Tremendous performance yesterday from Kilkenny. They should have won by more really. Declan Ryan was asked why Tipp hadnât performed to the standard of the last two years and he said âmaybe we werenât letâ.
That was it essentially. At the risk of sounding overly simplistic, Kilkennyâs 15 players are better than Tipperaryâs 15 players. Combine this with all the pressure being off them this year, as well as a sense of revenge driving them, they were just too good for Tipperary. As someone said last week âa team that won 4 All Irelands in a row doesnât suddenly become poor, and a team with 1 All Ireland doesnât suddenly become world beatersâ.
I think the defeat, beyond the obvious disappointment of losing the game, is a significant blow to the prestige of Tipperary hurling. Yesterday was probably the best chance in 40 years to put Tipp right up there with Kilkenny and Cork again and they missed it. They still have the chance next year and 2 in 3 years would still mark them apart as a great team, but the idea of the âbig twoâ still holds water after yesterday.
KIB of all people made the point that Tipp werenât prepared for the same type of physical confrontation that they had been the last two years. Iâd agree with him with regard to certain players. Shane McGrath, Seamus Callanan and Noel McGrath in particular. Itâs amazing to comapre the dfference in Shane McGrathâs performance between the first half in particular of last yearâs final of last yearâs final when he was brilliant and the 35 minutes he spent on the pitch yesterday when he was completely wiped out. Gearoid Ryan while better than Shane McGrath was also well beaten.
Noel McGrath despite scoring two good points and a sideline cut sank without trace in general play. John OâKeeffe couldnât handle Shefflin. Kelly and Corbett at least had some excuse for not being able to get into the game. I thought Corbett should have been moved out to centre forward like in 2009 to get him into the game, even if only for a while. The one good ball that was played into him in a central position produced a goal.
The substitution of John OâBrien was very strange. He was the only Tipp forward to consistently win his own ball all day (Bonner Maher also played well but wasnât winning clean ball).
It was in the first half that Iâd have more of a problem with the ball Tipp played in because the space was actually there, Kilkenny didnât crowd the defence the way they did in the second half and they pressed them higher up the pitch in the midfield and half forward line. But there were still chances to get better ball in which they didnât take. An element of panic definitely set in in the second half as Tipp felt they needed goals but with Kilkenny falling back it was always going to be difficult to get them. It still could have happened for all that. Noel Hickey had to put in a crucial hook on Pa Bourke in the last minute of normal time to stop a likely goal.
In hindsight Tipp should probably have just kept trying to pick off points after the goal. Kilkenny went through a bit of a fallow period for a few minutes either side of the 60 minute mark where they were playing poor ball into the forwards themselves and made some poor decisions
There were other things Tipp did, or failed to do, which werenât there last year, lapses in concentration, most notably for Fennellyâs goal. Paddy Stapleton limped away from a challenge with Richie Hogan on the sideline and in trying to run it off completely forgot to mark Hogan. Hogan took a simple one-two from Shefflin off the sideline ball and had an acre to play it into Fennelly. Shane McGrath was miles away and didnât track Fennellyâs run at all.
So while it was a faultless performance from Kilkenny, Tipp were definitely not at the pitch of intensity they were at last year.
Shefflin made a huge difference yesterday. While his shooting from play was surprisingly erratic, his distribution and vision were phenomenal. Also he was an outlet all the way through the first half yesterday and pretty well won every ball that came his way.
One man having that significant an advantage over his direct opponent can have a huge influence on a game if,like KK, a team is prepared to exploit it. There is a very ruthless streak in Kilkenny.
Also someone here mentioned that the loss of Declan Fanning would be significant. It was. So was Tipp not lining out their best players. Brendan Maher should have started.
Tipp would be my favourites for next yearâs title. Chances are itâll be the same two involved again next year and if it is I wouldnât be a bit surprised to see the tables turned once again.
Hopefully it will be at least one different team involved in the final next year and hopefully that other team go on to win it (unless itâs Cork and to a lesser extent Clare).
I wonder. Are Declan Ryan and Tommy Dunne in the same league as Sheedy and OâShea as a management team?[quote=âsid waddell, post: 593781â]
Tipp would be my favourites for next yearâs title. Chances are itâll be the same two involved again next year and if it is I wouldnât be a bit surprised to see the tables turned once again.
[/quote]
In the first half Shefflin was absolutely key for Kilkenny with the amount of ball he got on. Padraic Maher quietened him considerably after half time. In fact after Shefflinâs early second half point I didnât think he was a factor in the game at all. Maher had a very decent match.
I would say no, Tipp should have learnt from the Dublin game that you canât just keep driving in long high balls and expect bags of goals. But they didnât learn, instead they persisted with it again yesterday. They got a bit of joy when they carried the ball forward but this seemed to only happen the rare occassion with the HB line still favouring booming balls in on top of Hickey, JJ and Tommy Walsh. Tipp won a handful of high balls at the most.
Remains to be seen alright and at this stage youâd certainly have to say no. Difficult position to come into though. With the euphoria in Tipp after last year it was a very difficult task to keep them going at the same level of intensity. Clearly they didnât manage it this year.I wonder could English have managed it if he had been in charge? Massive year for Ryan and Dunne next year. Theyâll probably need to win the All-Ireland to stay in a job.
