Battling Cats reclaim Liam McCarthy cup

Kilkenny 2-17 Tipperary 1-16

Kilkenny led from start to finish as they exorcised the ghosts of 12 months ago and regained the status of All-Ireland SHC champions at Croke Park.

Defending champions Tipperary stayed in the hunt for as long as they could in today’s final, but the Cats deservedly won out in front of 81,214 spectators.

Whatever way you look at the numbers, they are simply stunning. A fifth All-Ireland success in six years, an eighth Liam MacCarthy Cup for Brian Cody in his 13th year in charge and four players - Henry Shefflin, Eddie Brennan, Noel Hickey and Michael Kavanagh - were collecting their eighth All-Ireland winner’s medals.

Michael Fennelly, one of the team’s newer players, cracked home a 35th minute goal to see Kilkenny take a 1-8 to 0-6 half-time lead, as Tipp struggled to find their feet.

Their captain Eoin Kelly pointed four frees in the first half but Kilkenny, sticking to their high intensity game, were far more threatening in open play.

Declan Ryan’s men were on the ropes after Richie Hogan, a cousin of Kilkenny great DJ Carey, swept home a superb second goal at the Hill 16 end.

Within six minutes, Tipp hit back with a well-taken goal by substitute Pa Bourke. Kelly’s precise shooting had the gap down to three points on two occasions, inside the closing minutes.

But with their target man Lar Corbett marked out of the game, Tipp’s hunt for a late goal went unrewarded and it was left to Eoin Larkin to seal the deal in injury-time.

Kilkenny imposed themselves right from the off, moving 0-5 to 0-0 ahead by the quarter mark with the tigerish Tommy Walsh and Larkin particularly impressive.

Colin Fennelly, who overcame a hamstring injury to start, won a second minute which Shefflin tapped over for the opening point in dull, damp conditions.

Michael Cahill batted the ball away from Larkin as he looked to threaten Brendan Cummins’ goal, as Kilkenny made the most of their possession.

From the next attack, Larkin launched over the first point from play and Tipperary skipper Kelly could not respond from a difficult ‘65’ on the right.

With the pacy Corbett kept largely quiet, Kilkenny continued to force the pace. Larkin was out in front of Paul Curran to set up a Richie Hogan point.

Then Curran cleared off the goal-line after Larkin had challenged Cummins in the air, and further points from Richie Power and Shefflin stretched the lead to five.

There were some superb catches and clearances from Walsh and his defensive colleagues Brian Hogan and JJ Delaney, before Padraic Maher played in Noel McGrath for Tipp’s opening point.

Kelly rattled off two frees, the second after a stoppage for the bloodied nose referee Brian Gavin received from an accidental clip of Walsh’s hurley.

Eddie Brennan pointed for a 0-6 to 0-3 scoreline and Kelly and Shefflin traded frees, the intensity dropping somewhat as the sun peered out from the clouds.

John O’Brien was crowded out near the Kilkenny square, emphasising the sort of pressure the Tipp forwards were under from their markers.

Brendan Maher was brought on to quell the influence of Shefflin, but the Ballyhale Shamrocks star had a hand in Kilkenny’s next two scores.

Shefflin sent a pinpoint line ball in to Richie Hogan whose hand pass invited the onrushing Michael Fennelly through a gap and he found the net with a powerful shot off his left.

Gearoid Ryan and Kelly (free) answered back for Tipp in injury-time, sandwiching a long range point from Michael Rice who profited from an excellent pass from Shefflin.

Ryan introduced Benny Dunne and Pa Bourke for the start of the second half, and Dunne added his name to the scoresheet within four minutes.

Shefflin and the increasingly influential Colin Fennelly both used his strength and accuracy to keep Kilkenny purring at 1-10 to 0-8.

Tipp could only respond with a Kelly ‘65’, and it was beginning to look ominous when Brennan strode forward and passed for Richie Power to point from the right.

Power then won a free which Shefflin confidently knocked over. Tipp cut the gap to six points again when a terrific catch by O’Brien teed up Conor O’Mahony.

Kelly’s fifth successful free took his side into double figures, but a moment of Kilkenny magic saw them take a step closer to regaining the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

There were 49 minutes on the clock when Brennan bounded through the heart of the Tipp defence on a solo run. His timely pass was controlled on his stick first time by Hogan before he fired the ball into the far right corner of the net.

Points from O’Brien and Noel McGrath, who swung over a trademark sideline cut, nicked it back to 2-13 to 0-12, with Shefflin taking his own tally to six.

Suddenly, there was renewed belief in Tipperary’s challenge courtesy of Bourke’s goal. Corbett sent a brilliant pass across to the right for Bourke to lash a low shot beyond the reach of net minder David Herity.

The next point was crucial and it arrived from the stick of Colin Fennelly. Tipp were not about to fade away. Noel McGrath and Kelly stung together a brace of points to make it 2-14 to 1-14, with five minutes of normal time remaining.

The Tipp bench had been emptied at this stage, while Cody kept faith for the most part with the fifteen players who started the game.

Shefflin and Kelly exchanged frees again before TJ Reid, one of only two Kilkenny substitutes used, reopened the four-point gap which was to prove the winning margin.

Bourke was hooked by Hickey as he tried to create enough space for a shot on goal and although Ryan put a single puck of the ball between them again, Larkin had the final say for all-conquering Cats.

Scorers: Kilkenny: Henry Shefflin 0-7 (0-5f), Richie Hogan 1-1, Michael Fennelly 1-0, Eoin Larkin, Colin Fennelly, Richie Power 0-2 each, Eddie Brennan, Michael Rice, TJ Reid 0-1 each

Tipperary: Eoin Kelly 0-8 (0-7f, 0-1 ‘65’), Noel McGrath 0-3 (0-1sl), Pa Bourke 1-0, Gearoid Ryan 0-2, Benny Dunne, Conor O’Mahony, John O’Brien 0-1 each

KILKENNY: David Herity; Paul Murphy, Noel Hickey, Jackie Tyrrell; Tommy Walsh, Brian Hogan (capt), JJ Delaney; Michael Fennelly, Michael Rice; Eddie Brennan, Richie Power, Henry Shefflin; Colin Fennelly, Eoin Larkin, Richie Hogan.

Subs used: TJ Reid for C Fennelly (35+3 mins-half-time, blood sub), TJ Reid for Brennan (60), John Mulhall for Hogan (65).

TIPPERARY: Brendan Cummins; Paddy Stapleton, Paul Curran, Michael Cahill; John O’Keeffe, Conor O’Mahony, Padraic Maher; Gearóid Ryan, Shane McGrath; Seamus Callanan, Noel McGrath, Patrick Maher; Eoin Kelly (capt), John O’Brien, Lar Corbett.

Subs used: Brendan Maher for O’Keeffe (29 mins), Benny Dunne for S McGrath, Pa Bourke for Callanan (both half-time), David Young for O’Mahony (58), John O’Neill for O’Brien (66).

Referee: Brian Gavin (Offaly)