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Tipperary manager Michael Ryan celebrates with Aidan McCormack at the final whistle. Morgan Treacy/INPHO
End of an era

Tipp win 'might have awoken sleeping giants' says Ryan

Other hurling counties will be encouraged by Kilkenny’s dethroning according to the Premier boss.

ALL-IRELAND WINNING manager Michael Ryan thinks the rest of the hurling world may be inspired by the Premier County’s emphatic win today.

Tipperary put on a second-half scoring exhibition to end Kilkenny’s reign as champions at HQ.

“Look, what can we say about Kilkenny,” Ryan said afterwards on RTÉ. “They’re the ever-present team and usually the winning side as well.

“This is a fantastic day for Tipperary hurling. I think we might have awoken other giants that may have been sleeping though, in that every other county is going to take huge encouragement from what we’ve achieved this year.

“Because we’re all in the pot; every one of us hurling counties are chasing Kilkenny and those are the facts. And for one of us to come through and break that mould for once… don’t get me wrong, that’s not a foregone conclusion that that will ever happen again, such is the quality of Kilkenny. But I think we’re after sending home a lot of teams that I think will set 2017 alight.”

Ryan hailed the efforts of his young team who outworked a Kilkenny side that’s rarely outdone on intensity.

“There’s a lot spoken about intensity,” he said. “It takes a lot of emphasis off of other things. Look it, what’s intensity? Guys just doing their best out there.

“I think both sets of players did exactly that. We got the vital few scores to put the bit of daylight in it but I thought it was a great second half from Tipp’s point of view.”

Kilkenny looked to be on the front foot in the third quarter — a period in which they traditionally up the gears. But Tipp recovered well from a goal to tack on a series of points and reclaim the initiative.

“I was really happy with the immediate response,” said Ryan. “We kept our composure and kept the ball and worked it up the field. The guys were just in great form. I couldn’t tell you what our wide count was in the second half but I’d say it was very small. It felt to me were hitting the sweet spots and they were going over.”

Bubbles O’Dwyer declares Tipp ‘champions of f**king Ireland’ live on RTÉ

Stunning Tipperary display clinches All-Ireland title and ends Kilkenny three-in-a-row dream

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