The proverbial game of two halves in Salthill but a wind-assisted half-time lead of seven points wasn’t nearly enough for Tipperary to hang on.

At the third time of asking, Tipperary recorded their first win of the Allianz Hurling League as they put Westmeath to the sword at Semple Stadium.

Cork just edged out All-Ireland champions Tipperary in this NHL 1A game, the 9,821 in attendance seeing an entertaining, end-to-end game.

Liam Sheedy acknowledged Tipperary came up a little short late on in their one-point Co-Op Superstores Munster Senior Hurling League loss to Clare.

Patrick Horgan has been shortlisted for 2019 PwC Hurler of the Year award, along with Tipperary and Kilkenny captains Séamus Callanan and TJ Reid.

Almost all of Tipperary’s 2018 hard luck stories disappeared into the ether last Sunday.

James Barry revealed that he knew he would not be included in Tipperary’s All-Ireland final team over a week before the game, but instead of wallowing in disappointment, he passed on a few nuggets of full-back advice to help Barry Heffernan and Ronan Maher.

In the aftermath of their 2014 All-Ireland final loss to Kilkenny, Eamon O’Shea defiantly declared that “This team (Tipp) will always have hope, they have great character, and the nucleus of this team will go on in the future and win All-Irelands.”

Tipperary defender Ronan Maher intends embracing this latest All-Ireland success after failing to do so three years ago.

Last week, we brought you the management life and times of Brian Cody and Kilkenny in the words of Bruce Springsteen.

Michael Moynihan has rung all the juries, collated all the votes, and accepted all the bribes.

Tipperary's victorious hurlers have visited Children's Health Ireland in Crumlin to start off the traditional All-Ireland winning celebrations.

The team includes six players from All-Ireland champions Tipperary and four from beaten finalists Kilkenny.

Sending offs can have major influences on a game.

As Liam Sheedy said, the second goal three minutes into the second half was what made this game Tipperary’s.

A final for the annals but certainly not for the ages.

As rain and hail drenched the first half, it wasn’t an afternoon for ‘playing through the lines’

Tipperary’s 28th All-Ireland title came easier than expected as Richie Hogan’s first-half sending off helped to pave the way for their third Championship crown this decade.

In the Father Ted episode where a bomb was planted on Dougal’s milk float, two fellow priests and a tense Ted were involved in a major planning session.

The rivalry has defined so much of this decade it shouldn’t be surprising that the players and their skills have done so too.

As anticipated, Kilkenny have drafted in Cillian Buckley for Richie Leahy for tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC final.

On October 7, 2010, a month after winning the All Ireland and stopping Kilkenny’s five-in-a-row, Liam Sheedy's Tipperary management team announced they were stepping down.

And then there were two — but how many of the Kilkenny and Tipperary teams are in the driving seat for All-Stars? John Fogarty makes his shouts

Twenty minutes to go, five points and a man down after John McGrath’s silly sending off and you could almost hear the sounds of the knives being sharpened for Tipperary and this generation of players.

Resilience is a word that is often used in relation to Kilkenny under Brian Cody.

A powerful final 25 minutes by 14-men Tipperary sent them into next month’s All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.

Liam Sheedy was ebullient about his Tipperary team when talking on local radio this week. “We feel we pushed a bit of energy back in by taking a little bit of a break in the early part after the Laois match so preparations have gone extremely well and I honestly can’t wait to get out on this pitch next Sunday.”

What does the number on your back even mean any more in hurling? Michael Moynihan rooted through the bag of jerseys and asked how the job spec for each position has changed

You have your choice of Munster final metrics this morning.

When you referee a provincial final it puts you in a good position for later on in the year and both Paud O’Dwyer and John Keenan will feel they didn’t lose any ground after their performances yesterday.

In emphatic style, All-Ireland champions Limerick claimed a first Munster title in six years in front of a packed LIT Gaelic Grounds.

Irrespective of how tomorrow’s Munster final plays out, Ronan Maher will point the car for Templemore on Monday morning to begin the first day of his new career.

Michael Moynihan Corbett jealous of the freedom enjoyed by Tipp’s ‘dynamite’ attack

First-half injuries to Cathal Barrett (hamstring) and Patrick Maher (knee) tempered Tipperary maintaining their 100% record as they and Limerick will meet again in a Munster final on Sunday week.

The Clare roar was nowhere to be heard yesterday as the relative silence of Cusack Park in the second half was eventually broken by chants of “Tipp, Tipp, Tipp”.

“I think more is made out of that than there needs to be,” says Jason Forde. Such is life with the Tipperary hurlers.

We are a week into Munster Championship Lent. The 40 days and 40 nights before the start of the Munster SHC on May 12 commenced last Tuesday.

Nenagh Éire Óg 2-18 Thurles Sarsfields 2-15

Two goals in the opening quarter were decisive as Nenagh Éire Óg ended the SHC challenge of Loughmore-Castleiney with a 2-17 to 0-18 win at Dolla yesterday.

Waterford 2-22 Tipperary 2-22: The width of a post has often been the difference between victory and defeat. Not here.

When I was Clare manager, we played Limerick in the league semi-final in 2006 in Thurles. The game went to extra-time but it nearly seemed that both teams were more concerned with losing the match than winning it, writes Anthony Daly.

The Allianz Hurling League concluded yesterday with a resurgent Kilkenny upsetting the odds against favourites Tipperary, writes Donal O’Grady.

Michael Ryan may have produced the tactical masterstroke of the season when he shifted Ronan Maher into Tipperary’s midfield.

After all the new money and massive entertainment on show this spring, the final now is an old-money showdown between Kilkenny and Tipp, writes Anthony Daly

John Kiely insisted that Limerick would have a “right cut off” Tipperary and so it transpired.

John Fogarty, Eoghan Cormican and Michael Moynihan discuss the weekend’s talking points