Long way to Tipperary win but worth the wait

WITHIN minutes of the referee’s final whistle sounding from the Croke Park pitch, the cars were motoring around Liberty Square in Thurles with horns blaring, passengers shouting “up Tipp” out the windows and thoughts already turning to the team’s homecoming.

Arguably the most hyped final of them all had ended in a surprisingly comfortable win for Tipperary and the self-styled “home of hurling” was in carnival mood.

Fitting that the crucial goals should come from a native of Thurles, Lar Corbett, as his kith and kin looked on with pride.