Kilkenny show little mercy

All-Ireland Under-21 HC Final/Kilkenny 3-21 Tipperary 1-6: Poor old Tipperary. Swept aside by the reigning Erin under-21 All-Ireland hurling champions, they hardly managed to punctuate Kilkenny's stream of dominance. Not even the margin of defeat could be kept to under 21.

It was hard to know precisely where Kilkenny's excellence and Tipp's abjection crossed lines but the quality of the winners' score-taking was admirable and the ferocious application at the back long outlasted its strict necessity.

Tipperary elected to face the strong wind, a decision ruefully analysed in the aftermath. Captain Diarmaid Fitzgerald said: "We won the toss but thought that the team with the wind would take a few minutes to get to the pace of the game and that we'd be better off taking advantage of it in the second half."

Kilkenny made the second half an irrelevance. They exerted early pressure and initially Tipp responded well at the back but eventually the pressure was unbearable, as the forwards could offer the defence no respite.

Richie Power, one of Kilkenny's best players along with man-of-the-match Willie O'Dwyer, was central - at times unwittingly - to the first three scores. Having seen his 65 pop back off the post for Conor Phelan to point, he added a free and in mis-hitting an attempted point he sent a serviceable low ball into Cha Fitzpatrick, who cracked it to the net to make it 1-2 to no score.

If the start was ominous for the Munster champions the next phase was nightmarish. Over 12 minutes they were outscored 1-7 to a point. A mistake let Fitzpatrick in on 15 minutes and, though fouled, he played in O'Dwyer for an exuberant finish.

While the ground was being cut from underneath Tipperary at the back they were making little headway up front, with the left flank of the Kilkenny defence, Michael Fennelly and Ciarán Hoyne, particularly dynamic.

Tony Scroope got nothing out of John Tennyson and even Michael Farrell, who threatened more than most, made little impact beyond an excellent individual goal in the far corner.

Leading by 14 points on the restart, Kilkenny merely had to avoid disaster, but they were more ambitious. With Conor Phelan and Power playing deep, they picked off scores with economy and style, posting not a single wide into the wind. Phelan added a third goal, throwing himself to sweep a pass from replacement Eoin Larkin into the net.

Scroope was sent off for a second yellow card offence on Tommy Walsh. Tipperary corner back Darragh Walton was carried off injured just before the end.

This was Kilkenny's one All-Ireland title from four finals, their senior, minor and intermediate sides having fallen short.

"We wanted the seniors to win as much as anybody," said manager Martin Fogarty, "but we had to keep our lads away from the senior set-up or they'd be sucked into it. They had too much put into it all year. Some of them stayed at home last week and kept their focus.

"Ciarán Hoyne stayed at home to milk the cows while the brother went up to play. Last year Canice Hickey did the same thing for Noel. We were lucky to get early scores and it is not easy to get back when a team gets a leg up on you."

KILKENNY: D Herity; S Maher, J Tennyson, M Fennelly; T Walsh, PJ Delaney, C Hoyne (0-1); S Hennessy (0-1), P Cleere; S O'Neill (0-3), W O'Dwyer (1-3), E Reid (0-1); J Fitzpatrick (1-1, point from free), C Phelan (1-1), R Power (0-7, four frees, one 65). Subs: M Rice (0-1) for Fitzpatrick (half-time); B Dowling (0-2) for Reid (51 mins), E Larkin for Cleere (51 mins); J Phelan for O'Neill (54 mins); N Doherty for Delaney (55 mins).

TIPPERARY: P McCormack; A Morrissey, C O'Mahoney, D Walton; E Hanley, D Fitzgerald, H Moloney; J Caesar (0-3), W Cully; P Buckley, S Sweeney, F Devanney; E Sweeney, T Scroope (0-2, frees), M Farrell (1-0). Subs: W Ryan (0-1) for Morrissey (36 mins); D Morrissey for E Sweeney (39 mins); D Sheppard for Buckley (39 mins); T Fitzgerald for S Sweeney (45 mins); P Shortt for Cully (45 mins).

Referee: B Kelly (Westmeath).