Tipperary hurlers skin the Cats for first league win in Nowlan Park since 2008

Allianz National Hurling League - Round 2

Tipperary 2-24

Kilkenny 1-21

Tipperary claimed their first win over age old rivals Kilkenny in Nowlan Park for the first time since 2008 as another strong first half performance put the Premier in a commanding position as they held out for a welcomed victory earlier this afternoon.

A dominant first thirty minutes from Liam Cahill’s team was the foundation for a rare win in Kilkenny City for Tipp, with goals from Jason Forde and Jake Morris helping Tipp to a big 12 point lead with some ravenous work rate and fluid play giving the visitors a 12-point half time lead.

The work rate was a real feature and while Tipperary played very well, especially in the first half it was some really poor play from Kilkenny which coughed up cheap scores at times, particularly towards the end of the first half, and despite a good second half response from Kilkenny, Tipp had the work done in terms of scoring a managed to tip away at the scoreboard in the middle of the home team’s purple patches to always keep the Cats at arm's length,

The hunger for work and the intensity of the Tipperary players was evident early on in the first half, and despite a slow start in terms of the fluency of the play, the tempo was set by the men in blue and gold for the whole first half.

Indeed, scarcely a dozen seconds had passed by the time Jason Forde announced his return to the lineup with a lovely score from play, but Kilkenny very nearly struck for a goal from the resulting puckout, with Walter Walsh finding space inside with a sight of goal, but between Ronan Maher and Barry Hogan the shot was saved; Walsh settling for the point from the rebound.

Forde and young Kilkenny freetaker Billy Drennan traded points in a period which was disrupted greatly through a pair of injuries for Tipp, first with Paddy Cadell having to retire after a heavy shoulder in the fourth minute, with Cathal Barrett following suit in the 12th minute after a collision with Ronan Maher.

But this didn’t disrupt the Tipperary play in any way, with Forde finding a further two points (one free) and Jake Morris after being fed by Alan Tynan as Kilkenny were running into some early malfunctions trying to play the ball short.

Billy Drennan had another point from a free in the 21st minute as Kilkenny were seldom troubling the Tipperary backline, as Tipp continued to harry and work the Kilkenny man in possession and further points from Noel McGrath and Conor Bowe’s first of the day.

Kilkenny looked like a team devoid of confidence and real zip in the way they were trying to hurl, with short stick passes constantly going astray and Tipp were quick to punish, with a green flag coming in the 27th minute with Seamus Callanan taking down a high ball well and finding Jason Forde with a lovely pass in on goal and with a two on one, Forde sold the dummy and rifled to the net past Aidan Tallis.

Billy Ryan was the only Kilkenny forward making any impact and he hit a fine score over the head of Enda Heffernan for his first of the day in the 31st minute, but Tipp were in the ascendancy and extended their lead to nine points by the 36th minute with points from Alan Tynan, John Campion, and Jason Forde all giving Tipp a healthy and unexpected lead.

Derek Lyng was fearing the worst now surely, and looked to the bench for some badly needed inspiration, with John Donnelly introduced in the 24th minute to good effect scoring two quick points, with his second probably in goal scoring territory but he opted for the point.

However, Tipperary were dominating proceedings and with Noel McGrath and his forwards setting the tone with some great dispossessions and work rate the finished the half strongly, with Kilkenny mistakes punished through another Forde point and a second Tipperary goal with Conor Bowe’s string effort well saved by Aidan Tallis; but Jake Morris was on hand to power the ball home from close range, and with Morris pointing just before the half time whistle, it was Tipp in control at the break with a 2-13 to 0-7 lead.

The half time message would have been far for comfortable for the Kilkenny players with Lyng in his first home league game in charge, and against the old enemy too, and John Donnelly got them up and running with the first point of the half.

Conor Bowe was putting in some shift so far and he knocked over a beautiful point for his second of the match in the 38th minute but Kilkenny were playing the ball noticeably faster into their forwards since the restart and points from Martin Keoghan, John Donnelly, Conor Fogarty, and Billy Drennan (two) had Kilkenny back to eight points by the 46th minute.

Tipp needed a few settlers to stem the Kilkenny momentum that was building and Jason Forde duly obliged with two quick fire frees in the 48th minute but Kilkenny had the tails up now and they were finding confidence in their play.

However, the home side were finding space and confidence with big scores from Billy Drennan - who was finding a lot of space on top of Eoghan Connolly - and Padraig Walsh, and they nearly had their route back into contention a minute later in the 53rd minute when David Blanchfield found a class stick pass to John Donnelly on the 21 and with a powerful effort he was denied by Barry Hogan brilliantly.

Drennan converted that 65 and with himself and Forde trading four points with that included there was plenty of time for Kilkenny to stage a comeback as Tipp led 2-19 to 0-17 with 57 minutes played.

The moment Tipperary supporters were dreading came though a few minutes later when Kilkenny struck what was a deserved goal with Billy Ryan turning down a free advantage to flick a clever pass in behind to Alan Murphy who gave a brilliant flick on himself to Martin Keoghan in behind and the full forward buried the effort low to the net from close range. Game well on.

Noel McGrath took the sting out of that goal with a quick point after being left in acres of space from the resulting puck out, but the Kilkenny train kept on moving with two Billy Drennan frees making Tipp sweat by the 62nd minute as the lead was cut back to four points with plenty of time on the clock.

The passage of play which probably secured the game from a Tipp point of view came from a 60 second period of class from Jason Forde who pointed a sublime sideline from some 35 metres out before sprinting back in field to cut out the resulting puck out and point from play to re-establish the six point lead for Tipp in what were two badly needed scores.

That made it safe for Tipp as their rearguard held out any of the Kilkenny deliveries in deep, and with the subs sucked back and cutting out space Tipp held out despite conceding two late points from Martin Keoghan and Billy Drennan; as Mark Kehoe’s late point deep in stoppage time put the cherry on top of this Tipperary performance.

There were some really strong performances all over the field in the win, with Jason Forde and Noel McGrath prominent along with Conor Bowe, Alan Tynan, and Enda Heffernan impressing throughout the game, and to win in Kilkenny for the first time since 2008 in his first year in charge, manager will be delighted to get that scalp on the board.

Scorers: Tipperary: Jason Forde (1-15, 0-8f, 0-2 65s), Jake Morris 1-2, Noel McGrath, Conor Bowe 0-2 each, Alan Tynan, John Campion, Mark Kehoe 0-1 each.

Kilkenny: Billy Drennan (0-10, 0-8f), Martin Keoghan 1-2, John Donnelly 0-4, Walter Walsh, Billy Ryan, Shane Walsh, Conor Fogarty, Padraig Walsh all 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Barry Hogan; Johnny Ryan, Michael Breen, Cathal Barrett; Enda Heffernan, Pairic Campion, Ronan Maher; Dan McCormack, Paddy Cadell; Alan Tynan, Noel McGrath, Jake Morris, Conor Bowe, Seamus Callanan, Jason Forde.

Subs: John Campion for Cadell (5, inj); Eoghan Connolly for Barrett (12, concussion inj); Seamus Kenendy for J Campion (temp sub 34 - reversed 37); Mark Kehoe for Callanan (53); Bryan O’Mara for P Campion (55); Seamus Kennedy for Tynan (temp sub 56 - reversed 58); Seamus Kennedy for J Campion (61); Sean Ryan for Morris (67).

Kilkenny: Aidan Tallis; Mikey Butler, Huw Lawlor, Conor Heary; Cillian Buckley, Padraig Walsh, Darragh Corcoran; Paddy Deegan, Killian Doyle; Walter Walsh, Billy Ryan, Cian Kenny; Billy Drennan, Martin Keoghan, Shane Walsh.

Subs: John Donnelly for Kenny (24); Conor Fogarty for Doyle (HT); David Blanchfield for Heary (HT); Alan Murphy for Butler (39); Gearoid Dunne for A Murphy (61, inj); 

Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)