Kilkenny maestro pinpoints moment where game 'changed' versus Tipperary

Derek Lyng alluded to it afterwards when he said that if you concede four goals it’s not going to be good enough and that’s just the reality of it.

Kilkenny were outstanding in the first quarter of the game and they quickly went into a 0-8 to 1-0 lead and they were dominating Tipperary all over the field.

John McGrath’s goal which was really well taken got Tipp back into it even if it was fortunate in how it came about with Jake Morris’s shot being blocked and the ball landing straight in front of the full-forward so you can’t really blame the defenders on that one.

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The three first half efforts really hurt Kilkenny as the Cats were on top at that stage of the game and they were playing really well and all of a sudden a long ball resulted in a couple of goal opportunities.

That kept Tipperary’s confidence even as had they went into the break behind on the scoreboard, it could have been a very different game. That gave Tipperary a platform to go and win the game and it’s a chance they took with both hands.

The game kind of changed when Darragh McCarthy was sent off and Kilkenny probably didn’t get the most out of the spare man.

A few things that I noticed was that they got turned over in defence once or twice and that gave energy to the Tipperary attack and Jason Forde’s point right on the sideline gave Liam Cahill’s side a bit of impetus and gave them confidence going down the straight.

The Kilkenny mistakes gave Tipp the belief that they could go and do this. They knew being a man down that they had to work that bit harder and be more clinical which they were too.

I think Kilkenny wasted too many opportunities when we were a man up and that maybe killed the confidence levels a small bit. When Oisin O’Donoghue got the goal it was a shock to everyone, including the Kilkenny players, as they had a lot of players back. If Oisin tried to do that again he might miss it 100 times - it was just one of those once in a lifetime goals.

There was nothing Eoin Murphy could do about it either so when that hit the net, and there was only a certain amount of time left, you were thinking that all the momentum was in Tipperary’s favour despite the fact that they were down a man.

The culmination of all those factors in the last 15 minutes proved to be the winning of the game in the end for Liam Cahill’s team.

Before the game I thought it was really 50-50 as I felt there was nothing in it. Kilkenny could have won this game and maybe the way Tipperary came through Munster may have helped when they were behind on the scoreboard as they refused to give up.

On the day Tipp just used the ball that small bit better. I don’t think it really came down to the fact that they had a tougher route to the game as Kilkenny had their moments and a few small things went Tipperary’s way.

I think the players will definitely feel that it was a game that got away as it wasn’t like Tipperary were massively better than them and they could make some peace with it, there was very little between the sides.

The tough thing to swallow for the players is that they had all the tools at their disposal to win the game but it was just that Tipperary were far more efficient and clinical on the day - and that’s just really it.

When Kilkenny do look back on the game they will have regrets and it will be a tough one for them to process.

There was then the small matter of the scoreboard controversy afterwards and how things unfolded in those mad final few minutes of the contest.

When the shot was taken by Noel McGrath, the Tipperary crowd in the Cusack Stand quite noticeably erupted, so I thought it was going to be a point but then obviously the umpire waved the ball wide.

I didn’t notice that a score had been added on the scoreboard as things were happening so quickly on the field. For me it was only after the game that somebody said the scoreboard was wrong and at that stage I started thinking about what the Kilkenny players knew.

When there’s any break of play, it’s the big screen that the players look at and I know there is another scoreboard at the Davin End, but that can be hard to see if you are at the opposite end of the field.

It’s the score and time that the players take most notice of when they are out there so it kind of informs you on what you need to do next or whatever it is.

It’s very subjective the way you look at it but it definitely would have changed how Kilkenny played those final few minutes.

It certainly influenced their decision to go for goals rather than points. There were some very fine margins at that stage so one point in the difference changed quite a lot.

It was right at the tipping point where they knew that the one score had a huge impact and it’s disappointing for the players that it ended in those circumstances.

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