Over the 70 minutes-plus Tipperary definitely deserved to come out winners, most of all because of their tremendous team effort. There were times when Galway had some of their players beaten, but as a team they performed better than Galway and that was the main difference.

They were under pressure in the second half but they kept their heads when Galway came hardest at them. And throughout the game, they were picking off their scores with greater ease, whereas Galway always seemed to be working extremely hard to get their scores.

Galway will regret every miss they had, and they certainly had a lot of them. In the first quarter-hour alone they had six wides, and strangely they all came off their left hand side. By the end they had hit something like 13 wides, and you just can't afford to hit that number of chances in an All-Ireland final.

I do feel also that Galway were guilty of some bad defending that led to the Tipperary goals. They started ball-watching and they crowded, and suddenly Mark O'Leary gets the final flick that brought the first. But then, where was the half back, because there was huge space left open.

For the first 25 minutes, though, Tipperary looked very much in control. I was just saying to myself that Galway needed a goal when Eugene Cloonan swept it in, and gradually they got right back in it.

Still they shot some silly wides, with players shooting from the corner flag and out by the sidelines instead of keeping the ball in play.

Kevin Broderick was the man that kept sniping away for Galway, and one of the few men getting through the Tipperary defence. He was a constant threat and, in my book, he was the man of the match simply because he had to try so hard for all those scores he got.

Having said that, Galway were depending too much on him. On two occasions he broke through in front of goal and had he been a slighter stronger and bigger player then maybe he could have turned them into goals.

Declan Ryan also had a chance to end the game a lot earlier when he got the ball in front of the goal but drove it wide. Instead Fergal Healy came up at the other end and drove in an incredible goal. It was a tight angle, and he hit it off his left and to the right of the goalkeeper.

Yet Galway continued to hit some bad wides and Tipperary kept their cool. Thomas Dunne was still settled at midfield where he had a very good game and he laid on a lot of ball into the forwards, which more often than not was converted into a score.

That was the bottom line. The Tipperary forwards had the greater ability to take their scores when under pressure. It wasn't that the scores always came easy, but they were able to create the space a little easier and then put the ball over the bar.

A number of inconclusive frees went against Galway. For the most I don't know if they were frees in or frees out, but there were a few Galway attacks that were called back and frees given to Tipperary and I don't know what the reasons were. Overall, though, I felt Pat O'Connor did a good job as referee.

Overall the second half was an exciting contest, and yet I never felt that Galway were going to win. They just couldn't get ahead of Tipperary, and that was the same story with Limerick. If we had got ahead that day I felt we could have won.

But each time Joe Rabbitte got the ball, he was bottled up. And at all times Tipperary were very disciplined about giving away frees - something they did well all summer. So they won nearly all the battles out there, not just in terms of key areas but also psychologically. Declan Ryan also lifted his game significantly, and that was one of the key differences between the winning and losing sides.

Galway didn't get into the game like they did against Kilkenny. The fast ball wasn't coming into the forwards to the same extent. There were occasions as well when Galway had possession and players simply dropped the ball. That has to be nerves.

I felt it was an excellent All-Ireland final, and it proves true all the faith that Nicky English has shown in these players. It's easy to forget as well that they were down Brian O'Meara and John Leahy. In those closing 10 minutes, Tipperary did show tremendous character. That's the sign of a team that has developed together over the past few years.