All-Ireland fans draw a breath after heart-in-mouth moment

And… Breathe. The neutrals may welcome another shot at an All-Ireland hurling final after that stunning draw but can the locals in Kilkenny and Tipperary bear it? Will their hearts be able for that sort of tension again?

As John “Bubbles” O’Dwyer lined up to take that free in injury-time, hearts were in mouths, hands were over eyes, silent prayers were being offered up not just among the ticketed in Croke Park but also across the two counties and anywhere else where Tipp and Kilkenny fans had gathered to watch it.

The atmosphere was especially electric along the “interface” areas, with Kilkenny fans afraid that Bubbles’ free had been nailed and Tipp fans scattered among them in these mixed zones momentarily celebrating before that pesky HawkEye burst their bubble.

All along the border, in places like Mullinahone, Ballingarry and Carrick on the Tipp side and Urlingford, Johnstown and the Graigue-Ballycallan club in Kilkenny, there was a healthy mixture from both sets of supporters who ended up having the breath sucked out of them as that tension-laden finale played itself out before the referee’s whistle blew.

“It’s not good for the heart,” as Breda Hickey working in the Urlingford Arms put it, while jersey-wearing supporters hugged each other and exhaled.

“I thought Tipp had it,” Jason Scully said in the moments after the final whistle. “I don’t like that eagle-eye!”

Kilkenny fan John Ryan reckoned “a draw was probably a fair result” and the replay — the third in a row needed to decide the destination of the Liam McCarthy Cup — is hard to call. “The referee gave us nothing, in fairness. I thought it was gone so at least we’re still there. It would be hard to lose to the auld enemy.”

John O’Connell from The Commons, near Ballingarry, said his brother Michael had been texting him “day and night” in the run-up to the match. “He’s a great Tipperary supporter. I’m down in Lisheen Mines with a load of Kilkenny men, and my boss is a Kilkenny man, so the next day should be good.”

Behind the bar in the Urlingford Arms, just a few hundred metres from the Tipperary border, personnel was a mixed affair, with owner Nicholas Healy wearing Kilkenny colours — “what a fantastic atmosphere” — his partner Margaret McCarthy staying neutral, given she’s from Rathcormac in Co Cork, while some of the staff members were of a blue and gold persuasion.

Such as Margaret Fennessy from Holycross, whose nephew is none other than international soccer ace, and former Tipp minor hurler, Shane Long. In fairness, Longy had other things on his mind yesterday evening. “He’s over in Tblisi for the Georgia match but he’s gutted he couldn’t be at the hurling. He comes over for it when he can. He’s in touch anyway, by text, and the lads over there will be keeping him up to date.”

For some families, the conflict came even closer to home last night. Such as in the Broderick household, where father-and-son Thomas (Urlingford, Kilkenny) and Conor (Gortnahoe, Tipperary) managed to watch the final side-by-side without coming to blows.

“We’d be slagging one another all right,” confessed Thomas, “but it’s all good banter. We’re used to these occasions in Kilkenny but Tipp mightn’t be that used to it. They only get there the odd time.”

Well they’re there again in three weeks, when those heroic players from both counties, and their supporters’ tickers, have to do it all again.