Oisín O’Donoghue the gamebreaker after Tipp show depth of conviction
BREAKTHROUGH: Oisin O'Donoghue of Tipperary scores his side's 4th goal, in the 70th minute, despite the best efforts of Jordan Molloy of Kilkenny. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
The original scoreline was in question but Tipperary’s conviction and character was in no doubt here as they defied the odds to set up a first ever All-Ireland final against Cork.
Noel McGrath’s 70th-minute strike at goal was erroneously given as a point when it had been waved wide and Kilkenny could have reason to complain that they could have gone searching for points instead of hunting for a goal after a Jordan Molloy point had narrowed the gap to two instead of three as was advertised around Croke Park and on RTÉ.
Oisín O’Donoghue’s 69th-minute piledriver of a goal, as referee James Owens played advantage, came 10 minutes after his fellow U20 star Darragh McCarthy had been sent to the line for a second bookable offence. He won't miss the final as the red card was of a different category to his straight dismissal against Cork in April.
A point down, instead of breaking Tipperary the numerical disadvantage rebuilt them. Jake Morris levelled the match for the fourth time in nine minutes. They were the team who had been doing all the chasing and they had to play catch-up some more when Cian Kenny’s second point after Martin Keoghan’s fifth broke the tit-for-tat pattern.
Jason Forde sent over two clinking frees to tie the game then arrowed over another from close to the sideline to give Tipperary a lead. Keoghan’s sixth point tied it up again before O’Donoghue’s match-winning strike.
Afterwards, there was consternation among officials and media about the legitimacy of McGrath’s point that followed. Molloy cut the margin to what the scoreboards told Kilkenny was three points and consequently their eyes were trained on grabbing a goal, but Robert Doyle was in the right place to keep out John Donnelly’s shot. TJ Reid was one player who could have taken a handy point.
Like Cork, Kilkenny’s four weeks off the road didn’t appear to affect them in the opening clashes. They were three points up after eight minutes although posted as many wides. The squally weather and cross-wind didn’t lend to good hurling and the ball was a bar of soap at times.
“We had a poor start and that's down to Kilkenny as well, to be fair to them,” said Liam Cahill. “They were all over us, they had loads of energy, they were winning most of the breaking ball.
“We seemed to be hitting the ball off-the-cuff a lot early on, just not hitting in good ball to our forwards and Kilkenny were kind of gobbling it up and working it up the field. Then after 10 or 15 minutes, we started to trust our hurling a bit more, and that really gave us a platform to go at Kilkenny.”
Tipperary hit their first major in the eighth minute. Jake Morris’s goal attempt was foiled by the Mikeys Butler and Carey but the ball spun out to John McGrath whose execution was perfect.
Only for Carey’s hook, Andrew Ormond would have been in for another goal and the next four points went the way of Kilkenny for a five-point lead by the 14th minute.
Fine long-range shooting from Conor Stakelum kept the till ticking over for Tipperary but the margin was still five up to the 21st minute when Tipperary went on their rampage.
McCarthy anticipated a ball that broke the Kilkenny cover and he had the strength to hold off Huw Lawlor and find the net. Morris with the leveller and McGrath to push Tipp ahead for the first time followed it up with points. A third Tipperary goal came the way of Jason Forde in the 25th minute. McCarthy was the provider and in keeping with events the evening previously, Forde’s strike was one-handed and Tipperary were four ahead.
A Reid free ended Tipperary’s 2-2 rally but Kilkenny did not make great headway. Alan Tynan, a temporary substitute for Ormond, sent out a signal with a block on Martin Keoghan who landed three points earlier.
The Leinster winners sent over a brace to get within two points but Tipperary scored four of the last six in the half to go in four up, 3-11 to 0-17.
In front of this 60,738 attendance made up largely of Tipperary support, Kilkenny made the most of some questionable Tipperary shooting (five wides in seven minutes) to square the game in the 50th minute and lead two minutes later when TJ Reid punished an infringement on Billy Ryan. Michael Breen had given the ball to Ryan before the Kilkenny forward was fouled.
But Tipperary didn’t yield. Forde’s free-taking after McCarthy had missed a couple was excellent and guided Cahill’s side through that iffy patch. All from under the Cusack Stand side, they were exquisite scores.
Why Kilkenny only went three times to their bench — two in the last eight minutes — will be scrutinised. Whereas Tipperary were springing reserves relatively early and there were distinctly quite afternoons for Adrian Mullen, who was eventually replaced, and Eoin Cody.
A victory for Tipperary but Munster hurling too? Cahill wouldn’t go too far down that path of theory. “If I'm being really honest, when you come out of the likes of Cusack Park in Ennis in a tight game and you come out of the likes of Thurles fighting for your life to be one of the three to qualify, it does battle harden you that little bit more.
“If you're asking me the question, what's the difference in Munster and Leinster hurling out there today, it's only a puck of a ball, to be fair.”
Indeed, a puck but only two points, not three.
J. Forde (1-5, 0-4 frees); J. McGrath, D. McCarthy (0-2 frees) (1-2 each); J. Morris (0-4); C. Stakelum, E. Connolly (0-3 each); O. O’Donoghue (1-0); S. O’Farrell (0-1 each).
T.J. Reid (0-11, 8 frees, 1 65); M. Keoghan (0-6); J. Molloy (0-4); B. Ryan, E. Cody, A. Mullen, C. Kenny (0-2 each); J Donnelly (0-1).
R. Shelly; R. Doyle, R. Maher (c), E. Connolly; C. Morgan, B. O’Mara, M. Breen; W. Connors, C. Stakelum; J. Morris, A. Ormond, S. O’Farrell; D. McCarthy, J. McGrath, J. Forde.
A. Tynan for A. Ormond (temp 29-31); N. McGrath for J. McGrath (50); A. Tynan for S. O’Farrell (53); D. Stakelum for W. Connors (57); O. O’Donoghue for C. Stakelum (63); S. Kenneally for A. Ormond (70+1).
Sent off: D. McCarthy (59, second yellow).
E. Murphy; M. Butler, H. Lawlor, S. Murphy; M. Carey, R. Reid, P. Deegan; C. Kenny, J. Molloy; J. Donnelly (c), E. Cody, B. Ryan; A. Mullen, T.J. Reid, M. Keoghan.
D. Blanchfield for S. Murphy (h-t); S. Donnelly for A. Mullen (66); K. Doyle for C. Kenny (70).
J. Owens (Wexford)
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