Bragging rights at stake for Tipperary and Kilkenny in All-Ireland minor hurling final

Above: Tipperary's Eoghan Doughan scores a point, despite the attempted block by Galway's Cathal Maloney, during the All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship semi-final. Tipp face Kilkenny in next Saturday's final in UPMC Nowlan Park. Picture: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

The All-Ireland minor hurling decider will be a traditional one - at least in terms of the pairing. Tipperary and Kilkenny share top spot on the roll of honour with 21 titles apiece. Indeed, the counties have met in 14 previous finals, with the tally reading seven wins each. It’s even stevens then ahead of next Saturday’s clash at Nowlan Park, the venue decided by the toss of a coin.

Let’s deal with that last point first. I’ve never been a big fan of these home and away agreements for any grade. Semple Stadium is an everyman (or woman) theatre, much loved by the likes of Cork, for example. It offers little home comfort to Tipperary teams, whereas away games at the likes of Páirc Uí Chaoimh or the Gaelic Grounds carry a distinct disadvantage.

This is especially relevant with an Under 17 grade, where you’re dealing with adolescent insecurities. Nowlan Park will be an unfriendly environment, with the locals likely to be in the majority. Much better to be on neutral ground, whether Portlaoise or elsewhere.

Anyway, we’ve tossed and lost so hopefully that’s not an advance omen of the game’s fate.

Both semi-finals delivered high entertainment at the weekend, the games mirroring each other in going to extra time.

Tipperary’s win was the more spectacular, the lads coming with a fantastic late surge to pip Galway through Cillian Minogue’s match-winner. Kilkenny’s success was more signposted, though Clare did keep it tense to the very end.

Early exchanges saw Tipperary slow to settle, but settle they did and eventually stretched ahead with a lead that went out to four points. Slick score-taking by Cillian Minogue and Stefan Tobin were central to the mathematics.

We might have consolidated it all too with a few majors. In the opening minutes Stefan Tobin brought a fine stop from the Galway goalie and shortly afterwards the Swans player was unlucky not to bat home after Adam Ryan sent a pass his way following a strong run. Indeed, Cillian Minogue later brought another fine save from the goalie after he was fed by Tiernan Ryan.

Against that the Tipperary goalie had little enough to deal with, though Galway did turn in a strong surge in the lead-up to half time. Jonah Donnellan was becoming more influential as a half back sweeper and they outscored Tipperary six-two in the final phase of the half, which left the teams tied at the interval.

Just before the break Galway lost a defender to a red card following an off-the-ball flick at Darragh O’Hora. Harsh? We’d probably use that word if it happened to a Tipperary player but it’s well established now, even at senior level, that any striking action off-the-ball, even with minimal force, is deemed red card territory.

That red card and a few other decisions enraged the Galway gang and eventually a team mentor was yellow-carded for the verbals. More worryingly for Tipperary the free-count then went heavily against us in the final quarter of the game. The worst call of the lot came at the end when a blatant foul on Stefan Tobin saw the official award Galway the free instead. It was clear by then that Tipperary weren’t going to get a match-winning free at that stage.

In the tightness of this game a goal was always going to be a significant item and it fell to Tipperary midway through the second half. Billy O’Brien did the strong running before offloading to Euan Murray, who made no mistake from close in.

That strike put us four-up and like the first half there were other goal chances again denied by the Galway ‘keeper Sean Kelly, who in turn thwarted Eoghan Doughan (brilliantly picked out by Euan Murray) and Stefan Tobin.

Amazingly the first half trend was replicated in the second. Once more Galway staged a strong late rally, Brian Callanan a key contributor as they outscored Tipperary 0-6 to 0-2 in the final ten minutes. Jonah Donnellan was wide on a late free that might have won it for the Tribesmen before Stefan Tobin was cruelly denied at the very end.

It was on to extra time then and a test of endurance for all concerned. Brian Callanan was now the driving force for Galway, hitting four on the trot against Tipperary points from Eoghan Doughan (two – one a 65), Euan Murray and Cillian Minogue.

They were still deadlocked at half time in extra time but it looked dodgy for Tipperary now, having to face the wind for the final phase. Two early points for the Tribesmen had them in pole position; two-up and with wind backing it would take something really special from Tipperary to save the day.

And something special is exactly what we got. Redoubling efforts and fighting doggedly for every ball, the Tipp lads were in no mood to bow the knee. A Euan Murray point halved the margin and a grandstand finish was in prospect.

Crucially Tipperary had brought full back, Cathal O’Reilly, out as sweeper and he had a few vital plays at the climax. A superb blockdown by the team captain set in motion the next attack, which finished with substitute Killian Cantwell pointing the leveller.

Then on the stroke of full time Cillian Minogue, off his weaker side, launched the winner into the wind from about fifty metres out. It was a magnificent seventh point of the game, capping a stupendous display by the Durlas Óg man.

You’d have to admire the resolve and resilience of the team over the span of this match. Conceding quite a bit in terms of heft, there was no concession on effort. They created about six goal chances, against one or two half-chances for Galway. They led for most of the match, had peaks and valleys but crucially found the gears to drive home in the final straight.

The full forward line scored 0-18 between them. Euan Murray is a quality player on the half line, hitting 1-4 from open play. The defence spilled four goals against Clare back on May 2 but hasn’t conceded a green flag in three games since then.

The other semi wasn’t short on thrills and skills either. An early two-goal blitz by Clare had them well in command against a wayward Kilkenny fifteen who hit a succession of wides into the town goal.

However, gradually, piecemeal and in keeping with the county’s tradition, Kilkenny played themselves back into contention. Despite missing a penalty, they had the lead back to five at half time and looked likely winners for most of the second period before Clare rallied to take it to extra time.

The dismissal of Paul Rodgers was a heavy blow for Clare, though to their credit they kept rallying and Kilkenny had to fight it out to the end for what was a fully deserved win.

The final will be big item for both counties, with historical bragging rights at stake. Conceding venue on a toss was unwise with no idea when the return might happen. It’s 22 years since our last clash with Kilkenny in the final and 11 years further back for the one before that. They’ve beaten us in five of the last six final meetings. Time to adjust that record, lads.

Anyway, I hope the coverage of the final is better than what we saw for the semis. RTE sports news didn’t even carry mention of Saturday’s match and the Examiner’s much-touted Monday coverage didn’t have a proper match report on the Tipp game, making do instead with some James Woodlock quotes. Shameful.