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.

When a losing manager — unprompted — describes a game as a tale of two halves the story writes itself.

Once more, Tipperary appear to be the oldest Liam MacCarthy Cup panel around but age clearly didn’t debilitate them last season.

The result, which played out in front of a crowd of 1,628, means the All-Ireland champions cannot now progress to the decider.

It was as good a game of hurling as you're likely to see this December and you can watch all the scores here.

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.

All-Ireland champions Tipperary went down to visitors Clare in this Co-Op Superstores Munster Hurling League opener at MacDonagh Park, Nenagh.

Upperchurch-Drombane’s bid for a first Mid Tipp SHC title ended in agonising disappointment at Littleton yesterday as they lost to Drom-Inch by 2-19 to 1-21 after extra-time.

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

Given that much of the focus on last Sunday’s All-Ireland SHC final revolved around Richie Hogan’s sending off, arguably the most important moment of the match has almost gone underappreciated.

Sending offs can have major influences on a game.

Trust me when I say this — it’s every referee’s worst nightmare to send a player off in an All-Ireland final.

As a gauge of how competitive the All-Ireland final was, the free-taking sequence for both sides tells an interesting story.

As a gauge of how competitive the All-Ireland final was, the free-taking sequence for both sides tells an interesting story.

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.

Who’s it going to be then, eh?

Quite frankly, only the most dogged of souls will survive. And even then, the bodies will be sore for days afterwards, you would imagine.

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

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

There was only ever going to be one winner here and, right enough, it was Laois.

Laois’ summer odyssey is over but they got to finish on terms that were perfectly acceptable given this was an All-Ireland quarter-final and their opponents were one of the game’s blue bloods.

It was understandable that John Kiely not so much took offence, but bristled at the suggestion that Limerick showed signs of Kilkenny ruthlessness last Sunday.

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

Not for the first time, an equine metaphor by way of setting the table.

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

Difficult to distinguish the winners from the losers here. Because the scoreboard told only half the story.

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.

If the phoney war taketh away, sometimes the phoney war giveth.

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”.

Clare were a shadow of themselves as a rampant Tipperary made a mockery of the Banner’s proud home record in Cusack Park.

Ex-Tipperary manager Michael Ryan has hailed the "total hurling" of his former charges as the best the county has produced in a while.

Another afternoon of liquid wristwork and fluid movement from Tipperary yesterday put Waterford to the sword with commendable economy.

Jason Forde’s goal on 54 minutes broke Waterford’s spirit and from there to the end, Tipperary outscored their opponents 1-9 to 0-1 to claim their second win of the campaign and boost their scoring difference if that becomes an issue later in the campaign.

There are occasions when referees make life difficult for themselves and yesterday’s first half in the Gaelic Grounds was a prime example of that.

Jason Forde hit 1-9 as Tipperary shook off a sluggish mid-game spell to leave 14-man Waterford on the brink of a Munster Championship exit.

Explain Cork-Tipperary in thirty words or less? Or even 1,200 words or less?

Tipperary claimed their first win over Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in seven years but perhaps, more importantly, their first victory in Munster since 2016 in front of a 30,274 crowd.

In the BBC hit comedy Dad’s Army the butcher Corporal Jones always carried a bayonet. When asked why, his answer was ‘They don’t like it up ‘em’.

Castlelyons’ Niall O’Leary is the new face in the named Cork team to take on Tipperary in Sunday’s Munster SHC Round 1 clash as John Meyler goes with 13 of the team that were defeated by Limerick in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

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

The composition of Liam Sheedy’s first championship team selection since returning as Tipperary manager will draw on it, the eyes of the hurling world.

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.