Tipperary 2-15 Galway 2-13 Though not quite a full reversal of form for both teams, yesterday's impressive win for Tipperary proved revealing on several counts, the primary one being the league obviously still matters to Ken Hogan's men.
After last week's display against Clare it was safe to assume things could only get better and for stretches of the game they outplayed Galway with unexpected ease.
In the process they helped throw the league up for grabs again - even though defeat for Galway is unlikely to inflict any long-term penalties. They started well and contested the win right until the end. Their only real fault was to close up shop for a large chunk of the second half.
What happens in the final-round matches next Sunday will provide a better indication of their true championship mentality - and no doubt neither team would mind the opportunity of developing this further in the league final. Games of this competitive nature clearly aren't doing them any harm.
Take Tipperary's full-back line, one of the main causes of concern last time out and now in the likely championship form of Martin Maher, Philip Maher and Paul Curran. After a difficult first 15 minutes they gradually found their feet, and coped studiously with the best Galway could offer for most of the second half.
Eamonn Corcoran had probably his best league game of the season and with Declan Fanning still holding up well at centre back there's no real problem along that line either.
The midfield pairing of Eddie Enright and Paul Kelly also gelled but it was the performance of John Carroll - who played a real stormer at centre forward and collected two tremendous points - that will perhaps be most pleasing to manager Hogan.
On top of that Eoin Kelly was back being Eoin Kelly in scoring 0-8 and that left Tipperary more than worthy of their two-point victory. Paddy O'Brien's goal on 12 minutes was their first score and came totally against the run of play, but once they settled down Tipperary always appeared the likely winners.
Galway turned around 1-8 to 0-8 in arrears despite playing some of the better hurling of the first half and then entered shutdown mode. Eugene Cloonan's fourth free exactly 19 minutes into the second half was their first score after the break and after that the chance of a comeback was slim. Two goals from Kevin Broderick in the last 10 minutes at least kept that hope alive. Unfortunately for Galway, those two scores were split by an amazing goal from Tipperary substitute Séamus Butler, who somehow got his hurl to a long ball from Paul Kelly before Galway goalkeeper Liam Donoghue had a chance to collect.
In the end, then, Hogan had much reason to be satisfied: "Well it was a hard-earned victory," he admitted, "and at this time of the year you are still trying to find that winning formula. The lads dug in very well, even though we missed a fair few chances to pull away. And we finished well.
"So I was heartened with that display, even though we are still some ways off the mark as regards championship hurling. It was just very important that we responded from last week's show in Ennis, and not get those two defeats on the bounce."
Several of Hogan's players, including Curran, Maher, Eoin Kelly and substitute Tommy Dunne, are still coming back to full fitness and Sunday's meeting with Waterford should prove equally fruitful in their quest to sharpen form. And Butler is bound to get a major start some time soon.
Galway's problems were all at a surface level. They were scoring freely during the first half with Alan Kerins and David Forde popping up regularly to support Cloonan's free-taking and there were fair showings from Fergal Healy and, particularly, Tony Óg Regan at midfield.
Drifting out of the game for so long in the second half - despite playing with the wind - contributed most to their downfall. "It was one of those typical Galway games where we just didn't play well enough for long enough," admitted manager Conor Hayes.
"And the second half really let us down. Tipp should have put us away but we did come back to within two points. I think if we'd played half as well in the first 18 minutes of that half as we did the last 18 minutes we could well have won it. So that's disappointing.
"I think our lads do get frustrated too easily when things go against them. But we're not getting possession from puck-outs either. Neither our half forwards or half backs were getting any clean possession. All in all we are still a bit inconsistent, but my main worry would be going the length of time we did today without scoring."
Galway frequently rejigged the half-forward line to try to improve that level of possession, but neither Mark Kerins nor Damien Hayes in the corner enjoyed one of his better days. One small step then in either direction for both teams.
TIPPERARY: B Cummins; P Curran, P Maher, M Maher; E Corcoran, D Fanning, D Fitzgerald; E Enright (0-2), P Kelly (0-1); T Scroope, J Carroll (0-2), B Dunne (0-2); P O'Brien (1-0), L Corbett, E Kelly (0-8, five frees). Subs: T Dunne for Corbett (half-time); S Butler (1-0) for O'Brien (55 mins); C Morrissey for Enright (68), D Kennedy for Corcoran (75).
GALWAY: L Donoghue; D Joyce, D Cloonan, O Canning; D Hardiman, David Hayes, F Moore; F Healy (0-1), T Óg Regan; M Kerins (0-1), D Forde (0-2), K Broderick (2-1); Damien Hayes, E Cloonan (0-6, five frees), A Kerins (0-2). Subs: D Collins for Hardiman (55 mins); R Gantley for David Hayes (65).
Referee: D Kirwan (Cork)
