Thurles Sarsfields 0-27 Kiladangan 1-15
Thurles Sarsfields honoured the memory of Mickey 'The Rattler' Byrne by claiming a 35th Tipperary senior hurling championship crown this afternoon.
Byrne (93) passed away this morning and his beloved Blues put on a show in his honour by inflicting a nine-point defeat on Kiladangan at Semple Stadium.
It's a third successive Dan Breen Cup success for Sars, and the first time they've won three-in-a-row since the 1960s.
The reward for Sars is a Munster quarter-final against the Waterford champions in a fortnight's time, on home soil.
Pa Bourke was the leading scorer for Sars with nine points, including seven frees, as Aidan McCormack and Richie Ruth chipped in with 11 points from play between them.
In front of 6,546 spectators, Sars established a 0-15 to 0-06 interval lead and were in cruise control.
Within the opening ten minutes, they had nine points on the board, Ruth knocking over four of those in a blistering start for the Blues.
It took Kiladangan, appearing in their first Dan Breen decider since 1938, until the 22nd minute to register their opening score from play, Willie Connors on target, but it was token response as Sars kept the scoreboard ticking over.
On a number of occasions, goal opportunities were there to be exploited as Sars broke from deep positions but they were content with points instead.
Former Hurler of the Year Lar Corbett got in on the scoring act with a long-range special in the 21st minute and while Kiladangan did score three of the last five points of the first half, the men from the North were facing an uphill battle ahead of the second half.
They drew the second period but were 12 points behind, 0-09 to 0-21, before Joe Gallagher hammered home a consolation goal in the 46th minute.
Ronan Maher, one of Tipp’s All-Ireland SHC winning heroes, claimed the man of the match award and his magnificent sideline cut in the 43rd minute was arguably the score of the game, from almost 70m out.
THURLES SARSFIELDS: P McCormack; M Cahill, S Lillis (0-01), S Maher (0-01); D Maher, P Maher, R Maher (0-02, 1sl); S Cahill, B McCarthy; T Doyle, A McCormack (0-06), P Bourke (0-09, 7f); C Lanigan (0-02), R Ruth (0-05), L Corbett (0-01).
Subs: R Dwan for D Maher (50), J Maher for Lanigan (52), D Kennedy for Corbett (59), K O’Gorman for Ruth (60+3).
KILADANGAN: B Hogan; J Quigley, H Flannery, F Hayes; D Sweeney, A Flynn, D Moran; J Horan (0-01), M Minehan; J Gallagher (1-01), W Connors (0-03, 1 65), R Gleeson (0-02); T Gallagher (0-01), D Egan (0-06, 5f), P Flynn (0-01).
Subs: J Loughnane for Minehan (24), E Kelly for Horan (45).
REFEREE: J McCormack (Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams)
