Forde was ready willing and able

By Shane Brophy

Jason Forde was selected as the RTE Man of the Match for his 1-5 contribution to Tipperary’s win over Kilkenny in the All-Ireland semi-final.

“We are absolutely delighted to get over the line,” he began.

“A lot of lads stood up in the last ten minutes when we needed them to so just glad to get over the line.”

Tipperary started sluggishly but once they got into their flow in the second quarter, they outscored Kilkenny 2-10 to 0-6 and it could have been greater.

“They got out of the traps really fast, and we struggled to get into our flow,” admitted the Silvermines clubman.

“But, as we have done all year, we stuck to the process, we know we have the players and what we are capable of. Jake stormed into it with a couple of points, John got the goal and that settled us. Darragh was getting out in front and winning the ball and creating chances, so we did take time to settle but once we did, we got into our flow.”

Apart from his first half goal, Jason wasn’t prominent in the game until he took over the free-taking duties in the 54th minute and nailed four incredibly difficult frees, adding a superb point from play in an inspired period.

“You wouldn’t be expecting it coming into the game that I’d be taking the frees,” he admitted.

“Darragh has been hitting them so well all year; he was unlucky with one or two of them which went just outside the post but when you are asked to do a job for this team, you just stand up and do it, and the boys had the trust in us to do that.”

Forde has two All-Ireland winners medals from 2016 and 2019 and is now taking more of a leadership role as he prepares for a fourth All-Ireland final on Sunday week.

“Our big aim was to get back here to Croke Park and perform, and we did that today.

“We will have a serious two weeks, back to the training ground and get ready to give it one hell of a lash in the final,” he concluded.