Without ever reaching the heights of 2008, Kilkenny withstood all Tipperary’s brave efforts and won a great final

WE LIVE to be part of history. Yesterday, we were. This was a great match, a fantastic All-Ireland final and, to be honest, it was what hurling needed.

Four All-Ireland titles in a row!

This was the crowning glory for Brian Cody and his outstanding team and, although Tipperary will look back and believe that this was one that got away on them, you’ve got to give credit to Kilkenny. Nobody gets the job done quite as well as they do.

This Kilkenny team is the best hurling team I’ve ever seen and for this group of players to win four titles in succession is a fitting tribute for what they have brought to the sport.

In sport, you want to see the greatest players make history.

We’ve seen that.

It will go down as one of the best games I’ve seen for a long, long time . . . and, yet, Kilkenny managed to win it without reaching the heights of 2008. It says a lot about a great team that they can get to the vital stage of a match without being at their best and still grind out the result.

This is an All-Ireland final that will live long in the memory, but particularly so in Kilkenny because they’ve achieved their own piece of history by claiming a fourth Liam McCarthy Cup in succession and, the icing on the cake, did so by beating Tipperary, the team they wanted to beat in a final more than any other.

The absolutely key moments in the match all arrived late on. Benny Dunne couldn’t have any arguments about his straight dismissal, it was the wrong thing to do and he got punished for it.

Dunne’s sending-off was critical because the momentum swung back to Kilkenny and Shefflin pointed that free from inside his own half and within 10 minutes they’d scored the two goals that changed the entire game.

Eoin Kelly, who was outstanding, also had a free blocked down around that time and that just typified how the momentum had gone Kilkenny’s way.

But such ruthlessness has been typical of this Kilkenny team in the last number of years and symbolised the attitude that has given them a place as one of hurling’s greatest teams.

The penalty award, I felt, was a dubious call. But, again, you have to give credit to Henry Shefflin. He’d been well out of sorts in the game up to then and things weren’t going his way.

But he still took on the responsibility and produced a fabulous finish for the penalty. Then, within a minute, Martin Comerford – who did a really good job when he came on as a substitute – had scored Kilkenny’s second goal.

In the build-up to that second goal, Michael Kavanagh’s experience was critical. You had Kavanagh’s experience against Corbett’s pace, but Kavanagh kept the ball in play when it looked as if it would go over the sideline and he played the ball in.

Kavanaghs one of those Kilkenny players – along with Shefflin and Eddie Brennan and substitute Noel Hickey – who yesterday collected a seventh All-Ireland medal.

Tipperary put in a massive performance and had the chance to win, and nobody will know that better than themselves.

Indeed, the fact that Kilkenny goalkeeper PJ Ryan – my man of the match – had to make so many top-class saves shows just how many goal chances Tipperary had in the game.

Given what they had put into the first half, when Eoin Kelly was on fire and Lar Corbett had hit three magnificent points, I thought Tipperary deserved more out of it than going in at half-time two points down.

In that first half, Shefflin didn’t look at his best and Eddie Brennan, Richie Hogan and Richie Power had kept Kilkenny in contention for much of the time before they snuck ahead just before the break.

But Tipperary had plenty of chances after half-time. There were times when it seemed as if Kilkenny couldn’t win a puck-out against the magnificent Tipperary half-back line and Tipperary created opportunity after opportunity. Séamus Callanan had a great goal chance and Eoin Kelly – who had a fantastic game – will regret not taking an extra second for his chance.

Against a team like Kilkenny, you simply have to take those chances; and especially so in a final of such intensity.

From the Tipperary perspective, there’s a lot to be taken out of this game. Noel McGrath is only 18 and is likely to play in many more finals up to 2019 whereas a lot of the Kilkenny players will have finished. McGrath and the other Tipp youngsters will learn a lot from coming up against the best.

I also thought the Tipperary defence was outstanding and up front Kelly and Corbett showed the absolute talent they have.

But Tipperary’s downfall were the missed chances and the ongoing problems in the half-forward line.

This was recognised on the sideline as two of them were taken off and one of their replacements was sent-off.

Kilkenny are a great team, and yesterday was a day when goalkeeper Ryan was quite magnificent and Tommy Walsh, with some massive catches, also put in a tremendous individual performance.

Yet, rather than being individuals, Kilkenny are very much a team; and a team that must be considered one of the greatest of any hurling era rightfully received the MacCarthy Cup in traditional style on the footsteps of the Hogan Stand rather than out on the pitch.