TRYING TO PUT words on yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling final is an unbelievable task. Kilkenny and Tipperary served up an incredible game and quite a bit of it is still sinking in.
People are asking – was it the best hurling final of a generation? It has to be right up there at the top. I obviously haven’t seen every All-Ireland going back but in terms of skill, in terms of speed and in terms of scores, you’d imagine it is up there with the best.
Some of the stickwork that was on display, especially from the Tipperary forwards, was incredible. Before throw-in, I said that I expected Tipp to come out on top but I could never have predicted that the game would be so open.
The two forward divisions were always going to be key. For both of these counties that’s the main area — they just go for games, especially Tipp.
Five of their six starting forwards all had reasonably good goal chances. I think Noel McGrath was the only one who didn’t; Bonner Maher got his goal and forced another great save from Eoin Murphy, Lar hit the post, and Seamus Callanan and John O’Dwyer had their chances too.
A lot of those openings came down to one thing — the phenomenal movement of the Tipperary forwards. There was always a guy moving into space and they were swapping so fluidly that it was an absolute nightmare for the Kilkenny defence.
Paul Murphy had a great game at corner-back but JJ Delaney had his hands full with Callanan, Jackie Tyrell was under pressure and when Bonner pushed out the field, Brian Hogan found it very difficult to get to grips.
It was just a forward’s game and for the two centre-backs, it was all about damage limitation and trying to contain the lively centre-forwards.
It’s proof that the game has changed. Before, if your man got three or four points, you’d be thinking, ‘Jesus I’ll be sitting out the next week.’ That’s not the case any more. You could have a fine game and your man could still get three or four points. It’s crazy.
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Even with the amount of scores on both sides — 54 in total — there was still some very good defensive play. The two Tipp corner-backs were excellent. Paddy Stapleton had a fine game as did Cathal Barrett for a young lad of 21, and he deserved to be in the conversation for Man of the Match on the Sunday Game last night.
Paddy Stapleton collides with Eoin Larkin. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
Of the two teams, the Tipp lads will definitely be happier with their performances. As I said, Kilkenny’s defenders looked to be in a bit of trouble and you’d expect a lot more from Michael and from Colin Fennelly.
A lot of the time it fell to Richie Hogan, and to TJ Reid and Richie Power up front, to carry them through. At least Brian Cody will be confident that they have a good bit of improvement in them over the next three weeks.
After giving Tipp a penalty in either half, Barry Kelly’s refereeing was always going to be up for discussion but I thought he had a fine game overall. From a defender’s point of view, he was good — any time a forward went looking for a free, he was dead adamant that he was giving a free-out instead.
The first one against Eoin Larkin was a bit dodgy but you could see that Larkin was playing for the free a bit and I think Barry Kelly wanted to rule it out straight away.
But that final call to give a free against Brian Hogan, if you were a Kilkenny fella yesterday you’d be going crazy! He would have been better off just letting the play develop because Hogan was on the ground with the ball, Paudie Maher was standing over him with another Tipperary defender, and you’d imagine it would have come to nothing really and he could have blown it up when the ball was still in play.
Seamus Callanan and John O'Dwyer (pictured) both missed penalties. Does the Nash rule need to be changed? INPHO
INPHO
On the two penalties, absolutely they were fouls and while the fouls started outside the square, they were still being fouled by the time they crossed the line.
Tipp missed both of them and I completely agree that it’s time to revisit “the Nash Rule”. Apart from TJ Reid and Anthony Nash himself, there aren’t too many players who take that type of penalty where they throw the ball up ahead of them; most guys are just picking and striking so it would want to be a rocket of a shot to beat three guys in the goal.
As it is, penalties are no advantage to the forward — and if I was still playing inter-county under those rules, you’d certainly have no problem taking the risk with a tackle.
The best solution is to allow lads to move it back a couple of metres beyond the 21m line and make it one-on-one with the goalkeeper as well. That will solve all the problems.
As for the drama of yesterday’s finish, you couldn’t write that script really. I think someone made the point in one of the papers this morning that you’d hope HawkEye was recalibrated for the football rather than the hurling!
Even though that last free was 97m out, I would have backed Bubbles to make it all the way. He put one over in the first half against the wind from the right hand side. Now it wasn’t as far out but he still only flicked it over the bar, he didn’t have to put his body behind it at all. I knew he’d have the distance.
I wouldn’t say there was that much pressure on him — he probably didn’t even realise it was the last puck of the game — and you certainly couldn’t fault him at all.
Kieran Bergin and Eoin Larkin show their mutual respect at the final whistle. James Crombie / INPHO
James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO
We’ve three weeks to keep thinking about all those ifs and buts but I’d say Tipp would prefer if the replay was on next Saturday night. They’re younger, they’re fresher, they’re more mobile and especially in the forwards they seemed to have Kilkenny’s backs in all sorts of trouble.
The three-week break will help Kilkenny to regroup and it’ll be interesting to see how Brian Cody uses Henry Shefflin next time around. Personally I would have had him on as the first sub yesterday when Kilkenny were three or four ahead with 15 minutes left.
In fairness to Cody, the Kilkenny forwards were all playing very well at that stage so it was difficult to take any of them off and we know that he’s a man who doesn’t do sentiment. He obviously saw no reason to change it up, even with Henry looking over his shoulder!
I have to stick to my guns though. I picked Tipp and they played the better hurling, had more scores and created more goal chances, even if they didn’t take theirs and Kilkenny did.
I still think they’ll take a bit of beating in three weeks’ time.
John Gardiner: The best final of a generation - but Tipp would rather replay on Saturday
TRYING TO PUT words on yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling final is an unbelievable task. Kilkenny and Tipperary served up an incredible game and quite a bit of it is still sinking in.
People are asking – was it the best hurling final of a generation? It has to be right up there at the top. I obviously haven’t seen every All-Ireland going back but in terms of skill, in terms of speed and in terms of scores, you’d imagine it is up there with the best.
Some of the stickwork that was on display, especially from the Tipperary forwards, was incredible. Before throw-in, I said that I expected Tipp to come out on top but I could never have predicted that the game would be so open.
The two forward divisions were always going to be key. For both of these counties that’s the main area — they just go for games, especially Tipp.
Five of their six starting forwards all had reasonably good goal chances. I think Noel McGrath was the only one who didn’t; Bonner Maher got his goal and forced another great save from Eoin Murphy, Lar hit the post, and Seamus Callanan and John O’Dwyer had their chances too.
A lot of those openings came down to one thing — the phenomenal movement of the Tipperary forwards. There was always a guy moving into space and they were swapping so fluidly that it was an absolute nightmare for the Kilkenny defence.
Paul Murphy had a great game at corner-back but JJ Delaney had his hands full with Callanan, Jackie Tyrell was under pressure and when Bonner pushed out the field, Brian Hogan found it very difficult to get to grips.
It was just a forward’s game and for the two centre-backs, it was all about damage limitation and trying to contain the lively centre-forwards.
It’s proof that the game has changed. Before, if your man got three or four points, you’d be thinking, ‘Jesus I’ll be sitting out the next week.’ That’s not the case any more. You could have a fine game and your man could still get three or four points. It’s crazy.
Even with the amount of scores on both sides — 54 in total — there was still some very good defensive play. The two Tipp corner-backs were excellent. Paddy Stapleton had a fine game as did Cathal Barrett for a young lad of 21, and he deserved to be in the conversation for Man of the Match on the Sunday Game last night.
Of the two teams, the Tipp lads will definitely be happier with their performances. As I said, Kilkenny’s defenders looked to be in a bit of trouble and you’d expect a lot more from Michael and from Colin Fennelly.
A lot of the time it fell to Richie Hogan, and to TJ Reid and Richie Power up front, to carry them through. At least Brian Cody will be confident that they have a good bit of improvement in them over the next three weeks.
After giving Tipp a penalty in either half, Barry Kelly’s refereeing was always going to be up for discussion but I thought he had a fine game overall. From a defender’s point of view, he was good — any time a forward went looking for a free, he was dead adamant that he was giving a free-out instead.
The first one against Eoin Larkin was a bit dodgy but you could see that Larkin was playing for the free a bit and I think Barry Kelly wanted to rule it out straight away.
But that final call to give a free against Brian Hogan, if you were a Kilkenny fella yesterday you’d be going crazy! He would have been better off just letting the play develop because Hogan was on the ground with the ball, Paudie Maher was standing over him with another Tipperary defender, and you’d imagine it would have come to nothing really and he could have blown it up when the ball was still in play.
On the two penalties, absolutely they were fouls and while the fouls started outside the square, they were still being fouled by the time they crossed the line.
Tipp missed both of them and I completely agree that it’s time to revisit “the Nash Rule”. Apart from TJ Reid and Anthony Nash himself, there aren’t too many players who take that type of penalty where they throw the ball up ahead of them; most guys are just picking and striking so it would want to be a rocket of a shot to beat three guys in the goal.
As it is, penalties are no advantage to the forward — and if I was still playing inter-county under those rules, you’d certainly have no problem taking the risk with a tackle.
The best solution is to allow lads to move it back a couple of metres beyond the 21m line and make it one-on-one with the goalkeeper as well. That will solve all the problems.
As for the drama of yesterday’s finish, you couldn’t write that script really. I think someone made the point in one of the papers this morning that you’d hope HawkEye was recalibrated for the football rather than the hurling!
Even though that last free was 97m out, I would have backed Bubbles to make it all the way. He put one over in the first half against the wind from the right hand side. Now it wasn’t as far out but he still only flicked it over the bar, he didn’t have to put his body behind it at all. I knew he’d have the distance.
I wouldn’t say there was that much pressure on him — he probably didn’t even realise it was the last puck of the game — and you certainly couldn’t fault him at all.
We’ve three weeks to keep thinking about all those ifs and buts but I’d say Tipp would prefer if the replay was on next Saturday night. They’re younger, they’re fresher, they’re more mobile and especially in the forwards they seemed to have Kilkenny’s backs in all sorts of trouble.
The three-week break will help Kilkenny to regroup and it’ll be interesting to see how Brian Cody uses Henry Shefflin next time around. Personally I would have had him on as the first sub yesterday when Kilkenny were three or four ahead with 15 minutes left.
In fairness to Cody, the Kilkenny forwards were all playing very well at that stage so it was difficult to take any of them off and we know that he’s a man who doesn’t do sentiment. He obviously saw no reason to change it up, even with Henry looking over his shoulder!
I have to stick to my guns though. I picked Tipp and they played the better hurling, had more scores and created more goal chances, even if they didn’t take theirs and Kilkenny did.
I still think they’ll take a bit of beating in three weeks’ time.
GAA cut ticket prices for All-Ireland hurling final replay again
Open Thread: Does the ‘Nash Rule’ give the advantage to defenders?
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column Croke Park expert view GAA Hawkeye John Gardiner SHC 2014 Kilkenny Tipperary