Kilkenny 0-12 Tipperary 0-14 h/t
It was a game few were brave enough to definitively call beforehand and their reticence proved justified; after 35 minutes of today’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final Tipperary lead by two points.
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If anything, Tipperary edged it everywhere but the scoreboard for most of the half, and despite Seamus Callanan grabbing the opening score of the game on two minutes, the teams were tied – or Kilkenny led narrowly – for most of the half.
True daylight could have been wedged between the teams on 18 minutes when Kilkenny worked a chance along the endline for Colin Fennelly but Darren Gleeson scuffed it out for a 65 that TJ Reid arrowed over.
The Cats had to work harder for scoring chances but that’s not a strange land for them, and Eoin Larkin notched up two points from nothing, before Cillian Buckley landed a big score from wing-back.
Tipp’s John O’Dwyer, fired up on his return to the starting fifteen, added his third point of the half, a beautiful effort from the left wing almost as good as the sideline cut he scored earlier.
Callanan missed an easy free but other than that was razor sharp, contributing five points.
Seamus Kennedy and Dan McCormack both scored their first ever championship points but just as Tipperary nudged into a lead, Reid, from successive frees, kept it nip and tuck.
Callanan snapped the ball from the skies on 33 minutes to briefly threaten Eoin Murphy’s goal with a shot that rose with speed over the bar.
That gave Tipperary a one-point lead, which Bubbles O’Dwyer doubled with a long range free on 35 minutes. Two points the interval lead – but it’s all to play for in the second half.
