As soon as Liam Gordon blew the final whistle yesterday, John McGrath took off towards his brother Noel in front of the Cusack Stand. Noel was already hugging Seamus Kennedy before his younger brother jumped into that giant embrace.
Winning an All-Ireland is always special but it’s even more precious again with a brother on the same team. The McGraths and the Downeys, Robert and Eoin, were the latest siblings to feature together in an All-Ireland hurling final, which has become an extremely common theme on hurling’s biggest day over the last century.
According to the esteemed GAA historian and statistician Leo McGough, the McGraths and Downeys are the 69th set of brothers to play in an All-Ireland hurling final in 100 years.
The greatest number of brothers on one particular team in an All-Ireland final in the last 50 years as in 1987 when more than half of Kilkenny’s starting team was made up of brothers from three families; Kevin, Ger, Sean and Liam Fennelly, Ger and John Henderson, and Harry and Lester Ryan.
The family connection was even stronger again when Pat Henderson, brother of Ger and John, was the Kilkenny manager that afternoon. Ollie and Tony Kilkenny also featured for Galway in the same match.
Although birth rates have dropped and families are no longer as big as they were, there were five sets of brothers on the extended Galway panel that won the 2017 All-Ireland; David and Eanna Burke, Daithà and Ronan Burke, Cathal and Pádraic Mannion, Greg and Gavin Lally, Brian and Paul Flaherty.
That was a modern anomaly but a set of brothers have played on an All-Ireland winning team across ten of the last 12 years; John and Noel McGrath (Tipperary 2016, 2019 and 2025), Dan and Tom Morrissey, Mike and Peter Casey (Limerick 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), Ronan and Padraic Maher (Tipperary 2016 and 2019), Michael and Colin Fennelly (Kilkenny 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015).
In the last 50 All-Ireland hurling finals, only five have not featured brothers; 1990, 1999, 2009, 2010 and 2013. Sunday was just another normal day for siblings on the biggest day, but it was sweeter again for the McGraths with another brother Brian on the panel.
John was outstanding. From 12 plays, he scored 2-2 from play, was fouled for 1-2, while he also had an another assist. It was almost fitting that Tipp’s last score came from Noel, who raised his arms in the air and looked to the heavens as soon as the ball cleared the crossbar.
An incredible day for the McGraths. But another difficult day for the Downeys.
Patrick Horgan’s quest goes on. So does his tenancy in the house that no player wants to occupy, a place Horgan has been resident for years as one of the greatest players never to win an All-Ireland.
Some of the greatest never even got close to playing in an All-Ireland but a handful of legendary figures finally ended their quest late in their careers; John Keane (Waterford 1948), John Connolly (Galway 1980), Damien Martin and Johnny Flaherty (Offaly 1981), Joe Canning (Galway 2017), George O’Connor (Wexford 1996).
Before yesterday’s final, everyone outside of Tipperary expected Horgan to become the joint-second eldest player to win an All-Ireland. The oldest player to win an All-Ireland hurling medal is Jim Ware, the Waterford goalkeeper who captained his county to the 1948 title at the age of 40. The closest to Ware in terms of age-profile as a maiden All-Ireland winner is George O’Connor, who was 37 – the same age as Horgan now – when he won his All-Ireland in 1996.
That 1996 final was O’Connor’s first final appearance, while Damien Martin and Johnny Flaherty were playing in their first final too in 1981 at the ages of 35 and 34 respectively. John Keane was 31 when he won his All-Ireland, ten years after having played in the 1938 decider. Connolly had previously played in the 1975 and 1979 deciders before winning that precious medal a year later at 32. Canning was 29 in 2017, having previously played in the 2012 and 2015 finals.
Horgan though, has now played in four finals without winning that coveted Celtic Cross. The Glen Rovers man is still unable to hand in his notice for tenancy in the house where the greats never want to reside.
By the middle of the second half, as Tipp were gaining in confidence and momentum by the minute, it was clear that Cork were on the rocky road to nowhere, fully and firmly in the middle of the biggest meltdown ever witnessed in an All-Ireland final.
Scoring 0-2 in an entire half would have been inconceivable under any circumstances, but this collapse was all the more spectacular again when compared to past All-Ireland final capitulations in the last 60 years where one team was on a different level to their opponents.
When Waterford were hammered in the 2008 final by Kilkenny, Cork were whipped by Limerick in the 2021 decider, Offaly were blitzed by Kilkenny in 2000, and Antrim were blown away by Tipp in the 1989 final, all of those games were over by half-time. Yet Cork led by six points at the break yesterday.
When the pressure came on though, Tipp soared to another level while Cork just wilted in the furnace of that heat. Of Cork’s 36 possessions in the second half, 29 were turned over, with Tipp scoring 3-8 off that possession. In total, Tipp registered a colossal 3-15 off turnovers. Cork turned over the ball a staggering 49 times, with 33 of those possessions lost in their attack.
After blitzing Dublin, the Cork full-forward line of Patrick Horgan, Alan Connolly and Brian Hayes were restricted to just 18 possessions and just six shots, which amounted to just 0-3. That line did account for another 0-3 from assists while another 0-2 came from breaking balls off Hayes.
After the break though, the Cork starting full-forward line had just five possessions, which amounted to just two shots from play, both of which were missed.
Tipp were outstanding but this was a complete Cork meltdown.
As soon as his booming point went over the bar late on, Rhys Shelly jumped up and punched the air before raising his arms to Hill 16 in jubilation. It was champagne stuff from Tipp by then, but Shelly was also celebrating a unique achievement of becoming the first goalkeeper to score from play in an All-Ireland final.
Only three goalkeepers had scored before on the biggest day but those scores were from placed balls; Galway’s John Commins rifled a 20-metre free to the net in the 1986 final; Brendan Cummins scored a long range free for Tipp in the 2010 final and Anthony Nash in the drawn and replayed finals in 2013.
Shelly’s achievement is even more special considering how hard it is for a goalkeeper to score from play; Waterford’s Stephen O’Keeffe became the first ‘keeper to do so in the 2018 Munster championship against Limerick while Dublin’s Alan Nolan also scored from play in the 2019 round robin against Galway.
Still, after the mould was broken, scoring from play wasn’t common for ‘keepers in the championship. So for Shelly to do so on the biggest stage of all is absolutely monumental