Drive for five hits Tipperary roadblock

Tipperary 4-17 Kilkenny 1-18:HISTORY'S NOT easily made. Kilkenny, the latest county to tilt at the immortality of five successive All-Irelands, found their favouritism dissolving in the autumnal rain at Croke Park, as Tipperary – at times ebbing but otherwise powerfully flowing – drove with increasing self-belief to a first Liam MacCarthy Cup in nine years.

Few would have believed that the riveting drama of last year’s final could have been equalled let alone surpassed but that’s what happened as the teams collided in a full-on confrontation that outranked 12 months ago for its sheer intensity and end-to-end duelling.

Once again Kilkenny weren’t at their best and just 13 minutes in, lost their spiritual leader Henry Shefflin to injury. But they resisted defiantly every step of the way, pegging back their opponents’ leads at various stages and making sure that the greatness of their reputation and collective will-to-win would feed Tipperary’s insecurities until near the end when, as often happens in these types of liberations, a dam-burst of scores put the issue beyond doubt.

It might be hard to credit in a match that was level for only about six minutes but the sense of contest was compelling and Kilkenny stayed in touch until the last 10 minutes even though shipping what looked a crippling 2-1 in the space of 180 seconds from the 41st minute.

As befits their status, the new champions had some excellent performers. Lar Corbett probably attracted most attention and if his input wasn’t as consistent as last year’s he still ended up with three goals in a display of lethal finishing. Eoin Kelly wasn’t as threatening from general play but his free-taking was flawless and vital, yielding seven points. Everyone played a part. John O’Brien hit two first-half points.

Noel McGrath covered acres and followed up for the third goal, Patrick Maher hustled Tommy Walsh more effectively than any other opponent this season and Gearóid Ryan’s work-rate and tireless hurling in the second half kept ball flying up in the direction of PJ Ryan’s goal. Liam Sheedy enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing his late replacements storm into the match and accumulate four important points in the decisive closing surge.

At centrefield Brendan Maher was indefatigable and kept working and running, scoring two points in the process and completing a season in which he has been Tipp’s best player and is now a leading candidate for hurler of the year.

But it was a balanced display.

Paul Curran was solid at full back and beside him in the corners Paddy Stapleton, who reduced his fouling rate, and Michael Cahill, assured in his first final and an effective warden for Eddie Brennan, did their jobs.

One of last year’s heroes Pádraic Maher, who has had a difficult season after being transferred out of his All Star position at full back, moved back into the centre of things when Conor O’Mahony got injured and gave a storming final 15 minutes at centre back winning ball relentlessly, taking on the hard-working Kilkenny forwards and driving his team back on the offensive.

Containing so much ebullience was too great a task for the champions but no one could accuse them of taking the shocking turn of events fatalistically. They grafted furiously and managed to retrieve the match after early setbacks but by the end they looked as if they were running on empty.

Tipperary’s pace in attack created panic in the Kilkenny defence and by the end as the challengers outscored them 1-5 to 0-3 in the final quarter of an hour, the once formidable rearguard looked weary and ragged.

Up front, though, the loss of Shefflin left the attack short of composure and tactical direction.

There was too much hitting and hoping, too much reliance on running frantically at Tipp and although at various periods the steady supply of fouls and consequent frees kept the scoreboard moving there wasn’t the assurance and cold-blooded calm in picking the right positions and optimising the options available.

The bench were slow to act on what was clearly a misfiring performance and given Michael Rice’s stature as a centrefielder, he might have been switched to the middle earlier where Kilkenny were struggling and a couple of forwards could have been more quickly introduced given the success of Tipperary particularly in the forwards.

The persistent rain made conditions less than ideal and probably didn’t help Shefflin’s knee although manager Brian Cody said afterwards that it has been just bad luck and that John Tennyson, the other cruciate sufferer, had lasted the 70 minutes. But rolling the dice on such an injury even with the great apparent recovery always carried the risk of the knee going at an early stage. So it came to pass within 13 minutes. By then Shefflin had already looked a bit out of sorts and uncharacteristically missed an early free.

By the time he had to go Tipp were 1-3 to 0-1 ahead. The goal came from a long delivery by Shane McGrath – whose energy and commitment, hooking and blocking, at that stage typified the team’s fierce application – into Corbett who plucked it from Noel Hickey and raised his first green flag.

TJ Reid forced a smart save from Brendan Cummins – excellent in all he had to do, including a pointed free from his own 45 – and the match began to settle into its open, blow-for-blow patterns.

After an uneasy start, Richie Power found his free-taking rhythm and although Eoin Kelly was masterful at the other end and Maher, O’Brien and Ryan all stroked nice points, there was a feeling that the Kilkenny defence was tightening its grip after some hair-raising moments as when the perpetual motion of Noel McGrath carved through the heart of the defence in the 25th minute only to finish weakly.

The match was moved again into the marginal column in the 33rd minute when Eoin Larkin, who was forceful and dynamic without getting on the scoreboard, punched a hole in the Tipperary defence and sent in Power for a well-finished goal, a breakthrough that he garnished with two more frees to leave just one between the teams at half-time.

Kilkenny were right back in it and the match again teetered. Tipperary had to come again after letting the initiative slip and after conceding an equaliser to a Reid line-ball, they struck formidably.

In the 42nd minute Corbett completed a sweeping combination between Ryan and Noel McGrath to race in and to nail his second goal. Two minutes later Cummins dropped in a long free and Noel McGrath pounced on the break to force the ball into the net for another seven-point lead, 3-11 to 1-10.

Still Kilkenny responded. At the back JJ Delaney’s exceptional season continued – at one stage in the first half he actually smuggled the ball out of Eoin Kelly’s possession – as the team desperately sought a game-changing intervention. Instead it was the succession of Tipperary replacements – Séamus Callanan, Benny Dunne and Séamus Hennessy all scored – who made the late impacts with the coup de grace being delivered by Corbett in the third minute of injury-time, as he again stole in behind the full backs to drive in his third goal, the first player to achieve a hat-trick in a hurling final since Cork’s Eddie O’Brien 40 years ago.

It’s the county’s 26th All-Ireland and the first they have won through the qualifier dispensation and marked a joyous landfall for a team that just three months ago looked shipwrecked after hitting the rocks in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.