Kilkenny 3-18 Tipperary 2-16: No county have used the league as a springboard to summer success as efficiently as Kilkenny and they return to contest their third final in four seasons against the one team to better them this year - Clare.
Word of the Banner's prolific afternoon down in Wexford caused Brian Cody to nod in admiration after he witnessed a trouble-free eviction of Tipp at the sun-drenched and gorgeous Nowlan Park. The manager thrives on competitive games and the prospect of an early May date with Anthony Daly's high-flying team is about perfect.
"Clare are the form team," he said. "They played us here and wiped us out. And they put a massive, consistent run together over a number of weeks. But we are looking forward to it. Yeah, they are on a real serious run. But sure they put us to the pin of our collar last year in the championship as well."
Apart from the opportunity of regaining the league title, the game will give Cody another 70 minutes in which to finalise his championship 15. Kilkenny dealt with Tipperary comfortably yesterday, but on an afternoon when the Munster team were average, it was possible for a high perfectionist like Cody to note down plenty of cause for concern.
Kilkenny won easily without vaporising their opponents and, but for a missed Tipperary score (the visitors had 14 wides) here and there, Kilkenny might have been forced to sweat a little.
But only Kilkenny could sting serious opposition for 3-18 on a day when half their starting forwards - Richie Power, DJ Carey and Tommy Walsh - failed to land a score. Henry Shefflin was in murderous form for the first 35 minutes, putting Paul Curran and then Hugh Moloney through the rigours as he worked up 1-5 from play. After the break, he moved through Kilkenny's forward rotation in a support role as Eoin Larkin went on the rampage in the same trouble spot as Shefflin had occupied, hitting a precisely divided 2-4 from play over the 70 minutes.
"We put our hands up," admitted Ken Hogan as the Tipperary lads tramped through the tunnel of Nowlan Park. "It wasn't a good display and the lads are disappointed in there. None of the goals were classy goals and we missed a few chances at the other end. There was a lot of pressure down there, but at least they kept plugging away and it didn't turn into a landslide. But the lads put their hands up in there and said there were schoolboy errors in there."
Tipperary's full-back line was under relentless pressure, but the damaging exchanges occurred further out.
Shefflin and company lined out deep and invited Richie Mullally, JJ Delaney and James Ryall to drive low, fast ball. Once the Tipperary line were turned towards their own goal, they were troubled and rushed their clearances and when Larkin struck on 15 minutes, a sense of unease set in.
The height of Shefflin and later Martin Comerford facilitated the occasional long, dropping delivery also and Shefflin's goal on 21 minutes came from a Brian Barry sideline cut.
Tipperary were still well in contention at this time with their half-back line ultra-competitive and Lar Corbett, in his first competitive game of the year, glimmering with life and interest.
Their first-half goals were not as clean as Kilkenny would have wished. Eoin Kelly got a block to a Jackie Tyrell clearance after 16 minutes and a touch from Tadhg Slevin was wonderfully controlled by Francis Devenney, who bore down on the Kilkenny goal at pace and finished well.
Corbett's goal also came from Slevin, who was on hand to drive a cross-field pass after Brian Hogan, Kilkenny's no-nonsense centre half, stretched to tap the ball back into play to prevent a Tipperary sideline cut. Corbett's reaction was lightning and he finished with great style.
His marker Michael Kavanagh did not get to start the second half, a reminder of the slenderness of the margin for error permitted by the Cats as summer approaches. And just to illustrate the point, his replacement Mark Phelan gave an impressive second-half display as Corbett's influence waned.
Thankfully for Tipperary, Eoin Kelly's serial-scoring habits returned to ensure the visitors stayed on the radar. Tipperary have players such as David Kennedy and Colin Morrissey to return before their All-Ireland championship debut in three weeks' time and it would have been interesting to see if Micheál Webster could have had a say in around the Kilkenny square.
The fun for Kilkenny watchers now lies in trying to guess, not so much who might make the summer 15, as who might get left out.
As summer approaches, it looks like a new Kilkenny may emerge - which means, of course, more of the same old Kilkenny.
KILKENNY: J McGarry; M Kavanagh, N Hickey, J Tyrell; R Mullally, B Hogan, JJ Delaney; B Barry (0-1, free), J Ryall (0-3); M Comerford (0-3), E Larkin (2-4), T Walsh; R Power, DJ Carey, H Shefflin (1-6, frees). Subs: M Phelan for M Kavanagh (half-time), K Coogan for R Mullally (58 mins), E McCormack (0-1) for R Power (58 mins), J Fitzpatrick for B Barry (58 mins), J Hoyne for DJ Carey (62 mins).
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; P Curran, P Maher, H Maloney; D Fanning, E Corcoran, D Fitzgerald; T Slevin. B Dunne (0-2, one free); M O'Leary, F Devanney (1-0), J Devane (0-1); E Kelly (0-9, five frees, one sideline cut, one 65), D Egan, L Corbett (1-1). Subs: T Dunne (0-1) for D Egan (41 mins), G O'Grady (0-1) for M O'Leary (yellow card, 44 mins), C O'Mahoney for T Slevin (47 mins), P Kelly (0-1) for J Devane (65 mins).
YELLOW CARD: Tipperary - M O'Leary (44 mins).
Referee: J Sexton (Limerick).
