Galway's fourth All-Ireland minor hurling title was in essence a celebration of varied defensive skills, highlighted by supreme closing-down tactics which left the much vaunted Tipperary attack struggling for ideas in crowded areas at Croke Park yesterday.
"We were never allowed the freedom to play," said Paudie Butler, the losers' manager, who was as frustrated as his players afterwards.
Galway's "not an inch" rearguard action also clearly left the Tipperary selectors short on ideas. They failed to counter the uncompromising brilliance of a winning defence that was repeatedly inspired from all six out-field positions, but nowhere more convincingly than at right corner back, where Brian O'Mahoney reigned supreme, and in Johnny O'Louglin's goal.
Tipperary's gamble to play Kevin Cummins, who is recovering from a foot injury, did not pay off. He was replaced in the second half by Liam Brett and Donal Shelly had to be moved out of attack which meant that not a single Tipperary forward was in his original position by the last quarter.
Earlier, Galway addressed the possible threat posed by Tipperary midfielders Tom King and Stephen Mason by switching corner forward Damien Hayes out to play the role of a third midfielder. Tipperary were slow to respond and Gerard Farragher capitalised on the space.
Farragher, at 16 the youngest player on the pitch, emulated Tipperary's Eoin Brislane with a huge point from a sideline cut to stretch the Connacht champions' lead to three points 0-12 to 0-9, 17 minutes into the second half.
Galway's flying wing forward Richie Murray could claim that three of his five points were the most significant of the winning tally. The first came in the 28th minute and the other two in injury-time before the interval to give his side a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage.
"Those points for Galway nearing half-time were crucial," said Butler, "but we never got enough energy into our play. It was difficult for us to match the excellent play of Murray Forde and Hayes in the that Galway attack."
The Tipperary defence had been strongly fancied to dominate, but this did not happen and perhaps only Colm Everard and goalkeeper Damien Young, with a great save from Forde, played to their full potential.
The hard-working Galway defence, by comparison, hunted together and created the sort of rucks more familiar on a rugby pitch to deny the Tipperary forwards the room they needed.
Galway manager John Hardiman said that they had done their homework on a Tipperary side who were clear favourites. "We know more about you than you may know yourselves, and we have admired ye all year," he said to the downhearted Tipperary players afterwards.
Don Maher might have been a big loss to the left flank of the Tipperary defence when he retired injured in the first half, but the unit never lived up to what was expected of it. Clearances were too often misdirected and key Galway players like Conor Dervan, Farragher and Hugh Whiriskey were quick to punish such errors.
The only real hiccup for Galway was a brief lapse in accuracy by Cathal Coen, who hit three successive wides before Murray atoned to get the team back on track with their final point of the day.
The match did come within a whisker of a draw however. Shelly struck a line ball deep into the heart of the Galway defence with time almost up and in the ensuing scramble a Tipperary stick narrowly failed to get the touch close to the goal-line.
Galway: J O'Loughlin; B O'Mahoney, J Culkin, R Reilly; F Moore, C Dervan (0-1 free), M J Quinn; H Whiriskey, G Farragher (0-2, one side line cut); R Murray (0-5), M Coughlan, K Brady (0-1); D Hayes, D Forde (0-2), C Coen (0-2, two frees). Subs: B Gantley for Coen (56 mins); S Tierney for Brady (60 mins).
Tipperary: D Young; C Everard, P Curran, D Maher; C Ryan, K Mulryan, L Kearney; T King (0-1), S Mason; D Shelly (0-1), D Gleeson, E Brislane ( 0-2); J O'Brien, E Kelly (0-6, three frees), K Cummins. Subs: M Maher for D Maher (17 mins); L Brett for Cummins (40 mins); Damien Gleeson for King (54 mins).
Referee: P Ahern (Carlow).
