Welcome to the second bumper weekend of the 2011 GAA championship and the first hurling installment of the diary!
Joining us on the couch today, a packet of Cadbury's mini chocolate chip cookies and a large box of Turkish Delight which is a present from a recently returned holidaymaker. I am eyeing the Turkish Delight suspiciously, it smells like flowers.
Our analysts for today's game are Cyril Farrell (CF) and Tomás Mulcahy (TM), although the term 'analyst' can only be applied in the loosest of senses to Tomás, a spoofer and raiméis artist of the highest order.
Mulcahy communicates with Michael Lyster through a variety of nods, winks, grins and combinations of 'right', 'ya know' and 'as well I spose'. Maybe RTE hired him as a counterbalance to the machine gun delivery of Cyril Farrell, who if left to his own devices, could analyse a half of hurling before the teams were back in the dressing room.
Cyril starts his analysis with a warning for Waterford: 'They will need a few scores to stay in the game.'
TM says something long-winded and incomprehensible.
Our commentary team for this one is Ger Canning (GC) and Michael Duignan (MD), the young pretender to CF's words-per-minute crown.
Davey Fitzgerald has elected to deploy championship debutant Jerome Maher to mark goal machine and hurler of the year Lar Corbett. Big managers make big decisions...
Eoin McGrath is also given the nod, leading me to wonder if the story about Eoin Kelly, Davey's cornflakes and the expulsion of liquid waste has any truth to it.
2 min Great catch by Shane McGrath, his second of the game. He is fouled, and as Eoin Kelly runs out to take the free, there is a strange incident as Tony Browne tries to prevent Kelly from giving McGrath a pat on the back by grabbing McGrath and pushing him away. I put it down to the onset of dementia, as Kelly converts the free.
3 min Goal for Tipp! Padraig Maher delivers a long, high, angled ball into space where you would expect the Waterford full back to be. Lar Corbett , as has become almost customary, is on to it in a flash, takes it in his stride and finishes to the net. Even Michael Walsh's flying hurley couldn't prevent that one.
Tipp 1-02
Waterford 0-00
Eoin McGrath is dropping deep in what appears to be one of Davey Fitz's 'tactics', but Maher is holding his position and picking up plenty of loose ball.
10 mins Lovely catch and point by the perpetually moving Corbett. His striking at speed on the run is amazing.
Tipp 1-05
Wat 0-03
11 mins GC: 'Patrick Bonner Maher, the man they call Bonner.'
17 mins Eoin Kelly flexes his thighs and drives a free over the bar. Clinton Hennessy, as all hurling goalkeepers do, roars 'Wide ball' at the umpire, but this man will not be coerced and raises the white flag. I wonder if this tactic ever works, or whether it's a symptom of the mild psychosis required to be a hurling goalkeeper.
19 mins A trademark Kelly score from play, twisting and hitting over his left shoulder.
GC: 'Tipperary's forward play can be quite bewildering at times'
Well, it seems to be making sense at the moment as they open up a seven point lead -
Tipp 1-09
Wat 0-05
Waterford's only score from play has come from 85 year old wing back Tony Browne.
25 mins Lovely blind handpass by Bonner Maher to John O'Brien who taps over to extend the lead.
31 mins Goal for Tipp! Noel McGrath makes a fine catch and dishes off to Bonner Maher, who finds Eoin Kelly on the run with a handpass. Kelly finishes low to Hennessy's right.
Bonner Maher has that rare attribute among hurling forwards: unselfishness. Plenty players would have tapped that ball over the bar and ignored the run of Kelly. He really is the playmaker of this gifted forward line.
33 mins Goal for Waterford! Just joking, another one for Lar Corbett. He reacts quickest to the breaking ball and finishes well. 2-3 from play now for Corbett.
35 mins Another goal for Tipp! Seamus Callanan is put clear by a handpass by Bonner Maher and Hennessy has no chance.
Callanan has been very quiet up to now it must be said.
Tipp 4-10
Wat 0-07
36 mins Yet another goal for Corbett, the Waterford full back line is absolutely hopeless and this game is well and truly over.
Half time score Tipp 5-10
Wat 0-07
Whew! Where do you start with Tipp? Shane McGrath, Padraig Maher, Lar Corbett, Eoin Kelly and Bonner Maher have all been outstanding. Only two points have come from dead balls, and Noel McGrath and Seamus Callanan have yet to really get into the game.
TM thinks that the difference between the teams is the style of play, 'Tipp are playing simple hurling and letting the ball do the work, whereas Waterford are doing too much solo running.'
In fairness Tomás, there is also a slight gulf in class evident between the two teams. Tipperary are hugely economical in their use of possession, passing up longe-range hit-and-hope shots in favour of feeding their lethal inside forwards. This requires a lot of discipline and team ethic.
As the second half is about to begin, we are told that Waterford have brought on three substitutes, all defenders. Maybe with 18 men on the field they can break even in the second half.
GC: 'In the Munster Final of 1959, Waterford hammered Tipperary, so this is revenge.'
(Tony Browne joke is too obvious)
38 mins Bonner Maher sets up yet another Tipp score. Could we be in a situation where the Man of the Match in a game like this is a forward with no score to his name?
It's certainly a possibility. Maher's attitude is to be commended and unselfishness of this kind is contagious.
Contrast him with a player like John Mullane, who while admittedly a scoring machine, will exhaust every other possibility before laying the ball off to a teammate.
Shane McGrath's use of possession today has been almost perfect. Another Tipp score.
Tipp 5-14
Wat 0-09
47 mins GC: 'Davey Fitzgerald can be happier with his team's second half display.'
I'd say he's over the moon Ger.
49 mins Seamus Callanan is replaced by Pa Burke. He had a quiet game by his standards.
I was right to be suspicious of the Turkish Delight. I assume this is what people ate before real sweets were invented. Awful stuff.
52 mins Tipp have stopped playing but Waterford still can't score. Michael Duignan is blunt in his assessment of a long-range wide by Stephen Molumphy: 'Stupid shot'.
54 mins Goal for Tipp! Eoin Kelly gets his second, collecting a long delivery from Gearoid Ryan.
Paraic Mahony, in fairness to him, has been excellent from placed balls for Waterford. He scores again and the deficit is down to six goals. Even the insanely cautious Canning is now hinting that it might be too late for Waterford.
57 mins Lovely piece of skill from Noel McGrath as he cuts a sideline straight over the bar.
64 mins Brendan Cummins is substituted to a standing ovation - today he has equalled Christy Ring's record for championship appearances with number 65. This is a dream statistic for Canning (it contains his two favourite elements of a juicy stat - a record being broken, and an opportunity to tell us how many championship games a player has played) and he milks it for all it's worth.
66 mins Another goal by Corbett! He has now scored 4-4 from play. Amazing performance.
72 mins GC: 'This hasn't been pleasant viewing for people who love hurling'.
MD: 'You would expect a bit of fouling at least from Waterford'.
Full time
Tipp 7-19
Wat 0-19
This was an awesome display by Tipperary. Their pysicality matched with teamwork, unselfishness and lethal finishing will make them very difficult to stop. The only slight worry they might have is over the number of scorable frees conceded, Padraig Maher being the notable culprit. They simply steamrolled Waterford, and this was a hiding on par with the one dished out to them by Kilkenny in the 2008 All-Ireland final.
Waterford will find it very tough to regroup against a resurgent Galway team in two weeks time.
We'll let Tomás have the last word on this one:
'Lar Corbett has more in the armour that just hitting the ball on the run...the crucial thing today for Tipp was to win the Munster Final'.
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