– Brought to you by Centra #WeAreHurling
In the space of four minutes, all that Kilkenny and Tipperary worked so hard for had been erased.
TJ Reid was the orchestrator for the Cats as, following on from a similar trend against Limerick, bolted from the traps in the All-Ireland final.
Brian Cody’s men had effectively knocked out the 2018 champion with a blitzkrieg start at Croke Park. With the sun popping out in between atrociously heavy weather, Kilkenny found themselves 0-8 to 0-3 ahead.
Reid was at his magical best in the opening 25 minutes as he pulled the strings in attack, stroked points over the bar and hounded back to help out his midfield and defence.
The Ballyhale Shamrock forward greedily helped himself to 0-8 in the first half and was instrumental to most of Kilkenny’s best forays.
The watching, riveted nation took to social media to hail the 31-year-old maestro:
TJ Reid is like Iniesta, Pirlo Tom Brady and Ronan O'Gara all rolled into one #Maestro #conductor #BOSS
— F_Mania (@flanaruan) August 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/PierceORiordan/status/1163100864661397505
Surely TJ Reid should be considered as one of the greatest sports people ever? #tippvkk #GAA
— John Ryan (@John_Ryan1) August 18, 2019
#AllIrelandHurlingFinal pic.twitter.com/S6C2NAaLmq
— Rob O'Hanrahan (@RobOHanrahan) August 18, 2019
TJ Reid has been everywhere these first 20 minutes 🐐
— Kevin Lynch (@K__Lynch) August 18, 2019
Kilkenny led by five points after 21 minutes yet found themselves dragged back by Tipperary as Jason Forde pointed two frees and Niall O’Meara played a smart one-two before burying a low shot past Eoin Murphy.
Richie Hogan was red-carded heading into half-time, to incense the Kilkenny faithful and increase the scoring burden on TJ Reid & Co. Tipp led 1-9 to 0-11 at the break but lots more is to follow.
