Where there’s an iron will, there’s a way
In this the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the GAA, hurling has been crying out for a game to suitably mark that momentous occasion. But all year all we’ve had was mediocrity. Yesterday, however in the All-Ireland final with one team going for an historic four-in-a-row and the other trying desperately to re-establish itself among hurling’s elite, all that was put right.
In front of a full house at Croke Park, two superbly conditioned teams went toe-to-toe from first bell to last, neither side taking a backward step. Seven times they were level in the first half, four times more in the second, a reflection of how evenly matched were these two magnificent teams. As the end-game beckoned, and so finely balanced was the battle that we were wondering if we were going to see the first drawn final in 50 years. That we didn’t, that Kilkenny eventually prevailed, was down to (a) a moment of madness in the 54th minute that saw Tipperary reduced to 14 men and (b) cruel misfortune, as Kilkenny were awarded a hotly-disputed penalty in the 63rd minute, from which came the first goal of the game, dispatched in emphatic fashion by Henry Shefflin.
