Tipperary… 1-17
Offaly… 1-16
Leo O’Connor must absolutely hate being involved in All Ireland Finals at this stage. It was he, Cantona-esque, with collar up, who essayed over Limerick’s final score in the 1994 decider before Offaly manufactured a resurrection to rival anything produced by Our Lord on a Friday long ago.
Yesterday, he was on the receiving end of an even worse crucifixion as the Offaly Minor team he had inspired and guided to All Ireland MHC decider at Nowlan Park had their fingers chisled off the Irish Press Cup in a manner commensurate to having a wisdom tooth pulled with a pliers.
At some stage yesterday, I made the observation that referee Shane Hynes was having a fine game – by keeping out of the way and letting the lads get on with it. Regrettably, however, when the most pivotal decision of the game arrived, the Galway official got it badly wrong.
Now, it could reasonably be argued that the Faithful County could still have done more to avert the danger even after Hynes erroneously awarded the free to Tipp. Surely the obvious thing to was to absolutely blockade around their own goal. Yet, the Premier County’s Paddy McCormack was able to rise unhindered and bat the ball to the Offally net.
It was quite possibly the only mistake those in the tricolour jerseys made all day. For the majority of the contest, the sides went point for point. But, in the crucial period before the break, O’Connor’s charges put clear daylight between themselves and their Munster foes when lively midfielder Lee Kavanagh drilled low past Eoin Horgan.
That left the Leinster side ahead by 1-10 to 0-07 at the turnaround. James Woodlock’s team were definitely more prominent in the second half as Damien Corbett, Adam Daly, Ciaran Foley and McCormack kept the blue and gold stride for stride with those chasing a first title at the grade since 1989.
Mind you, every time it appeared the Munster side were closing in, those backed by Shane Lowry among others edged that bit further away as the mesmerising Screeney, Dan Ravenhill and corner forward Danny Hand kept their hunters at bay.
That said, it is testament to the character and self belief of this Tipperary team that, trailing by a half dozen points with the same amount of time remaining, they saw something coming that the rest of us didn’t.
The very accurate Damien Corbett kept their ambitions alive as did McCormack and wing backs Sam O’Farrell and Jack O’Callaghan, flashing over scores to leave Offaly with the most dangerous lead of all in GAA – two points. For 63 and a half minutes, the Michael Duignan-led revolution in the midlands was on course to have its latest chapter added to it until the most pivotal decision of the entire contest went against them.
Having looked at the clip about eight times, I still cannot discern how the Galway official managed to arrive at the decision he did. From this viewpoint the Offaly player involved in the incident was clearly foot-tripped and it’s actually quite difficult to just what the free the other way was given for.
Again, let it be said, the opposing defence absolutely could set themselves up more sturdily to repel whatever came from the floated in free. Instead, Tipp’s iron man McCormack rose highest and batted the ball to the Offally net and The Irish Press Cup half way to Thurles.
It was an unspeakably cruel fate which befell the vanquished here. One which should never happened, but in do so it again underlined the need for some form of assistive technology in the officiating of games at all county grounds. Too many people put too much into these things for them to be undone by errant officials.
Though moral victories and platitudes will ring hollow in places like Banagher and Coolderry and Clara this week, these young men have pulsed new life into not just Offaly hurling, but the game in general. Over the years, their ability to succeed over adversity has been quite amazing.
So too, of course, has the alacrity of the Premier County in continually producing players of such quality that they can continually compete at the highest level. Ironically, actually, this was one season where Colm Bonnar’s charges weren’t at a standard you’d expect from them.
Hurling is on a plinth of brilliance at the moment, has been for the past decade or so. With the calibre of young player gracing both teams in Nowlan Park on Sunday, there is no sense that will dissipate anytime soon. All the more viewing pleasure for us.
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