KILKENNY confirmed their status as possibly the greatest team of all time by defeating Tipperary by 2-17 to 1-16 in last Sunday's All-Ireland Hurling final at Croke Park.
As is so often the case with Kilkenny, they kept their best performance of the season for the All-Ireland final. It was a match they have been waiting for since losing out to Tipperary in their "drive for five" a year ago.
That hurt. It hurt so badly that Kilkenny immediately set their sights on reaching this year's final and making amends for last September's defeat.
In many ways, Sunday's rematch was the perfect situation for them. For once, they were the outsiders with the pundits generally going for the younger Tipperary outfit to make it two in a row.
But, in truth, this was always a 50/50 encounter. People seemed to forget that this Kilkenny team had won four of the previous five finals and are probably the most competitive team ever to play the game.
As Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald put it afterwards: "They are warriors." Fitzgerald, one of those who went for Kilkenny to win, could have added that they are warriors with a great general.
The general, of course, is manager Brian Cody. No matter that Kilkenny were outsiders, he knew that they were going to perform on Sunday.
"You could see it; you could smell it almost." stressed Cody. "You know when the resolve, the attitude and the determination is right.
"Winning an All-Ireland on any given day is a great feeling. I always say the present one is the best because it is the only one that I can feel right now.
"But, if I'm honest, this is by far our best achievement, absolutely phenomenally satisfying." The reason, quite simply, was that an awful lot of people felt that Kilkenny were past their best.
They had some reason in that the Cats were nowhere near their normal high standards when losing to Dublin in the National League final, albeit with quite a few of their top players missing. But the flip side of that defeat was that it probably made Kilkenny even more single minded.
They were absolutely determined to prove the critics wrong. But it took more than determination to win All-Ireland and Kilkenny had the skill and tactical know-how to go with their huge intensity.
Tipperary knew exactly what to expect but could do nothing about it. Within 15 minutes they found themselves 0-5 to 0-0 behind. Few amongst the 81,000 plus attendance could believe what was happening.
Whatever about Kilkenny securing five points, it was surely inconceivable that much vaunted Tipperary attack could fail to manage a single score in those 15 minutes. Defensively Kilkenny were all over them, Jackie Tyrell dealing with the threat of Lar Corbett and Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney making a series of superb catches.
Just as importantly, Henry Shefflin was back fit after going into last year's decider with a bad injury. Shefflin went on to finish with 0-7, five of which were from frees, and also figured prominently in Kilkenny's opening goal.
Eventually, Noel McGrath got Tipperary off the mark and by the 24th minute they had reduced the deficit to 0-5 to 0-3 with an Eoin Kelly point. But Kilkenny simply weren't going to loosen their grip.
As the Tipperary defense dithered, Kilkenny took a quick line ball, Shefflin found Richie Horgan who saw Michael Fennelly charging up field. Fennelly duly dispatched his shot into the net for a smashing goal and a 1-7 to 0-4 lead.
Tipperary weren't at their best but, it is to their credit that they managed to dig in. Behind 1-8 to 0-6 at the interval, they reduced the lead to 1-9 to 0-8 by the 41st minute.
But, just as they did in the first half, Kilkenny came up trumps with a goal. Only this goal was even better than the first, it was one of the best seen this year or any other year at Croke Park.
It followed a glorious move with Eddie Brennan charging through the Tippeary defence before finding Richie Hogan to the left of the goal. Hogan demonstrated marvellous skill to kill the pass on his hurley and fire an unstoppable shot past Brendan Cummins.
Effectively that was that, Kilkenny were now eight points (2-12 to 0-10 ahead). But Tipperary, driven on by a fine second half performance by Patrick "Bonner" Maher
wouldn't go away.
Maher combined with Corbett to set up substitute Pa Burke whose shot deceived David Herihy to reduce the deficit to 2-13 to 1-12. When Eoin Kelly's sixth free made it a three-points game with five minutes left, Kilkenny supporters were starting to worry.
But they need not have been too concerned as, yet again, Kilkenny responded, finishing four points clear at the finish. Remarkably, Shefflin, Brennan and a rejuvenated Noel Hickey were winning their eighth medals as captain Brian Hogan went up to lift the Liam McCarthy Cup.
All three played important roles but the honor of Man of the Match was probably a toss up between J.J. Delaney and Tommy Walsh. Delaney was awarded the honor by RTE but others went for Walsh.
And, to be fair, Tyrell was another major contender on the basis that he kept Corbett scoreless. Not that the Man of the Match award really mattered as this was the ultimate team performance from a Kilkenny team that simply wasn't going to allow Tipperary to beat them in successive All-Ireland finals.
And what now for Tipperary? They will be right back in the hunt next year simply because they a top quality side but the fact is that they didn't, or weren't allowed, to perform at their best on Sunday.
"Yes, it's disappointing when you don't bring your 'A' game on the day." said manager Declan Ryan. "But hats off to Kilkenny -- they were the hungrier side.
"We were lucky to be only five points down at half-time. We rejigged it a small bit and I think the guys did themselves justice in the second half."
Unfortunately, however, Tipperarly just couldn't manage to repeat the intensity of last year's final. "We were blown out of it in a number of tackles and that's maybe down to attitude and hunger," admitted Ryan.
"We didn't win enough breaking ball. We didn't win enough preliminary possession. It's down to the physicality Kilkenny bring to the game and you either decide to match that or you don't. We were second best in that regard today."
