Disappointing return to NFL for Cats

Kilkenny 1-5 Tipperary 4-20

Kilkenny's first game back in the National Football League since 1999 saw them suffer a heavy defeat at the hands of Tipperary.

Tipp's Philip Austin netted in the sixth-minute and league debutants Seamus Grogan and Eoin Kearney did likewise towards the end of the first half at Nowlan Park.

Trailing by 3-9 to 0-3 at the break, with Eddie Brennan accounting for those three points, Kilkenny kept plugging away in front of an attendance of just 280.

Hurling goalkeeper David Herity nabbed the Cats' major in the 68th minute.