NATIONAL HURLING LEAGUE DIVISION ONE SEMI-FINAL at Nowlan Park Tipperary 1-15 Kilkenny 1-10:A DAY THAT began in sunshine and ended in showers pretty much mirrored Kilkenny's league experience for this year. Tipperary came to Nowlan Park and with superior fitness and a starker edge to their hunger inflicted a defeat on Kilkenny which was comprehensive enough to make us wonder how we hadn't seen it coming.
Kilkenny now know the truth of what they have been trying to tell themselves through various league cakewalks, they know with Galway also making sounds detectable on the Richter scale that there will be no stroll to coronation as three-in-a-row champs.
Yesterday they could point to the absence of Noel Hickey and Henry Shefflin and the differing stages of fitness that the teams displayed but Tipperary are a team who have found traction.
As Brian Cody would later note, Kilkenny have sufficient residual fitness to be able to cope with afternoons like this even if they are on a different time plan for the summer. What was impressive about Tipperary was the aggressive tigerishness of their defence and the steadfastness of their overall challenge.
The manner in which Kilkenny have been blowing sides away of late should have played on Tipp's minds when in the opening minutes Eddie Brennan latched on to the ball and turbo-charged his way through the Tipperary defence to score what looked like being the first goal of many.
Tipperary shut the gates after that lapse, however, and the full-back line in particular had a hell's kitchen feel to it as Kilkenny were forced to go hungry for the rest of the afternoon.
Tipperary were at pains to point out afterwards that they know as well as anybody else that the month is April and the year's accounts won't be settled until September, yet this was a significant day for them. In the second half, when the physical intensity was upped by Kilkenny, the Munster side matched them all the way.
In the home straight when Kilkenny looked like closing in, and indeed Richie Power opted to point a close-in free, it was Tipp who pulled away and scored four of the last five points of the game.
There were times when the game lapsed into bunching and frantic pulling but Tipperary were able to take it either way. They swapped bruises with the All-Ireland champions and, when they broke away, their passing and sharpness looked the match of Kilkenny.
They have options too. Pa Bourke wasn't used yesterday. Séamus Callinan came on late and scored two fine points. Tommy Fitzgerald's enthralling battle with JJ Delaney ended when the Tipperary bench decided to send in Micheál Webster to give Delaney a fresh buffeting.
Tipp came with a clear agenda and the concession of the early goal to Brennan altered nothing. They responded when Lar Corbett finished to the net with some confidence. Seven minutes gone, and with the goals for the day already traded, the hard work began.
Tipperary registered five of the next six points scored to establish a cushion which would serve them well. The quality of Tipp's hurling in the first period may have surprised even themselves with the ball being placed into the forwards in a more thoughtful manner than had recently been the case and with Shane McGrath and Benny Dunne hustling well in midfield.
Kilkenny weren't helped by the lose of Michael Fennelly to a recurring back problem but the troubles were more widespread. Fitzgerald was giving JJ Delaney a tough time on the edge of the square and the threat of Eoin Kelly and Corbett outside in the corners kept the Kilkenny defence backwheeling.
James Ryall was having a difficult afternoon and was called ashore on the half hour and even Tommy Walsh's customary exuberance was stifled by the speed at which Tipperary were able to get a posse of bodies around anybody looking for the space to swing.
It took almost 20 minutes and the introduction of TJ Reid before Kilkenny showed any effervescence in attack and a string of four points - three of them from Richie Power - suggested briefly to the home crowd that there would be a quick return to business as usual.
Fitzgerald ended the sequence with a fine score on the turn for Tipperary. Eoin Kelly added a free and Fitzgerald scored again before Ryan O'Dwyer added another just before the break to slap Kilkenny back down to a four-point deficit.
The second half was thunderous as the sky became more bruised. Again Kilkenny came off the ropes with quick scores from Michael Rice and Aidan Fogarty.
When Richie Hogan opted to hit a short free over the bar with four minutes remaining he narrowed the gap to a couple of points and Kilkenny girded their loins and anything else which needed girding. Instead the next score of the game was a pointed sideline cut from Eamonn Corcoran.
Séamus Callinan can now be added to the mix up front for Tipp and his two late points were the grace notes to a fine performance.
TIPPERARY:B Cummins; E Buckley, P Curran, C O'Brien; E Corcoran (0-1), C O'Mahony, S Maher; B Dunne, S McGrath (0-1); S Butler (0-1), R O'Dwyer (0-1), J Woodlock; E Kelly (0-7, four frees, one 65), T Fitzgerald (0-2), L Corbett (1-0). Subs: J O'Brien for Dunne (53 mins), M Webster for Fitzgerald (55 mins), S Callinan (0-2) for Woodlock (63 mins), D Hickey for Corbett (70 mins).
KILKENNY:PJ Ryan; M Kavanagh, JJ Delaney, J Tyrell; T Walsh, B Hogan, J Ryall; J Fitzpatrick (0-1, free), M Fennelly; R Power (0-6, four frees), M Rice (0-1), W O'Dwyer; E Brennan (1-0), M Comerford, A Fogarty (0-1). Subs: TJ Reid for Fennelly (22 mins), PJ Delaney for Ryall (29 mins), Eoin Reid for Comerford (45 mins), R Hogan (0-1) for Fogarty (58 mins).
Referee:M Wadding ( Waterford).
