Kevin Egan reports from Glenisk O’Connor Park
THE FUTURE OF the preliminary quarter-finals in the All-Ireland senior hurling championship will surely come into question following this afternoon’s record-breaking win for Tipperary over Offaly in Tullamore.
Their final tally of 59 points, and the combined total of 86 points, both represent new championship records, as Liam Cahill’s side sliced through an Offaly side that looked like a team that never recovered from their heartbreaking defeat to Carlow in the Joe McDonagh Cup final.
While Carlow’s strong showing against Dublin tells a different tale, the gulf between the levels was plainly apparent right from the start here. Thunder and lightning descended on Glenisk O’Connor Park by the end, but at the start there was warm sunshine for the 9,962 supporters, and a strong breeze blowing at the backs of the Munster County.
They didn’t exploit it by looking for scores from distance, but instead working the ball through the lines, while ruthlessly hunting and pouncing on defensive errors from the home side. It was a deadly combination, as they clinically punished every Offaly touch that was less than perfect.
Five points in the opening five minutes set the tone, three of them from the stick of Jason Forde, who was making his first appearance since their draw with Cork in Munster. However once Mark Kehoe snaffled a short puckout and danced in for the game’s first goal, the metaphorical clouds were gathering for Offaly, as well as the physical ones.
Ten minutes had passed by the time Eoghan Cahill whipped over Offaly’s first point, and already Tipp were motoring with 1-7, and talk of records was beginning to gather across the stadium.
Liam Cahill’s men didn’t let up, and their scoring rate of approximately a point a minute continued. Alan Tynan, Jake Morris and Conor Stakelum shot 12 points from play between them in the first half, five each for Morris and Stakelum, while two goals in as many minutes from Jason Forde and Seamus Callanan, both of which penalised Offaly errors, helped push the lead out to 25 points with less than half an hour gone, 3-24 to 0-8.
A strong run from Cillian Kiely saw Dan McCormack pull across the Kilcormac-Killoughey player and led to Johnny Murphy issuing a black card to McCormack for careless use of the hurl denying a clear goalscoring chance, and Eoghan Cahill’s penalty gave the beleaguered home supporters something to shout about.
To Offaly’s credit, they were much more competitive for long stretches of the second half, and goals from Cillian Kiely and Charlie Mitchell kept the margin at the around the 20-point mark for long periods. Tipperary were always in control of the game and some wonderful scores from Bryan O’Mara, Morris and Forde proved that they were still a class apart, but with ten minutes to play, it looked like the game would finish with a similar winning margin to what lay between the teams at the interval.
Late in the game the heavens opened however, and Tipp rained further misery on their hosts in the process too. Two more goals from Kehoe, another from Forde and 1-1 from John McGrath off the bench made for a serious statement of intent from the Munster County, and quickly sent GAA historians diving through the record books to confirm that the final totals did indeed break new ground.
Scorers for Tipperary: Jason Forde 2-11 (0-4f, 0-3 65s), Mark Kehoe 3-3, Jake Morris 0-7, Conor Stakelum 0-6, John McGrath 1-1, Alan Tynan 0-3, Seamus Callanan 1-0, Noel McGrath 0-2, Dan McCormack 0-1, Seamus Kennedy 0-1, Eoghan Connolly 0-1, Bryan O’Mara 0-1, John Campion 0-1.
Scorers for Offaly: Eoghan Cahill 1-7 (1-0 pen, 0-5f), Cillian Kiely 1-3 (1-1f), Charlie Mitchell 1-1, Jason Sampson 0-2, Paddy Clancy 0-1, Brian Duignan 0-1, John Murphy 0-1, Liam Langton 0-1, Paddy Delaney 0-1.
Tipperary
1 Rhys Shelly (Moycarkey Borris)
2 Eoghan Connolly (Cashel King Cormacs), 3 Michael Breen (Ballina), 4 Craig Morgan (Kilruane McDonaghs)
5 Bryan O’Mara (Holycross Ballycahill), 6 Ronan Maher (Thurles Sarsfields), 7 Dan McCormack (Borris-Ileigh)
8 Conor Stakelum (Thurles Sarsfields), 9 Noel McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney)
10 Alan Tynan (Roscrea), 11 Jason Forde (Silvermines), 12 Séamus Kennedy (St. Mary’s)
13 Jake Morris (Nenagh Éire Óg), 14 Séamus Callinan (Drom & Inch), 15 Mark Kehoe (Kilsheelan Kilcash)
Subs:
Offaly
1 Stephen Corcoran (Coolderry)
2 Ben Conneely (St. Rynagh’s), 3 Ciarán Burke (Durrow), 4 David King (Coolderry)
5 Jack Clancy (Belmont), 6 Jason Sampson (Shinrone), 7 Killian Sampson (Shinrone)
8 Eimhin Kelly (Lusmagh), 9 Sam Bourke (Durrow)
10 Brian Duignan (Durrow), 11 Eoghan Cahill (Birr), 12 Adrian Cleary (Shinrone)
13 Cillian Kiely (Kilcormac-Killoughey), 14 Paddy Clancy (Belmont), 15 Charlie Mitchell (Kilcormac-Killoughey)
SUBS:
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
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Written by Kevin Egan and posted on the42.ie
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