defence and putting it over the bar.

About half way through the second half, I wrote down: `Do Wexford have the confidence to fight back and keep their gameplan going?'

They didn't and although a team has to be flexible when things are going wrong, unfortunately too many of their players were playing badly.

Like Saturday's football when Offaly were able to come back at Meath and score a point, Tipperary were always keeping that distance on the scoreboard to at least four points.

I find it strange that as Martin Storey had the beating of Noel Sheehy, Wexford brought him back out the field in order to bring on Billy Byrne as a last throw of the dice. Billy was a little unlucky in that one chance went wide, bobbling to the right of the post when maybe last year it would have gone to the left.

The game itself was exciting like last week's but whereas Clare were well ahead and Kilkenny came back, Wexford never looked likely to get a goal. The final will be a game of contrasting styles: Clare like to run with the ball and Tipperary like to move it around.

Yesterday's match will have brought on Tipperary a ton because it was very tough. They will have the motivation of having lost to Clare in the Munster final and I think Clare would have preferred to be playing Wexford.

(In an interview with Sean Moran)