All-Ireland MHC Final: Tipperary 2-17 Kilkenny 3-12 [aet]
Tipperary produced one of the great All-Ireland final performances despite playing most of the game with 13 men to defeat Kilkenny in an epic minor hurling final at UPMC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny on Saturday evening.
In the illustrious annals of Tipperary hurling, these 16- and 17-year-olds will be heralded for years to come after overcoming the odds, not only in normal-time, but in extra-time where the goal from the outstanding Billy O’Brien three minutes from the end proved to be the decisive score.
“I am mighty proud of the boys. They have loads of heart, spirit, and resilience,” said Tipperary manager James Woodlock.
“I was disappointed all week with the talk of making the wrong decision to come to Nowlan Park. I know it like the back of my hand, I have had good days down here, this management team have had good days down here, and I told the players that it would be a graveyard no longer for Tipperary men, and it wasn’t. We did it two years ago and came down again and repeated the dose.”
It looked so bleak when Tipperary were reduced to 13 players after just 25 minutes by referee Thomas Gleeson. They firstly lost Cillian Minogue to a straight red card after just seven minutes following a tangle with Bobby Brennan while Darragh O’Hora followed suit 18 minutes following a high challenge on Jack Dollard.
At that stage, Tipperary already trailed 1-5 to 0-5 with Kilkenny captain Bill McDermott getting their goal on 14 minutes to quell Tipp’s first response to the red card. The reaction to the second was also impressive, although fortunate as Eoghan Doughan’s 65 was spilled into his own net by Kilkenny goalkeeper Jake O’Doherty as the sides were level at half time, 1-5 apiece.
The large Tipperary support in the 12,721 attendance sensed something special was in the offing with two points from the outstanding Euan Murray and a long-range free from Jake Donelan Houlihan putting them into a three-point lead early in the second half.
Kilkenny hit back with points from Conor Holohan and a Jake Mullen free before Robbie Doherty goaled in the 39th minute to retake the lead. Tipp were forced to dig in with goalkeeper Daire English forced into a fine save from Ollie O’Donovan. But they weathered the storm, aided by poor Kilkenny shooting with eight second-half wides and 18 in all.
Tipp had chances themselves with Stefan Tobin denied by O’Doherty and it was a superb individual score by Donelan Houlihan in the 55th minute which proved to be the one to send the game to extra-time despite both sides having chances to win it.
An amendment to the extra-time rule this year meant Tipperary stayed with 13 players for the additional 20 minutes. The sides managing a point apiece in an exciting first period where Tipp goalkeeper Daire English cleared off the line while at the other end the post denied O’Brien a goal.
The sides remained deadlocked going into the second period of extra-time where Tipp dug deep with Murray, O’Brien and sub Killian Cantwell pointing, but Kilkenny responded with a goal from sub Eoghan Cahill and retook the lead through fellow sub Cian Byrne.
However, this amazing game had one final twist as despite their numerical disadvantage, Tipp managed to create an overlap, into which O’Brien ran into to write he and this Tipperary team into the county’s hurling folklore.
TIPPERARY: D English; S Ryan, C O’Reilly, P Ryan; D Ryan, O O’Dwyer, J Donelan-Houlihan (0-4, 3f); T Ryan, B O’Brien (1-1); A Ryan (0-1), E Doughan (1-3, 1-0 65, 0-1f), D O’Hora; S Tobin (0-1), E Murray (0-4), C Minogue (0-1).
Subs: A Duff (0-1) for Doughan (46 mins); A Cagney for Tobin (58); K Cantwell (0-1) for Cagney (6, ET); S Tobin for Murray (18, ET).
KILKENNY: J O’Doherty; B Brennan, L Phelan, O Henderson; D Barcoe, J Dollard, M Rohan; E Brennan (0-1), K Buggy (0-1); R Doherty (1-0), B McDermott (1-2), C Holohan; O O’Donovan (0-3), J Mullen (0-3, 2f), J Cody.
Subs: C Byrne (0-1) for Cody (43 mins); L Raggett for B Brennan (49); P Lacey (0-1) for O’Donovan (56); A Clifford (1-0) for E Brennan (9, ET); E Cahill for Rohan (15, ET); O O’Donovan for Holohan (18, ET)
Referee: T Gleeson (Dublin).
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