All Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 2024 (Munster And Leinster Championships,Liam McCarthy Cup)

Had a look back at the game today and it must rank in the upper echelons of All Ireland finals. Tony Kelly's 1-4 from play was a masterclass in scoring all different types of points and goals. The difficulty level in 1-2 of this was at the very highest level that few if any could accomplish. He said it himself after the game it's the best he will ever do in any GAA game. Not a bad time to produce hurling from the Gods.

On the other side poor Aaron Shanagher had a game he'll want to forget on a personal level. He came on on 65 minutes with fresh legs and players wilting left, right and centre plenty of time and space to do a bit of damage. He certainly did that; but all to Clare!

He sent an easy chance wide on 66 mins. One min later penalised for fouling Eoin Downey. 71 mins goes on aimless run and dispossessed by Rob Downey. 75 mins he fouls Tim O Mahony with wild swipe of the hurley allowing Cork launch another attack. Barely 30 seconds later he fouls Tommy O Connel allowing Horgan to send over the equaliser. Full time whistle blown soon after.

In extra time he didn't feel the weight of the ball, no tackles, hooks or blocks in the first half.

The second half his first involvement was a poor wide in the 9th minute. His final contribution was to be easily dispossesed in the 12th minute where Cork then won a free that was sent over by Horgan.

So in 35 minutes in total Shanagher had seven plays and every one of them detrimental to Clare winning. Not one positive contribution. It started bad with that very poor wide and snowballed from there. I didn't see him walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Cup but the way the day went i wouldn't be surprised if he dropped it and a handle broke off.

A very lucky boy indeed.

Interesting point.

Sean Boylan was in his fifth year when Meath won in 1987. Indeed they had been hammered by Laois in the Leinster semi-final in 1985. Meath would have played just two championship games that year.

Lest I state the obvious, Meath went on to win 4 All Irelands and make 7 finals between then and 2001. In his last year in charge, 2005, Meath lost to Dublin by 2 points. Fair to say the gap has widened.

No apologies necessary, but a little unusual since your young fella was actually alive when Tipp last won an All Ireland in emphatic style. Unlike Cork - 19 years, Kilkenny 9 years, Waterford - 65 years, Wexford - 28 years, Dublin - 86 years, and Clare 11 years - up until the end of the game.

I sorry, but ya have to defend your own ya know?!

Brilliant summary

In relation to retirements for Clare. Will SOD call it a day?

A replay benefits no one only the gaa, having 80 thousand plus fans from the furthest corners of Ireland trek all the way back to Dublin because of "fairness " is absolute nonsense.

There was the puck of a ball between teams and to say it should have been a draw for "fairness" is childish to say the least. The better team won after one of the greatest games of hurling ive seen in a long time. Cork should move on and concentrate on next year when the time comes and stop the whinging about a pull of a jersey

They had no need to pull either of them down, just defend properly.

While Kelly goal was a bit of magic as well as dire defending (watch both Downeys for this goal), Rogers goal was simply very poor defending.

On the contentious penalty decision....it was definitely not a penalty, as the black card rule explicitly states that the fouled player has to be in possession of the ball for there to be a possibility of a penalty. Possession being defined as having the ball in hand or on the stick.... in this case the ball was on the ground running away from Robbie O Flynn.

I can see why the ref didn't give it...

Cork player not in possession of slitor at any point during this play

Would he have got it before keeper or defender is not sure

Ref probably didn't see the contact and could not Judge if it was deliberate or accidentally

So in the end took the safe option, free for accidental contact and no card.

But if I was supporting the attacking team I too would be looking for a card ...

I think that Cork are going to be the next dominant force in hurling

I've seen this said a lot but I'm not sure what's it's based on.

One of the issues moving forward is that the highest points scorer yesterday for Cork is 36 and will be 37 by next year's all Ireland.

While he is a dead ball specialist now, there has been no effort to blood a replacement free taker for the later stages of the Championship.

Cork have as much to do as anyone to become a dominant force moving forward, starting with getting out of Munster next year