All Ireland Hurling Final

[corner back]

Call it.

I've a sneaking suspicion that Tipp will win comfortably again.
KK backs are better than last year but the forwards have been increasingly dependent on an ageing Shefflin.
Kilkenny need too many things to go right to win it...
Power has game of his life
Corbett and Kelly held to a few points
Hickey back to something near his best
Richie Hogan bags a few goals
Can't see it.

[kingscounty]

i can see kilkenny out for revenge for last year,tipp were poor enough against an under strenght dublin team who kilkenny beat pulling up in the leinster final.for me power has to step up and take over hes a great player on his day,tommy walsh,shefflin,larkin,jj, etc all these boys are class.i think score will be kilkenny 2-19 tipp 2-14.

[summerindublin]

The cats are not the team thery were but neither are TIPP, Their performance last year in the final was something else but they will never repeat that again. They are very dependant on Corbitt scoring goals and struggled big time against an ordinary Dublin team that Offaly should haver beaten The cats to win by at least 6, hopefully as them Tipp crowd would sicken your ar**.

[naasmanxrhode]

The cats are not the team thery were but neither are TIPP, Their performance last year in the final was something else but they will never repeat that again. They are very dependant on Corbitt scoring goals and struggled big time against an ordinary Dublin team that Offaly should haver beaten The cats to win by at least 6, hopefully as them Tipp crowd would sicken your ar**.

Agreed, but Tipp will be hard bet, keep Corbitt from scoring goals and if they can score their usual 1-16 t0 1-22 then the'll win. We need someone new in these finals.

[summerindublin]

Kilkenny 2-19 Tipp 1-16

[Fargo Boyle]

Tipp to win by a few. Thats where my money is at.

Kilkenny rely too much on Shefflin who has no pace or edge to his game anymore. Still a great free taker but the injuries have taken their toll. Richie Power has been poor all year and they are really relying on Richie Hogan to score a couple of goals. The full back line is improved with Paul Murphy gone in there but Hickey is still the weak link and they all know that down here (very surprising Cody has stuck with him)

The first 10-15 mins are going to be played at an unbelievable intensity and there will be a digs thrown as well.

Hopefully Tipp will do it so I don't have to listen to the Cats for another year

[TheManFromFerbane]

Kilkenny by 3-4, the last bite from a dying dog.

[townman]

kilkenny to make up for last year don't think Lar will get a hat-trick this year Noel Hickey will be a man on a mission
the kilkenny full back line where pull all over the place last year i think they will stay in the square this year.

Shefflin will be fitter and play the whole game this year big games need from Richie Hogan and Richie Power
kilkenny also have Brian Hogan who missed last years final plus they have young legs in Paul Murphy in the backs.

tipp were poor enough again Dublin but they will be 100 times better this sunday i think their forward line were found out the last day
3 took off plus their midfielder Ger Ryan. suprise that YHOTY Brendan Maher is not starting John o'keeffe the right half back could be the weak link.

i think if kilkenny fullback line keep it tight and Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney put in strong games i think kilkenny will win well kilkenny by 7 points

[Bord na Mona man]

On paper, Tipp look that bit better. Their forwards are a little quicker and sharper.
Kilkenny could well win it, but it will take one real (last?) tilt.

Kilkenny will need to rebuild. When the likes of Shefflin exit, people will realise that several other players on the team aren't as good as make out.
A couple of years ago, people were getting carried away with guff about the Kilkenny subs being the second best team in Ireland.
However the writing was on the wall when the 2009 All Ireland took players the wrong side of 30, like Martin Comerford, Shefflin and Eddie Brennan to rescue the game for Kilkenny.

Tipp should, but Kilkenny could.

[townman]

On paper, Tipp look that bit better. Their forwards are a little quicker and sharper.
Kilkenny could well win it, but it will take one real (last?) tilt.

Kilkenny will need to rebuild. When the likes of Shefflin exit, people will realise that several other players on the team aren't as good as make out.
A couple of years ago, people were getting carried away with guff about the Kilkenny subs being the second best team in Ireland.
However the writing was on the wall when the 2009 All Ireland took players the wrong side of 30, like Martin Comerford, Shefflin and Eddie Brennan to rescue the game for Kilkenny.

Tipp should, but Kilkenny could.

kilkenny have rebuild they have a new keeper in Herity, Paul Murphy and Paddy Hogan in the backs Tommy Walsh is still young they have John Dalton who is young to come back
Richie Hogan and Colin Fennelly, Richie Power and mick Fennelly plus Micheal Rice are hurlers who are coming into their prime.

Noel Hickey,Shefflin, Eoin Larkin and JJ are the older ones but still have plenty of hurling left in them as we have seen again wexford,Dublin, Waterford
Brendan Cummins, Paul Curran, Connor o'Mahony, Benny Dunne, John o'Brien, Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett, are around as long as some on the kilkenny squad.

the thing about kilkenny haveing to squads a few years ago was well they were powerful from 2006 to 2009 they won all irelands in a canter and they had great bench them days
i wouldn't write them off coming back again they were in the last 3 minor finals in a row winning 2 they won't be gone for long tipp might know all about it after sunday evening
tipp are a fine side but something tells me they might be underrating kilkenny abit this year and could pay the price.

the first time i seen kilkenny in a final was the 1982 again Cork i remember people were saying it was only a matter what cork would beat them by after winning the munster
by 31 points again waterford, 2011 munster final same big win waterford again on the end of it, kilkenny gave cork a hurling lesson in 82 don't rule them out doing the same again

[kingkenny]

can c this been as gud as last couple of yrs
a fully fit king henry could make all the diffrence
hope B gavin has gud game wit de whistle
so the tipp boys cant blame him when de cats win by 4-5 pts
like de did in 09 when kirwin was at fault 4 der loss
COME ON THE BLACK N AMBERS

[townman]

yes this final is going the way i though it would kilkenny backs are powerful Tommy giving Bonner Maher a lesson in hurling
still only 5 points in it but the cats are way better, if they get a good start in the second half the pull away.

[backofthenet]

If Kilkenny lose this game they can blame Brian Gavin..he is having a stinker and has been the cause of at least +3 or +4 points for tipp.

[Bord na Mona man]

If Kilkenny lose this game they can blame Brian Gavin..he is having a stinker and has been the cause of at least +3 or +4 points for tipp.

Don't be swayed by the Kilkenny fans booing (which they tend to overdo). Gavin did fine.
Kilkenny did more of the obvious fouling. They got away with Walsh's swipe to the ref, Hickey's trip etc. so can't claim they were hard done by.

Kilkenny were worth their win, Tipp stuck at it but were generally second best. The likes of Walsh and Tyrrell were superb.

[backofthenet]

If Kilkenny lose this game they can blame Brian Gavin..he is having a stinker and has been the cause of at least +3 or +4 points for tipp.

Don't be swayed by the Kilkenny fans booing (which they tend to overdo). Gavin did fine.
Kilkenny did more of the obvious fouling. They got away with Walsh's swipe to the ref, Hickey's trip etc. so can't claim they were hard done by.

Kilkenny were worth their win, Tipp stuck at it but were generally second best. The likes of Walsh and Tyrrell were superb.

I certainly wasnt swayed by the kk booing. I was swayed by him giving tipp two free's on their half back line for a kk forward overcarrying (neither took more than 4 steps), a free against Paul Murphy inside his 21 for catching it three times, he only caught it twice, bonnar maher got a free inside the kk 21 for barging with no obvious free commited. Then you had Ritchie Power soloing through during the first few mins of the second half gets tripped from behind no free...this happened a number of times. Im maybe being a bit harsh but he was far quicker to give frees against KK than Tipp and it answers the question everyone has been asking...why werent KK up by more, it was simply because the ref gave them 3-4 ridiculous frees. Thats how small the difference can be.

You could claim that they got away with Walshs swipe but in fairness it was completely ridiculous for gavin to be where he is standing..The first thing youre told as a ref is never go into the middle of a row, stand outside, take the numbers of the players that commit offences and then take action, by going into the middle of the row he was always likely to be hit by a stray hurl, hand or head! Plus because he was so close id wager he couldnt even tell whos hurl it actually was that hit him. They didnt get away with hickeys trip there was a free given and as duignan rightly pointed out it probably should have been a free out anyway.

Tommy Walsh eat Bonnar alive, I cant think of one tipp forward that got a sniff of it, they were totally taken to the cleaners, the tipp backline stood up ok, I know shefflin done a lot of damage but in fairness Brendan Maher should have been started and that would have evened up the backline considerably. KKs forwards battled superbly all day and their tackling was a joy to watch on the ball 9/10

With all that said it was a fantastic hurling final, Kilkenny proved they are still the team to beat and with 6 new starters this year it looks ominous for tipp and the rest again next year!