All Ireland Hurling Semi Final Tipperary 1-18 Waterford 1-20

Tipp's Last Chance, Uploaded by M+MD.

Tipperary played Waterford in the All-Ireland Semi Final last Sunday. Tipperary came into the game as strong favourites. They won the league and the Munster championship and were unbeaten so far in competition this year. The winner gets to play a very strong Kilkenny on the 7th of September. Mags and I went to Croke Park full of expectation - we got good seats down the front of the Hogan Stand. A good place for photos.

Clinton Clears
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Corbetts Point
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High Ball
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Talking to the crowd
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Waterford got off to a flying start and were 6 points to nil up after 8 minutes. But Tipperary held their shape and composure and by half time it was 10 points apiece. In the second half it looks like Tipp were slowly in control and they went 2 points up when Waterford scored a lovely goal. Before we had time to worry Tipp had taken the puck out and fed the sliother to Lar Corbett who scored a wonderful goal less than a minute later.

Eoin Kelly
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Tipp got a little overanxious then and went for goal again when a point would have done. Waterford were more patient and hungrier and fighting for every ball - they were 2 points up as we approached full-time. 3 minutes of added time didn't make any difference and Waterford finished winners for their first All Ireland Final appearance in 45 years. Given that this was their 5th semi-final in 10 years it's probably fair to say that their time had come. Tipp have won an All-Ireland in every decade over the past 100 years - they are running out of time if they want to hold on to that record - it means that they have to win next year! The team is good enough and maybe the Cats would be too strong for them this year anyway.

Kilkenny would beat either of today's performances out of the park. Both teams were solid - but neither Waterford or Tipp were outstanding today - maybe that's just as well - they may have one more great performance in them - that at least would give us a game in September - the danger is that Kilkenny will win their 3 in a row easy - that would never be right!

Eskdale thoughts

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The main idea is to do three walks. This takes the mad rush out of the first or the last day – not sure which one. If we could get Harter Fell under our belt on the first day – that would be a good acclimatisation. It is a straight forward walk, starting at the base of the mountain and up a good path. There is a bit of a pull up at the end – it is 2,100 ft and while we are starting at 100ft  it’s still a climb. The Harter Fell walk was done by the Rathmines team in 2005 – the following is the extract from that diary.

Walk No 6 Monday 19th August, Harter Fell 2,140 ft, from Eskdale

"One of the few walks that Wainwrights says truly deserves the word beautiful. Its also Andy Barclay's favourite fell (Chief Sub-Editor of the Tribune many years ago). We set off late enough, Mags had to endure the twin horrors - the Wrynose and the Hard Knott passes before we reached our parking spot. But we did drive through the moonscape that is the upper Duddon Valley, We parked under some trees beside the "Jubilee Bridge". Our path through the ferns could be seen very clearly. We walked along the side of Harter Fell, moving down the Eskdale valley and climbing slowly. as we rose Bow fell and Crinkle Crags were visible as was Slight Side below Scafell. We finally pass out of the ferns to the open fell. By now we can see the Isle of Man clearly in the distance and even further we can see the County Down coast as a very hazy ridge on the horizon. The path is not so clear and we are at about 1,300 ft. What looks like the top looks very near, we start some steeper climbing leaving the saddle down to the Duddon valley behind. We soon realise that the Crags that looked so like the top were false and we had probably another 300 feet to climb as we reached this. Well it seemed to good to be true. We forged ahead and soon enough hit the top crags. We played a sort of leap frog with a couple and their two very young boys (about 6 years old) all the way to the top, and they were just ahead of us when they made for the triangulation point while we made for the real top which was a crag a little more to the east. (We had read our Wainwright!) The crag was a little scramble - the view was spectacular. The Scafell range was cloud free and clear as was Esk Pike and Bow Fell, plus Coniston Old man and Seathwaite Tarn of "Plague Dogs" fame. We had our lunch and as we ate some cloud drifted in obscuring the view for a while, It also made it a little chilly so we put on our coats/jumpers. But it cleared in 5 minutes and the sunshine was back. It was back the way we came - a pretty easy descent we did the whole walk in just under four and a half hours."

The plan for second day this year is more ambitious – it needs an early start and good time. It is a 2 car operation – that means we drop people off in a double run and then leave one car back at base allowing the drivers to re-join the main group. If the drivers are strong walkers then the first group could get a head start – however the strongest walkers may not be drivers! The plan is to cheat a bit by starting at 1,200 feet. Also once we are up it is mainly just a long walk home. The views all around are spectacular and if the weather is good the route down Eskdale is beautiful.

The third day is about ambition. If we are up for a big scalp – then Scafell is there for the taking. There are a number of different approaches – I am most inclined to take the Slight Side approach as this gives a reasonable opt out objective.