Revenge in the air as Tipp tackle Cats again

Tipperary manager Michael Ryan would dearly love to lift the spirits of hurling fans in the county by masterminding victory over Kilkenny in this evening’s All-Ireland IHC final at Semple Stadium (6pm).

The senior semi-final between the two counties resulted in an 18-point victory for Kilkenny 13 days ago and the wounds from that defeat are still raw in the Premier County.

Ryan admitted: “It would be nice, especially in the light of two weeks ago. A lot of genuine Tipp supporters are hurting. As I said to the boys on Thursday night at training, you don’t get any bigger rivalry than Tipp and Kilkenny in hurling. It’s a game we’d dearly love to win but we know we’ve a huge challenge on our hands.”

Tipp, with a sprinkling of former minor and U21 All-Ireland medallists in their ranks, will start as favourites to clinch a first intermediate crown since 2000, when Fethard native Ryan was a player.

Ryan also has the luxury of being able to choose from senior club players in the county and that’s a situation that Kilkenny boss Pat O’Grady takes issue with.

O’Grady, a 1990 All-Ireland U21 medallist, said: “This is not putting down our own team but Tipp are strong favourites. They can pick from senior club players while we can only pick from junior and intermediate clubs. I know that our lads are going to be very competitive and I know that we’ve done as much as we can. But what’s the gulf between junior and intermediate and senior players? I’ll tell you that after Saturday night.

“Maybe there is, maybe there isn’t but when it’s senior against senior, may the best man win. If there is a gulf, there’s very little you can do about that only train the lads, motivate them and keep them right.”

O’Grady is the first man from the Blacks and Whites club in Graignamanagh to manage a Kilkenny intercounty team. But there’s plenty of history attached to O’Grady’s home club as Nowlan Park in Kilkenny city was named after James Nowlan, a Blacks and Whites man. The trophy that Kilkenny’s senior hurling clubs also battle it out for on an annual basis, the Tom Walsh Cup, is named after the former Kilkenny GAA and Leinster Council chairman, who was also a Blacks and Whites clubman.

Kilkenny, meanwhile, have won the All-Ireland intermediate hurling crown on three previous occasions — 1973, 2008 and 2010.

Verdict: Tipperary.