There’s only hours to go until the mouth-watering meeting between Tipp and Kilkenny and according to the excellent Brian Cody’s Mind parody account on Twitter, the Cats are primed and ready for battle.
Rarely has there been as much excitement about an All-Ireland semi-final as there is about the latest instalment of the Tipp/Kilkenny rivalry and if anyone doubts their ability to live up to expectations consider the following stat: If you add up the cumulative scores in the last three All-Ireland final meetings between the sides, there is only one point separating them, Kilkenny’s 5-57 to Tipp’s 5-56. Yes, it’s that close.
The games have also produced a ferocious intensity unrivalled by any GAA contests in recent years and woe betide anyone who doesn’t have the appetite for battle at Croke Park today; it won’t be for the faint-hearted.
One man whose desire can never be questioned is Kilkenny’s Tommy Walsh, who is still going strong despite six All-Ireland titles and nine consecutive All-Stars.
In the All-Ireland Final last year he was so wound-up that he accidentally bloodied the nose of referee Brian Gavin and if the always excellent Brian Cody’s Mind parody account on Twitter (we’ll forgive them the typo on feisty, we’re not immune to them ourselves) is to be believed, he’ll be well up for it again this afternoon.
Tommy is expected to mark Tipp’s Bonner Maher today and although we don’t think he’ll go as far as to threaten to eat his liver with some fava beans and some Chianti (ffff-ffff-ffff-ffff), it should be a ferocious contest all the same, a battle that would scare Hannibal Lecter himself.
Throw-in at headquarters is 3.30pm. We can’t wait.
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