Hurling matters - Review

metres. e men in black and amber needed goals and they got a major of their own on 58 minutes. Billy Ryan took a superb catch before going on a strong run towards the Tipp goal. He had the presence of mind to send a pass towards Alan Murphy wo intelligently icked the sliotar in the direction of Mossy who gathered before ri ing past Barry Hogan in the Tipp goal. e de cit was now ve points. e large home crowd got a little louder. Noel McGrath sent over his second point of the day. Billy Drennan then nailed a free from his own half, then one from slightly closer to the Tipp target. Derek Lyng’s side were dealt a blow when Alan Murphy. had to leave the eld having failed to recover from the knock he took when assisting the Cats goal. Drennan then slotted another free, the gap now down to four. Carlow ref Murphy, then gave a veery soft free to the Premier and Jason Forde made no mistake. Forde hit the next two points of the game. His rst e ort a stunning sideline cut, the second an easy point after a poor restart from Kilkenny.

ree minutes of additional time were signaled, just enough time for two further scores for the home side, one from Mossy, one from Billy

Drennan. Tipp sub Mark Kehoe took the last score of the day before the long whistle sounded. Final score from UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny 1-21, Tipperary 2-24.

Kilkenny Scorers: B Drennan 0-10 (7fs, 1 65); M Keoghan 1-2; J Donnelly 0-4; C Fogarty, W Walsh, B Ryan, S Walsh, P Walsh all 0-1 each.

Tipperary Scorers: J Forde 1-15 (7fs, 2 65s, 1sl); J Morris 1-2; C Bowe, N McGrath 0-2 each; A Tynan, J Campion, M Kehoe all 0-1 each.

Kilkenny: A Tallis; M Butler, H Lawlor, C Heary; C Buckley, P Walsh, D Corcoran; P Deegan, c Kenny; W Walsh, B Ryan, K Doyle; B Drennan, M Keoghan, S Walsh. Subs: J Donnelly for Kenny (24), D Blanch eld for Heary (h-t), C Fogarty for Doyle (h-t), A Murphy for Butler (40), G Dunne for Murphy inj (61).

Tipperary: B Hogan; C Barrett, M Breen, J Ryan; E He ernan, P Campion, R Maher; P Cadell, D McCormack; A Tynan, N McGrath, J Morris; J Forde, S Callanan, C Bowe. Subs: J Campion for Cadell inj (5), E Connolly for Barrett inj temp (11), M Kehoe for Callanan (53), B O’Mara for P Campion (54), S Kennedy for J Campion (61), S Ryan for Morris (67).

Referee: P Murphy (Carlow)

>> SHERRY SAYS..

after a nice pass from Paddy Deegan. Ronan Maher then picked out Conor Bowe from a sideline cut and the latter pointed for his sides 14th point of the day. e home side then almost created a goal chance with Walter Walsh barging his way through the Tipp defence, but the sliotar was cleared and danger averted.

Kilkenny then hit two on the spin courtesy of Mossy Keoghan and a long range free from Billy Drennan. Glenmore’s Alan Murphy was then introduced in place of All-Star defender Mikey Butler, which meant a little bit of a re-jig in the Cats defensive line-up. Unfortunately for Murphy, his rst involvement saw him strike a poor pass straight to the opposition who moved the ball to Jason Forde who ri ed over.

Lyng’s men rallied and hit the next three scores via John Donnelly, Conor Fogarty and another placed ball from Billy Drennan. Just as it appeared that the Cats were gathering a head of steam, they would contribute to their own un-doing. Cillian Buckley who like many of his teammates wasn’t having his nest afternoon was blown up for over carrying and Forde punished this error. e same player repeated this just a minute later and his task was made a lot easier as ref Murphy brought the free forward, following some dissent.

Again, the home side responded, cracking points from play from young Billy Drennan and an even better one from Padraig Walsh dared the Kilkenny faithful to believe that the comeback was on. ese hopes were soon checked when Forde went over another point. One of the Cats bright sparks, John Donnelly then forced Tipp keeper Barry Hogan into a smart save. Billy Drennan red over the ‘65 before he struck another lovely point from play. But like before, Tipp cancelled that score out, again Forde showing his radar was onpoint, ring over from some 70

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither will Derek Lyng’s Kilkenny team. The first half performance of the starting XV wasn’t great, the players looked flat, appeared to lack the necessary desire and hunger for the fight that Liam Cahill’s side unsurprisingly brought. Supporters will accept losing to a better side, providing their team leaves everything on the pitch. Last Sunday not many in black and amber could say that.

Some players looked out of their depth, and that’s a worry in such a condensed season. The manager will no doubt have a crucial two weeks to get everything in order before they travel to O’Moore Park on Sunday week.

Positives? Billy Drennan once again delivered, notching 0-10 while Mossy hit 1-2. First-half sub, John Donnelly had a massive impact and finished the game with 0-4. More importantly, he was heavily involved in the good bits about Kilkenny on a difficult day at the office. Subs David Blanchfield, Conor Fogarty and Alan Murphy all made a difference when introduced, and the loss of Murphy was a blow as Kilkenny looked to turn the tide. We actually won the 2nd half, 1-14 to 0-11, oh how that opening period cost us.

Former All-Star keeper Eoin Murphy was back in the panel, while TJ had a watching brief. Over the next couple of games, we should see these two along with the other Shamrocks players come back into the fold. There’s no doubt the likes of newly appointed captain Eoin Cody and the machine that is Adrian Mullen will add some experience and quality to the Kilkenny squad.

No one said it would be easy....and Derek Lyng and his backroom team will roll up their sleeves and give everything to ensure days like these are the exception and not the rule. Bring on Laois.