Victory made more comfortable than expected

By Shane Brophy

This was as convincing All-Ireland final that Tipperary have won at any grade.

When Paddy McCormack scored Tipperary’s first goal in the 38th minute to push them six points clear, you couldn’t see any way back for Kilkenny, at that stage.

It wasn’t just that Tipperary had the benefit of the significant breeze at Nowlan Park, it was they were so much the superior team.

Coming into the final, Tipperary were sitting ducks for an ambush if they weren’t on their game. Brendan Cummins charges held all the aces, warm favourites, with three players of senior experience from this year alone who had an uninterrupted two-week run-in to the final.

They could also call on the hurt from last years final disappointment to Offaly at the same venue which reduced Kilkenny’s home advantage significantly as well, added to by the fact the Tipperary fans outnumbered the black and amber at least 2:1 in the over fourteen thousand strong crowd.

What many worried about in advance was this was Kilkenny, and they wouldn’t want to be beaten at home by Tipperary for the second successive year in an All-Ireland Final. Whatever they had done on route to the final as impressive Leinster champions, they’d bring the blood and thunder and turn it into a battle, however it never came.

While much of that was down to Tipperary’s greater ability, they were helped by Kilkenny’s approach. Much has been remarked locally about Tipp’s set-up going back to last year, particularly the tendency of Tipp’s centre back to sit deep, however, this has been overblown this year as when Jim Ryan came into the role in the second game against Cork, you couldn’t class him as a sweeper compared to what Kilkenny did with midfielder Jeff Neary to sat back in front of Tipp’s two-man full forward line of Paddy McCormack and Oisin O’Donoghue with Darragh McCarthy pulling out towards the half-forward line.

When handed the initiative of the breeze in the opening half, it provided Kilkenny with the ideal platform as the underdog to build some kind of a lead by half time from which to put pressure on Tipperary.

However, they continued to play as they did throughout the championship, operating a sweeper at the back, trying to work the ball out with short passing, despite having two big men in the full-forward line in Ed McDermott and particularly Marty Murphy, who was a real thorn in Tipp’s side, while the live-wire Rory Glynn had the potential to thrive on the breaking ball. However, they just didn’t feed them enough ball.

This just isn’t Kilkenny. While it’s what they trained for, to the untrained eye it was almost containment like, particularly on the Tipperary puckout where they failed to put any pressure on, to such an extent that it was only inside the last ten minutes that Tipperary failed to claim one of Eoin Horgan’s restarts, losing just two in all, that was how easy it was for them to work the ball up the field.

Maybe the occasion got to Kilkenny compared to all the Tipperary players who have played in minor and under 20 All-Ireland finals in recent times, but they never carried a consistent threat which left Tipp supporters of any concerns that they would leave Nowlan Park empty-handed once more.

Tipp were so much the superior side in all aspects, from skill, fitness, and coaching, each player comfortable on the ball and knowing what was required, particularly in the first half which was a poor spectacle, but Tipp did what they had to, into the breeze, and went in at the break with a 0-10 to 0-8 lead.

From then on, it was about not giving Kilkenny any chance to build momentum and Conor Martin’s point within sixteen seconds of the restart was the ideal retort. Still, Kilkenny were in striking distance of three points when Paddy McCormack broke onto the ball and with his giant stride and power, burst through for the goal which broke the game open for Tipp.

It was a moment twelve months in the making for the Borris-Ileigh clubman who missed last years final through a hand injury and his subsequent goal, and all round contribution showed just what a loss he was in the full-forward line against Offaly.

McCormack was part of the senior set-up last year but opted to concentrate fully on under 20 this season and it has proven a wide move, but also highlights the potential he has to be a senior level, with all the tools of size and skill. The power will come and if he trusts himself to catch the high ball more instead of going to control it first with the hurley, he’ll be a hard full forward to stop for the best of full-backs.

The class of Tipperary’s seniors did play a significant role in the game with Oisin O’Donoghue scoring two points from play in the first half when they were struggling for scores into the breeze while normally 1-4 from play would be more than enough to be crowned man of the match but Conor Martin won’t mind as he still has his All-Ireland medal.

Tipp didn’t need any more from Darragh McCarthy to convert his frees but his workrate was immense throughout, including covering back in the second half and conceding a “good free” and taking a yellow card when Kilkenny threatened a goal.

Aaron O’Halloran had his hands full with Marty Murphy but showed his toughness by playing through the pain barrier after suffering a shoulder injury early in the second half, while skipper Sam O’Farrell dealt capably with Ed McDermott, and was still able to get forward to land to classy points in the second half.

This twelfth All-Ireland Under 20 title shouldn’t be underestimated. Firstly, Tipperary coped well with the expectation of a group of players that had won a minor title three years ago and had nineteen players still eligible from the 2024 panel that came up just short to Offaly. You still have to put in the work and come through the slog that is Munster to get back to the All-Ireland, and they did that, using the first round loss to Limerick as a starting point.

Where this group of players go from here is up to them, be it onto senior level, or back again for under 20 next year where fourteen players (four starters) are still eligible under a management that have another year at least at the helm. It’s not a bad place to start from attempting to go back to back.