Murphy slates size and surface of pitch

Galway manager Mattie Murphy hit out at the Croke Park authorities because of the dimensions and surface of the pitch for yesterday's match.

"The question must be asked: `is Croke Park a serious hurling pitch?'. We had minors playing in Cusack Park in Ennis the other night on a carpet of a ground, at least 12 yards longer than here and much wider as well."

Murphy's comments on the pitch were in reaction to questions about the often substandard quality of the play on the day. "There was a spell of 15 minutes in the second half when the score remained 14 points each. Nobody got room to breathe or to hit a ball," said the Galway man.

But wouldn't many of the 43,011 spectators have put that barren spell down to poor marksmanship?

"Hurling counties are not used to playing on those dimensions. There are other fine grounds around the country such as Thurles where a game of this calibre could have been played. "They have spent a lot of money up here but it is about time they brought the surface up to scratch," he added.

Of the game itself, he said: "We did seem to be in trouble at half-time, only two points up and the breeze (which Tipperary would have in the second half) was a considerable advantage, but our lads knuckled down and fought hard.

"It was a great combined effort by 20 of our players and no disgrace to the players who were taken off, it just didn't work for them today. By the time we are finished with this campaign we will have practically all 25 panel members used.

In more reflective mood, he added: haven't been haven't been getting them for a couple of years. If you stay there long enough you will get the breaks, the wheel is round and goes around."

Tipperary manager Nickey English told the Galway players: "We knew coming up here today that we were going to get a seriously tough game. From the moment we heard the draw we knew we were in trouble.

"Ye are a tremendous team. Ye had the bit between your teeth in the league final and people were saying that Tipp weren't trying or they weren't doing this or that. I can tell ye that we were trying as hard as we could in the league final and we knew we had a lot to step up on, but unfortunately we were unable to bridge the gap."

English added: "Ye have players who have played many times here in Croke Park and who didn't see it out, particularly Joe (Rabbitte). It's not going to be easy to get to the final but ye have our best wishes."

Reacting to Murphy's comments on the tight pitch, Rabbitte joked "there never is much room in championship hurling - (but) too much at times in fact to run for a long ball".

Rabbitte, whose 63rd-minute point began the Galway push which saw them end the period in which neither side could establish a winning lead, said: "Had Tipperary broken that spell and got the lead point I think it would have killed us, at least it would have been a huge psychological blow." wisely."

Before the game there had been much speculation about whether Tipperary might have an edge because of the three championship games they had already played, but Rabbitte said: "Championship training doesn't make any difference. It's all on the day no matter if you have played three championship matches or none like us."

English said he thought Galway "looked a little fresher". "No, the pitch is no excuse for losing. It was very hard-fought and we got a bad start. The linesman told me there were two minutes remaining before (Tipperary goalkeeper) Brendan Cummins took that last free, but the referee then said that there was only seconds remaining.

"I am not in the business of making excuses, and I thought there was plenty of space out there. It was close, we missed chances, as did Galway."