Cats maul Tipp but Cummins stands tall

Tipperary 0-10 Kilkenny 0-19

The Cats were ahead 0-10 to 0-3 at the break in this second-round NHL derby match at Semple Stadium, but it should have been 6-10 to 0-3, and would have been but for the phenomenal performance of the giant from Ardfinnan. Six times, each one in point-blank situations, Cummins denied Kilkenny. The quality of the saves became more breathtaking as the half went on.

A quick synopsis - 10th minute, penalty save from Richie Power; 13th minute, second penalty save, deflected for a 65, again from the rifle of Power; 26th minute, Power again, set up by the rampant Cha Fitzpatrick, powerful shot on the run from about 14m, saved; 30th minute, better again, superb reaction with a diving parry of a perfectly struck ground shot by corner-forward Eoin Reid, out for a 65; 32nd minute, best of them all, Fitzpatrick this time, set up with a terrific pass by centre-forward Derek Lyng, carried to whites-of-the-eye territory, but Cummins never blinked and again, incredibly, saved.

Finally in the 35th minute, he showed the first sign of fallibility when, after a fine catch, he lost the ball under pressure, then atoned with a reaction foot-save for another 65.

Brilliant, awesome, as fine a goalkeeping display as anyone privileged to be in Semple Stadium yesterday will ever see. But, what the hell was going on? Why was Cummins under such pressure? Simple: out the field, Tipperary’s first-half display must surely rank among the worst ever given by a team in blue and gold. Sure, they’re missing a few players, not least brilliant corner-forward Eoin Kelly (due back next week), but Kilkenny too, as admitted by manager Brian Cody, are a team in transition. On paper then, this was a meeting of equals, but on the lush Thurles pastures, it simply wasn’t. Front to back, with only captain Ger O’Grady and (to a lesser extent) centre-back Conor O’Mahony offering any resistance. Tipperary were trampled, embarrassingly so in some positions. Their full-forward line, were beaten up while their half-forward line struggled against a dominant Kilkenny half-back line in which centre-back John Dalton was outstanding. Ken Dunne did reasonably well at midfield, but Eoin Brislane, well, poor Eoin had a bit of a nightmare, everything he tried coming up short, as Michael Rice (especially) and Richie Mullally thrived.

All those problems out the field meant that the Kilkenny forwards had a field day. Richie Power was the main set-up man, giving late Tipp call-up Hugh Moloney a torrid time on the right wing. Eoin Larkin also did his bit on the other wing, while inside, Cha gave Phillip Maher as crisp a roasting as he’s ever likely to endure. Tipp managed 0-3 in that first-half, with the wind, conceding 0-10; were it not for Cummins, the stands would have emptied at half-time.

“I don’t know what was happening,” said the keeper. “They just seemed to be winning every ball around the middle of the field and were coming in waves. Our full-back line, to be fair, were hung out to dry a bit. But we took everything they had to throw at us, went in at the break only seven points down, whereas in the past it would have been 13 points or more.”

In the second half, Tipp were slow to return, understandably, and manager Babs Keating showed his ire by making three changes, most significant of which saw the introduction of wing-forward John Carroll, the man who had turned last week’s League draw against Limerick.

A quarter of an hour into the second half, against all odds, it seemed like Tipp were again going to rally, and get an unlikely result. They trailed by 0-3 at that stage, their total first half return doubled as the team began to show spirit. O’Mahony bombed over a couple of long-range frees, Seamus Butler (who missed a couple of easy chances) added three more, sub Shane McGrath had the last.

But then, they crashed back to reality. A succession of pointed frees from Power, one each from Larkin and Fitzpatrick and justice was done. “We can take a lot of positives from what happened, especially in the second half, the way we dug in and got going again,” said Cummins.

Don’t know about that, Brendan, the only Tipp positive from this display was your own performance.

Scorers: Kilkenny: R. Power 0-7 (0-6 frees); J. Fitzpatrick 0-5; A. Fogarty 0-2; E. Larkin, M. Rice, R. Mullally, D. Lyng, J. Dalton (free), 0-1 each. Tipperary: S. Butler 0-6 (0-4 frees); C. O’Mahony 0-2 (0-2 frees); B. Dunne, S. McGrath, 0-1 each.

KILKENNY: J. McGarry; J. Tennyson, JJ Delaney, S. Maher; J. Tyrell (c), J. Dalton, T. Walsh; R. Mullally, M. Rice; R. Power, D. Lyng, E. Larkin; E. Reid, J. Fitzpatrick, A. Fogarty.

Subs: E. McCormack (Reid 53); E. Brennan (Lyng 62).

TIPPERARY: B. Cummins; D. Fanning, P. Maher, P. Curran; D. McGrath, C. O’Mahony, H. Moloney; E. Brislane, K. Dunne; B. Dunne, C. Morrissey, G. O’Grady (c); S. Butler, J. O’Brien, J. Enright.

Subs: J. Carroll (Morrissey 35); D. Egan (Enright 35); S. McGrath (Brislane 35); P. Kelly (O’Brien 53).

Referee: M. Wadding (Waterford). Good job.