Cats prove an old cliché still rings true: Goals do win games

The statistic that jumps out from Sunday’s game is the scoreline for the last 25 minutes.

Ten minutes into the second half, there were two points between Tipp and Kilkenny; in the final 25 minutes Tipp tacked on three points, two from John O’Neill, a 63rd-minute sub, while a superb Kilkenny hit 3-10.

When sports historians scrutinise the exploits of this great Kilkenny team at the end of the Brian Cody era — which looks a long way off — it is their capacity to score goals at vital times that marks them out.