Man of the Match...

I'll go for JJ Delaney

Tommy Walsh would have got it only he hit the ref

always held out saying briano was the best i had witnessed but tommy equalised today , that catch and henry point , absolute magic

Toby who briano, whelehan?

aiden mcgeady

yes biffo

I myself as an offalyman would nearly agree , they are on a par really, whelehan did it in the forwards too i suppose.

Remarkable that Tommy wasnt booked during the game. Behaved like a thug for a lot of the match.

Most neutrals will dislike Kilkenny intensely,tommy walsh makes it that bit easier to do so

Not a fan of Kilkenny over the years but I must confess that they were brilliant yesterday. Murphy had some game in the corner.

Everyone said it was an accident when Tommy Walsh injured the referee but no one asked why Walsh was waving his hurl about.There is no denying his skill and ability but he is the dirtiest player since Liam King.

Doing it for years. The thing is it doesn't gain anything for his team and if he was refereed like most other players, he would have seen the line several more times during his career.

His catching and delivery (apart from his first dead end ball up the line to PM) was brilliant. Tipp should have switched PM onto Sheff early doors imo.

Tommy walsh started at wing forward for kilkenny, didn't he score 5 or 6 points from play in his first All Ireland final at wing forward?

started off *

Best hurler playing the game by a mile btw.

Tommy is the greatest I`ve ever seen.A little tiger on the field and a gentleman off it.

hes good.but brian whelehan was better.no doubt they are the best 2 wing backs ever though..

Whelehan for me any day.

Walsh is everything Whelehan was plus he`s better under the high ball,more combative and more of a rallying figure for his team.

whelehan had no issues..walsh has..even though hes a fantastic player..he has a dark side..

Issues? Try all-stars.....Whelehan won 4.....averaging one for every four years he played at senior inter-county level.....Walsh will win his ninth in nine years this year.

didnt Whelehan win an all-ireland for offaly won year when he was moved up the field towards the end, got 1-4 or something?

unlikely Walsh will ever do that

i couldnt say who the better player is though myself

Walsh is a knacker and a thug on the pitch , they way he turned his hurley sideways to try and hatchet one of the Tipp players was a disgrace, he missed and hit the ref - should have bben a straight red. I am glad he didn't receive motm.

Tommy`s first all-star was 2003 at midfield.He scored 3 points from play in the first half of that years final and was inexplicably replaced at half-time.
2004 corner back.
2005 left half forward.
2006 left half back.
He`s been right half back every year since.
There have been various attempts to curb his influence on games as opposition began to realise his importance to Kilkenny.Opponents would try to rough him up in an attempt to provoke a reaction and get him on an early yellow.
In a semi a few years ago there looked to be an attempt to injure him by two opponents who hit him with frontal shoulder charges as he was committed to catching high balls.
These challenges were either missed or ignored by the ref and RTE`s "tut-tut" brigade of analysts.
These same analysts will time and again examine any indiscretion by Tommy ad nausem from every available angle.
Hurling is true mans game and Tommy plays it like a man. He never feigns injury and never chases a ref in an attempt to get an opponent booked or sent off.Watch the red card incident from the 09 final and you`ll see him for the man he is.

^^
What a load of belony wrtten above [smiley:crazy] , St Tommy my ass !

kkkatt, Dont forget Brian Whelahan should have had a 5th all star in 1994 in what is still one of the greatest injustices ever in the game. Brian was also two time hurler of the year.

Although he played in arguably the greatest ever Offaly hurling team he didnt have the talent around him Tommy Walsh had/has. If Henry Shefflin or DJ Carey had been born in Offaly Brian would have won at least another 2 All Irelands and no doubt countless more All Stars.

Freddie, in the 1998 final Brian was suffering from flu and was moved into full forward in the second half where he scored 1-6.

To be voted onto the Team of the Millennium by his peers when he was still playing says it all. Throw into the mix the 4 All Ireland club titles. Id bet Tommy Walsh would give back every All Star he has for just one of those.

Two great players and as someone said probably the two best wing backs ever to play the game.

Team of the Millenium was not picked by peers, was picked by journos, who seemed intent on picking 1 player in each code, who was going well at the time. Brian Whelehan was the beneficiary of this in hurling and Martin O'Connell in Football.  If similar teams were picked today, I doubt either would feature.

Yes Jolly it was indeed picked by Journalists and past GAA Presidents.

But what do you mean by "who seemed intent on picking 1 player in each code, who was going well at the time"?

If Kilkenny could afford to put Walsh at the edge of the square, he would absolutely clean up imo, I'm always of the oppinion that the best all rond hurler plays in the half back line as it is where the ball is contested the most. Tommy Walsh would clean out ANY full back in the country imo, his striking and touch are terrific, which would be the issues for most converted backs.

claiming - my point is that in any vote of this sort - the present day players tend to get some favouritism. The greatest Irish sports person ever (in 2000) was Sonia O Sullivan.  In 2008, it was Podge. If the vote was taken in 1996 it would have been Michelle DeCheat. Thats the point.  Whelehan and O'Connell benefitted from this narrow thinking in the Teams of the Millenium.  Whelehan might have some merit, but Martin O'Connell would probably now struggle to get into a team of the past 20 years.

OK Jolly fair point but 8 of the 15 on the hurling team were dead when the team was picked.

But i can see what your saying, there might be some that would say Whelahan was picked so that there would be an active player on the team just to give it more exposure. Of course as an Offalyman i would say thats a load of bull and he should have been the first name on the team sheet

as an Offalyman, you could have made a serious case for Matt Connor as well !!!

The great Matt Connor was before my time and all i ever saw of him was on All Ireland Gold on TG4. My mother was on call the Christmas morning of his accident and travelled in the ambulance with him to Dublin. Very very sad how his career ended.

But yeah he should have pished onto the team too!!

Whelehan was ridiculously denied an all-star in 94 when he was named player of the year and I would agree generally with all of claimingseven`s points as expressed above.It was also a disadvantage that there was no backdoor until 97, so for example in 91,92 and 93 when Kilkenny were Leinster champions,he had less opportunity to show his worth.

I`d still take Tommy ahead of him though.

id agree with much of what is being said here.lets enjoy tommys brilliance and remember brians brilliance...99 and 2000 v cork is etched forever in my brain.an elderly cork man said to me after 99 that he never seen anyone remotely as good as him that day..the way he used to look after his own area and sweep across the half back line..and not a bit of dirt ever in him..