On Jackie Tyrrell’s words, Kilkenny unleashed hell, although he’s a little embarrassed by the acclaim that’s come his way courtesy of Colin Fennelly’s revelation.

Nabokov tells us there is no science without fancy, nor art without facts. Can we apply that to yesterday in Croke Park?

Kilkenny rob Galway of their early thunder

A Jackie Tyrrell half-time speech has been heralded as the catalyst behind Kilkenny’s All-Ireland winning second half.

He didn’t see the full seventy minutes, but it’s hard to believe he saw any game time at all when you consider his season.

I’d love to have been in both dressingrooms at half-time yesterday because I can almost picture both scenarios. 

In the end, the gap was four points.

Kilkenny were not happy with James Owens’ interpretation of an aggressive foul on a number of occasions in the first half.

Kilkenny 1-22 Galway 1-18: A story of two halves and a familiar ending.

1. Kilkenny’s hunger for victory remains insatiable

TJ Reid and Joe Canning. One of them came to Croke Park as the Hurler of the Year elect, the other as not even a nailed-on All Star. One of them scored the first goal, which mattered a little, the other the second goal, which mattered not at all.

Brian Cody hailed the work of the Kilkenny medical team after patching together key players throughout the season.

Galway needed to be in touch as the game entered the crucial last ten minutes but they faded badly when they needed to kick on, having impressed when leading by three points at half-time.

This time it wasn’t different.

Galway, like Kilkenny, will line-out at Croke Park on Sunday with the same 15.

There is a boost for Cats supporters too as Tyrrell and Power are named among the subs.

After the full Irish breakfast and early morning mass in their Dublin hotel, Cyril Farrell would insist on a quick trip out to the Phoenix Park to allow his Galway hurlers limber out.

Cathal Jordan was sitting in the stand at Tuam Stadium when he spotted Cathal Mannion from the corner of his eye.

In the closing days of August 1975, Paddy Downey, the revered Gaelic games correspondent of The Irish Times, made a little pilgrimage to Kilkenny and had a ball.

The last Galway man to lift the Liam MacCarthy Cup believes the Tribesmen “will never get a better chance” to end an All-Ireland senior hurling famine that stretches back to 1988.

If hurling is your thing, All-Irelands measure life.

When a little more time has passed, it will inevitably become a question among hurling’s barstool brigade: name the man who spent a single year as Kilkenny manager immediately prior to Brian Cody?

All-Ireland fever grips community as local hero Jason Flynn prepares for battle with Kilkenny

If someone from Etihad Airways is reading, do Walter Walsh a favour and renew his RTÉ man-of-the-match voucher from the 2012 All-Ireland final. The man is too humble to ask himself.

It was Johnny Glynn’s dispossession of Pádraic Maher two minutes from the end of normal time that told David Collins he’d see Croke Park in September.

The most decorated manager in Galway hurling history believes Daithí Burke is the defender to tie down Kilkenny talisman Richie Hogan.

You wouldn’t dare say Brian Cody is getting softer now in his 17th year as Kilkenny manager but he would do well to argue he’s not more understanding.

Anthony Cunningham’s deep-rooted belief that there is an All-Ireland hurling title in this Galway team motivated his decision to seek a fourth year at the helm.

Richie had to be moulded into a Cody player... Cody put manners on him, says Adrian Ronan.

At the behest of a reader and a Kilkenny friend of ours, we took another look at Barry Kelly’s decision to overturn a Tipperary 65 last Sunday week. 

There was a time, back in the late 1990s and throughout most of the 2000s, when every Galway defeat was followed by plaintive calls from the vanquished westerners to change the system.

Tipperary stalwart John O’Donoghue is adamant the current crop of Premier County hurlers are not good enough to win an All-Ireland, believing their efforts to be hindered by a mental gap.

Trevor Hogan is a Tipperary man. His background is rugby. On those two counts, some may disqualify him from commenting on the defeat of his county but they shouldn’t.

No surprises what Colm Callanan was focusing on after Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Were it not for Eugene Cloonan, Jason Flynn probably wouldn’t have tried his luck from the Cusack Stand side with three seconds of normal time remaining.

No match being an island, the only place any review of last Sunday from the losers’ perspective can begin is with another All Ireland semi-final. The 2012 All Ireland semi-final. Tipperary 1-15 Kilkenny 4-24. 

The intensity of Galway’s performance in Croke Park on Sunday was evident throughout their one-point victory over Tipperary.

After the euphoria comes the analysis. Michael Moynihan puts away the emotion to evaluate Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC semi-final winners.

Johnny Ryan is in line to referee next month’s All-Ireland senior hurling final. The Tipperary man is understood to face competition from Wexford’s James Owens.

Goal after goal vs. save after save…

So shines a good deed in a weary world. Yesterday’s mesmerising All-Ireland hurling semi-final, which remained at issue until the dying seconds, accomplished several things at its conclusion.

Galway’s cry for justice proved the loudest in an awe-inspiring All-Ireland semi-final that should live long in the memories of the 58,495 in attendance.

A departing Eamon O’Shea had to take a sip of water before addressing a question about this, his final game as Tipperary manager.

Galway manager Anthony Cunningham believes the manner of his side’s semi-final win is worth three-years of “development work”.