Cats sharpen their claws

IT would happen, wouldn’t it? This being the opening game of the 2011 Allianz Hurling League and thus the first official appearance of Tipperary since their All-Ireland triumph last September, the draw drum was kind enough to pair the Premier men with Kilkenny – their victims in that match.

And so it was that the Cats would form the traditional guard-of-honour and applaud the champions as they burst onto the Semple Stadium pitch on Saturday night.

And for the first 22 minutes of what was becoming a fine contest it was Tipperary bursting into the game with real swagger. They had a 1-6 to 0-4 lead built up while Kilkenny – it seemed – were still in courtesy mode, strangely lethargic and standing back.

Why, even Jackie Tyrell, normally the most combative of hurlers, was playing ‘excuse-me’ hurling, allowing Pa Bourke to rule the roost on the 40 for that opening period (a run through the middle by Pa set up Gearoid Ryan for his goal).Admittedly Tyrell was at centre-back instead of his All-Star position ofcorner-back, but he’s no stranger to the pivot, has starred there for years with his club, James Stephens.

In that 22nd minute, however, and following a couple of astute switches from the sideline (Michael Fennelly from centre-forward to midfield, John Mulhall to centre-forward;corner-forward TJ Reid swapping positions with wing-forward Richie Hogan), all changed, all courtesies ended. The Cats were back, Jackie and his teammates found their claws. A run of nine points (two from the rejuvenated Mulhall), against just one for Tipperary (John O’Neill, one of seven who didn’t start for Tipp last September, Kilkenny too with just eight of the September 15 on view) left them 0-13 to 1-7 ahead at the break and with a firm grip on the game. It was a grip they would never relinquish. A goal inside half a minute of the restart from impressive league rookie Colin Fennelly extended the Kilkenny lead, and what had been a contest just petered out, the quality of the hurling deteriorating with the conditions. Tipperary huffed and Kilkenny puffed, but three points (Tipp) and four points (the Cats) was all they managed for the rest of the game, a disappointing crowd of well under 10,000 themselves left disappointed.

Last year’s climax to the 2010 season was a rip-roaring classic, andexpecting the same — given theconditions and the fact that so many were missing from both sides – would have been asking far too much. Yet this nevertheless was anti-climax, and new Tipp manager Declan Ryan wasn’t in the mood for excuses.

“They were a good bit sharper than us and they seemed to be hungrier as well. We could have done with a win and having a couple of points on the board, and it does put that extra bit of pressure on us for the rest of the League.

I thought we did okay in the first 15, 20 minutes, after that the legs seemed to go, Kilkenny looked a lot stronger than us in most areas. There is plenty of work to be done,obviously.”

Plenty of work, yes, a few positives taken from the game, but overall,disappointment. “It was a good opportunity to see some of the guys on the extended squad, a goodopportunity for those guys to show their wares and see what the top level of competition is like. I suppose it’s disappointing. We didn’t seem to be competitive enough in the second half, that’s probably moredisappointing than the result.

“It was a big day for us all as All-Ireland champions but Kilkenny are probably a couple of weeks ahead of us in preparation and I think it told. We’ve plenty to work on there in training over the next couple of weeks anyhow.”

From Brian Cody, understandably, a different perspective, especially given the manner in which Tipp had started out. “I was shattered!” he laughed, “They were strong and going very well, their movement in the forwards was serious and they were definitely troubling us at that stage. Our ladssettled and we came back into it strongly, we got strong at midfield, latched on to good ball and got good scores. At that stage of the game, after 20 minutes, there’s so much of the game left that you can get into it again. There’s a long way to go and a four- or five-point lead is nothingreally.”

A long way to go is right, and already the Cats are leading the way. Will they be caught?

Scorers for Kilkenny: R Hogan 0-10 (0-8 frees); C Fennelly 1-0; J Mulhall 0-2; A Fogarty 0-2; M Fennelly, E Brennan, T Walsh, 0-1 each.

Scorers for Tipperary: P Bourke 0-4 (all frees); G Ryan 1-0; N McGrath 0-2 (0-1 s/l); S McGrath, T Hammersley, Patrick Maher, J O’Neill, 0-1 each.

Subs for Tipperary: S Hennessey for S McGrath, B O’Meara for Hammersley, M Cahill for O’Mahony (all at half-time); J Woodlock for O’Brien (49); B Dunne for B Maher (inj. 54).

Referee: B Gavin (Offaly).