Tipperary achieve what they had set out to do

GAELIC GAMES:THERE was an afterglow of satisfaction in Thurles which, for yesterday at least, was at the heart of hurling country. The Premier county landed the 125th Munster senior hurling title on the famous ground yesterday and strengthened their reputation as the best team in the province.

At times, the local team threatened to cut loose against a Waterford team weakened by injury and still, perhaps, hurling its way out of the gloom left by last September’s heartache.

Yesterday’s Munster showpiece started at 100 miles an hour, gradually turned obedient to Tipperary’s discipline and scoring power, threatened to turn into a rout and ended with a late rally from Waterford that suggested there is light in them yet.

When it was over, the Tipperary men looked at the scoreboard at the town end and when they did the maths on the 4-14 to 2-16 score line, they might have puzzled at how they escaped the day with just four points to spare.

In the gentle heat of the late afternoon and hundreds in the crowd of 40,330 gleefully ignoring to refrain from trespassing on the holy sod, the details did not matter. Willie Ryan lifted the cup and made a proud speech and as manager Liam Sheedy testified, Tipperary had achieved what they had set out to do. But as they gathered in the dark cool of the corridors under the Kinnane stand afterwards, the victors seemed to sense this latest evidence that they seem to slow up in matches will be used as a stick to beat them with.

“Well, I really don’t care. We have the cup now in our dressingroom so they can say what they want,” said Shane McGrath, sounding a defiant note, before adding, “I know it’s still a worry for us. It was a tough, tough game. But there were a few of us getting some stick lately, saying we wouldn’t be able to do it when it counted.”

They responded to that. This Tipperary team become the first since the celebrated 1988/89 gang to retain the Munster title. In doing so, they have probably confirmed their credentials as the boys-most-likely-to in the race to someday and somehow defeat Kilkenny in All-Ireland championship hurling.

This occasion highlighted the best of Tipperary, with the precision and stick craft of their forwards coming to the fore in a first half notable for the rejuvenation of the county’s resident genius, Eoin Kelly.

The Mullinahone man’s season continues to jolt along in frustrating fashion. He graced the first half with a goal but was forced to sit out the second with a hamstring. With Conor O’Mahony prominent at centre-half and Padraic Maher highly impressive when switched to fullback, Tipperary hurled with customary purpose and discipline and, with 20 minutes remaining had left Waterford 10 points in their tracks.

There were fears for Waterford at this stage. Yesterday, the complexities of this proud and emotionally-naked Waterford team were on show.

They opened full of wicked attitude and speed and when John Mullane landed the team’s second goal after 21 minutes, only the safety nets behind the goal stopped him from taking flight and delivering himself onto the adoring terrace crowd.

The De La Salle man was wonderful, each of his scores a gem and his attitude flawless. But with Waterford heavily reliant on their pale front man and the elegant Eoin Kelly for scores, they fell into heavy arrears as Tipperary hit their goals. Waterford went 10 points down shortly after Lar Corbett rapped his second goal and the local crowd went wild. Flashbacks of last September all round.

“It would have been very easy when things are going against you to think of what happened last year and say, ‘Jesus, not again’, and die,” said Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald yesterday, the famous half-smile etched on his face and the voice wistful.

“We are not like that. We’ll fight and keep fighting. That is the way we are.”

And it was true that Fitzgerald and Waterford could take some solace from this defeat. They did not disappear. They hurled the match out even though most in the ground believed the issue long settled. The last minutes were played out through the discordant spectacle of several village idiots wandering drunkenly around the field of play, as though they had somehow wandered badly off course from the Oxygen music festival.

Through those foolish distractions, Waterford continued to knock over points with quiet urgency and in the end, Tipperary were more relieved than they ought to have been to hear the final whistle. Waterford men stood on the crowded field and might have wondered that, with a chance here and a stop there, it might have been a different day.

“We didn’t fold our tent,” said Fitzgerald. “We are proud.”

But the tent folds on the Munster theatre now. Tipperary are champions and deservedly so. Liam Sheedy’s men are a fine and honest team and in their hearts, they know that they must look east for their defining days.