Colin Fennelly turned in a man-of-the-match performance – in a game he described as both "crazy" and "explosive" – as Kilkenny finally outgunned Tipperary by 5-20 to 5-14 in a ten-goal thriller in the Allianz League Division 1A at Nowlan Park.
Kilkenny, the defending league champions, bounced back from their opening round defeat to All-Ireland kingpins Clare in a game where Fennelly, with a personal haul of 3-5, and Tipperary’s Séamus Callinan, who also scored three goals, gave quite magnificent displays that defied the soft, clinging surface.
A cool wind aided the Cats in the second-half as they pulled off a fightback to claim their opening points of the league campaign.
All three of last week’s defeated teams turned the formbook on its head, as Dublin – outclassed by Galway a week ago – produced a hugely improved performance to defeat All-Ireland champions Clare by six points at Parnell Park and Waterford, with Pauric Mahony their scorer-in-chief, overcame Galway in Walsh Park.
The Kilkenny-Tipperary match was unusually open with the teams producing a feast of goals. Fennelly, revelling in his new role at centre-half-forward, had a quite phenomenal game with a number of Tipperary men dispatched in turn to mark him but all with the same futile results.
Tipperary, playing with the wind in the first-half, led by 4-9 to 2-9 at the break. Noel McGrath opened Tipperary's goal-scoring spree with a fourth minute strike as he took a long ball in his stride and Jason Forde added a second in the 11th minute before Callinan got his first – and Tipp's third – with a rasping shot to the net to fire his side into a 3-3 to 0-4 lead.
Fennelly assumed the role of principal marksman in starting Kilkenny's fightback with a goal after flicking the sliotar to the net when TJ Reid's initial shot rebounded off the post. Within minutes, Henry Shefflin nabbed a second for the Cats before Callinan responded with a Tipperary goal for a six-point lead at half-time.
What was said in the Kilkenny dressing room at half time? “Well, we were told, ‘Look lads, if we don’t get a win today we are in serious trouble for the league’. It would have been a disaster, we’d have been on the back foot for the rest of the league,” revealed Fennelly afterwards.
The Kilkenny spirit was shown to full effect in a pulsating second-half, in which Fennelly's second goal brought the sides level, only for Callinan at the other end to show his own wizardry to complete his hat-trick of goals. That was the signal, it seemed, for Fennelly to stamp his authority with his own third goal and, when Mark Kelly kicked hom Kilkenny's fifth goal, it gave them a 5-17 to 5-14 lead that was then augmented by a couple of points from impressive substitute Richie Hogan, as the home side claimed the victory.
“The games this year are just unbelievable in the league. You see every year team getting better and better,” Fennelly remarked.
Dublin responded to their opening round drubbing by Galway with a hugely impressive 2-17 to 0-17 win over Clare. Conal Keaney, who played in a two-man full-forward line alongside Dotsy O’Callaghan, scored Dublin’s opening goal in the 14th minute when he gathered a long ball in from Johnny McCaffrey. The Dubs led 1-12 to 0-10 at the break.
Cuala’s Colm Cronin had a fine game in the middle of the park and also came forward to make an important scoring contribution with a 50th minute goal that eased the pressure on Dublin, putting them into 2-14 to 0-12 lead which forced Clare to search in vain for a goal in their attempts to get back into the match.
Waterford claimed a good 0-22 to 1-13 win over Galway at Walsh Park, with Pauric Mahony treating himself to 11 points. It means that all six teams in Division 1A are locked together on two points apiece with identical win:loss ratios of one:one.
In Division 1B, Wexford's impressive start to the campaign continued with a 2-19 to 2-13 win over Offaly. Ian Byrne and Liam Óg McGovern scored Wexford's goals while Joe Bergin and Conor McMahon claimed Offaly's goals.
Limerick – with goals from David Reidy, Seánie Tobin and William Hickey – ran out comfortable 3-26 to 0-12 winners over Antrim.
Results
Division 1A
Kilkenny 5-20 Tipperary 5-14
Waterford 0-22 Galway 1-13
Dublin 2-17 Clare 0-17
Division 1B
Wexford 2-19 Offaly 2-13
Limerick 3-26 Antrim 0-12
Division 2A
Carlow 2-12 London 0-8
Kerry 2-24 Kildare 0-13
Derry 3-11 Westmeath 0-9
Division 2B
Down 1-15 Wicklow 0-10
Meath 0-12 Mayo 0-7
Fingal 2-18 Armagh 2-13
Division 3A
Monaghan 1-12 Roscommon 1-8
Longford 3-9 Donegal 1-20
Interprovincial Football Final
Connacht 2-19 Ulster 1-7
