Unerring Forde helps Tipp squeeze past Kilkenny

Colm Bonnar claimed his first inter-county victory over Brian Cody as Tipperary eked out a one-point win over Kilkenny in their Allianz Hurling League Division 1 clash at Semple Stadium.

Jason Forde struck 10 points and Jake Morris 1-02 as the Premier led for the vast majority of the game, with Padraig Walsh's 0-04 and a Tadhg O’Dwyer goal just after the hour keeping the Cats alive.

Bonnar had failed to beat Kilkenny in his previous meetings as Wexford and Carlow boss, and his side made hard work of this encounter.

These rivals had last met in the 2019 All-Ireland final, with a massive personnel overhaul of both counties since summed up in just 12 of those starting names remaining for this clash.

Kilkenny’s five names will be bolstered once the Ballyhale Shamrocks contingent return, and certainly their absence was felt in the first half as the Cats converted just eight of 23 efforts.

The statistics showed that a quarter of the 44 shooting efforts between the two teams were mishit, as the hosts struggled to implement their new short passing game.

Forde hit three points inside the opening ten minutes, added to by a 100-yard free from goalkeeper Brian Hogan.

John Donnelly raised a white flag and Kilkenny spirits on 13 minutes, as the crowd began to murmour loudly during a low-quality first half.

Jake Morris, the marauding Barry Heffernan, Ger Browne, Michael Breen, Denis Maher and Forde again helped extend Tipp their lead to 0-10 to 0-4.

Undeterred, the Cats hit four in a row to pull themselves back into contention: Tom Phelan, two Donnelly frees, and the dynamic Walsh doing the needful.

Just before half-time, goalkeeper Eoin Murphy miscued with a short puckout which was intercepted by Denis Maher.

The burly full-forward fed Morris,