Tipperary vs. Kilkenny All-Ireland Semi-Final, Croke Park, 19th August

[gallsman]

Just in the door, what a ridiculously impressive performance from Kilkenny - the hunger and intensity they have for winning never appears to dim.

Thought all the better, easier hurling in the first half, a well a the intensity, was coming from Kilkenny and to see them go five points up at one stage only to go in a point down was unusual to say the least. Lot of KK men I know were worried at that point that having failed to drive on from the five point lead, Tipp would sniff blood.

Incredible second half performance from Kilkenny though, just beat them out the gate with their tails between their legs. First time in a while they've been hurling at top speed from the get-go. Murphy, Joyce and Walsh in defence were sensational. Felt TJ and Fogarty were the best amongst the forwards. TJ comes in for a fair bit of stick about being soft, lazy and unable to do it when it matters but he really put his hand up there today and was outstanding. Buckley played very well when he came on as well.

As for Tipp, they were all anonymous in the second half, and Corbett was anonymous for the entire game. Maher should have walked, no question. He looked rattled early on and was losing the plot entirely. They'll be back as they're young and their minor team looked very impressive, the two wing backs in particular.

Final will be very interesting and I reckon Galway might be feeling more than a little edgy this eveing!

On a sour note, the KK fans on the Hill who wouldn't shut up during the minute's silence, with one individual audibly screaming "Tipperary w**ker" were an utter disgrace.

[seafoid]

It should be a cracking final. Will the cats train on their own for the next 3 weeks or has the crisis been overcome?

[Minder]

What was Ryan's explanation for that brainless shit he had Corbett at today?

[gallsman]

What was Ryan's explanation for that brainless shit he had Corbett at today?

Said it was a tactic that didn't work and something they'll have to take a look at. Disgraceful.

Was hilarious though, Walsh and Tyrell took their turns winding him up, all the time continuing to hurl. Corbett wasn't even looking at the play half the time.

[johnneycool]

If Lar spends his time trying to get Walsh sent off he will be left out of this game.  Should spend his time winning ball and Tommy will have to go to him instead.

Lar did a good job marking Tommy though! Kept him quiet for most of the game.

Obviously Lar was to pick up Tommy but Kilkenny had other idea's and Tyrell was to pick up Lar. No one side wanted to back down, but the only winner was kilkenny in this exchange as Lar did very little bar upending the keeper for the Tipp goal.

Tipp line should have been doing more to get Lar into the game when those shenanigans were going on, not to mention placing Bonnar Maher in to full forward, he's a ball winner more so than a finisher and was needed more out the field..

Cody got his match ups right with TJ Reid, Fogarty getting serious joy off their opposite numbers before changes were made a weakness in Ryan I've always had doubts about.

The ref will be lambasted from pillar to post, but it was near on impossible for him to referee that game today, he had to apply a bit of common sense as opposed to the rule book or it would have ended up 10 a side. Maybe a few reds would have settled the encounter down, but there was loads of jabbing et all but no real dirty pulls that would have warranted a straight red. The one handed pull by Paudie Maher along the sideline, I'm not so sure about as a one handed pull isn't a foul any more than a two handed pull and possibly made it look worse. He did have a dig a Shefflin later on, but Shefflin knew he'd bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks and didn't respond (this time).

Thoroughly enjoyed the first half, but when Kilkenny pulled away in the second and emptied the bench with 10 minutes to go i nearly felt sorry for Tipp.

Galway have it all to do again, but I'm sure that's the way they'd like it to be.

[CavanCola]

"On a sour note, the KK fans on the Hill who wouldn't shut up during the minute's silence, with one individual audibly screaming "Tipperary w**ker" were an utter disgrace."

Watched the match on the tv... Camera zoomed in on the kk supporters a few times. My question.... Is there a serious obesity problem in the county? Their hurlers might be fit but some of their supporters could get of their behinds.

[gallsman]

Ah, if people accept that Richie Hogan deserved to go against Limerick for a deliberate slap, then there's nobody can say Maher should have stayed on. He had a swing at Shefflin and missed and then a Benny Dunne style one that landed on Reid. Straight red, no two ways about it.

[johnneycool]

Ah, if people accept that Richie Hogan deserved to go against Limerick for a deliberate slap, then there's nobody can say Maher should have stayed on. He had a swing at Shefflin and missed and then a Benny Dunne style one that landed on Reid. Straight red, no two ways about it.

I was commenting on the first five minutes or so. The ref was bolloxed no matter what he did.

[gallsman]

Ah, if people accept that Richie Hogan deserved to go against Limerick for a deliberate slap, then there's nobody can say Maher should have stayed on. He had a swing at Shefflin and missed and then a Benny Dunne style one that landed on Reid. Straight red, no two ways about it.

I was commenting on the first five minutes or so. The ref was bolloxed no matter what he did.

That was largely handbags, no serious swinging or anything. Too much going on from both sides that I felt his approach to tell players involved in both large skirmishes (far left corner and midfield) to feck off and play the game was the correct one.

[splintered arse]

I was at the game today and just a few observations.
Tipp were totally out-thought, out-fought and out-played. However most of this must be attributed to the farcical tactics of the management but in fairness to the cats they were ruthless and the second half was exhibition stuff.
The Tipp puck-outs were not varied and repeatedly landed into the cats HB line where they had extra numbers due to the MFielders dropping deep. There was no movement from midfield to counter-act this.

The tipp full back line left oceans of space behind it for the cat forwards to run straight in on goal. Bonner and O,meara were played in the FF line. While Lar was obviously told to try and get between Pa Bourke and Walsh to protect him. Total madness. Half the time corbett wasn't even looking at the ball never mind for the ball. Mind you, you could see why Tipp tried to protect Bourke because any time Walsh got near him he clobbered him. I'm a great admirer of Walsh when he hurls but how he is not sent off more often is a mystery if today is anything to go by. Granted the ref should have sent Maher off for a wild swing when the game was over. the linemen and umpires really need to be more active.

In the end it was men against boys. this is the best hurling team I've ever seen and henry is so far the greatest I've had the joy of watching but i fear for hurling with all the off the ball stuff that was let go today and i'm not on about the 1st 5 minutes of sorting out which was to be expected. I had my son at the game and lets be honest I won't be encouraging him to pick up a hurl if he is expected to take the abuse that was dished out off the ball today.

[ONeill]

The Tipp management seem to be getting a lot of stick after this.

[chocoholic]

And rightfully so. Ryan worked with a lot of these boys at minor but something tells me he feels the need to show that he is different from Liam Sheedy who was certainly a tough act to follow.

Corbett was took to the cleaners in last years AI final by KK and maybe  he thought he would outwit them with something or other this time. He wasn't playing to his strengths and ballsed it up.

[johnneycool]

I was at the game today and just a few observations.
Tipp were totally out-thought, out-fought and out-played. However most of this must be attributed to the farcical tactics of the management but in fairness to the cats they were ruthless and the second half was exhibition stuff.
The Tipp puck-outs were not varied and repeatedly landed into the cats HB line where they had extra numbers due to the MFielders dropping deep. There was no movement from midfield to counter-act this.

The tipp full back line left oceans of space behind it for the cat forwards to run straight in on goal. Bonner and O,meara were played in the FF line. While Lar was obviously told to try and get between Pa Bourke and Walsh to protect him. Total madness. Half the time corbett wasn't even looking at the ball never mind for the ball. Mind you, you could see why Tipp tried to protect Bourke because any time Walsh got near him he clobbered him. I'm a great admirer of Walsh when he hurls but how he is not sent off more often is a mystery if today is anything to go by. Granted the ref should have sent Maher off for a wild swing when the game was over. the linemen and umpires really need to be more active.

In the end it was men against boys. this is the best hurling team I've ever seen and henry is so far the greatest I've had the joy of watching but i fear for hurling with all the off the ball stuff that was let go today and i'm not on about the 1st 5 minutes of sorting out which was to be expected. I had my son at the game and lets be honest I won't be encouraging him to pick up a hurl if he is expected to take the abuse that was dished out off the ball today.

Bourke would have the reputation of being a bit soft and little Tommy obviously knew that but if you need a minder in an AI semi-final then you really shouldn't be there.

[Bud Wiser]

The Kilkenny fans on the Hill have been a problem for a while and I brought it up about them meself a few years ago.  The thing about it is, they, like supporters from my own county, are a very small minority. A few years ago stewards had to move in and form a barrier between them and other supporters, after they arrived in late on AIF day and started pushing their way down from the back of the Hill.  They need to be sorted out.

The other thing that amuses me about the Cat's is the amount of them that have Premium tickets and who sit inside watching the game on TV - FFS !  I brought a fella from Tipp one day and he stayed in and drank about seven pints of smithwicks and when I came in after the game he said "Shure t'would have been a great game to be at.

I'm a great admirer of Walsh when he hurls but how he is not sent off more often is a mystery if today is anything to go by. Granted the ref should have sent Maher off for a wild swing when the game was over. the linemen and umpires really need to be more active.

In the end it was men against boys. this is the best hurling team I've ever seen and henry is so far the greatest I've had the joy of watching but i fear for hurling with all the off the ball stuff that was let go today and i'm not on about the 1st 5 minutes of sorting out which was to be expected. I had my son at the game and lets be honest I won't be encouraging him to pick up a hurl if he is expected to take the abuse that was dished out off the ball today.

Ara it wasn't that bad. The first five minutes aside you have to expect a few wallops during any game of hurling. Watch next weeks basketball match and see the difference. Don't bother Tommy and Tommy won't bother you is what Cody would be thinking I'd say.

[gallsman]

I thought it was a bit anarchic but without any realy malice. Pushing and shovign when holding hurls might look bad, but there's very rarely any physcial harm in it.

As for Walsh, he plays tough and hard, constantly on the edge, but how often has he ever pulled a really dirty stroke like Maher yesterday or Benny Dunne three years ago?!