Sheedy, in particular, highlighted what he felt was a greater level of intensity in this year’s decider which ended Kilkenny 3-22 Tipperary 1-28.

“It was a fantastic game as a spectacle it had everything,” Sheedy said, adding, “Maybe last year a lot of people would’ve said it was very much high levels of skill but lacked that intensity; it was very, very free-scoring. Today although it was free scoring the intensity of the game was superb all through. For me it was up on a par with anything we’ve seen from these two teams over the past number of years. I thought it was excellent from start to finish.”

The commitment of the Tipperary and Kilkenny players was a facet of the game also identified as adding to the drama by Cusack, his fellow pundit.

“I haven’t seen any better. I think intensity, skill, commitment and the dedication of players to every single tackle – stretching every bit of themselves, probably straining every part of their body and their heart to try to win as much as possible for the glory of the game and the glory of the jersey and the people they were representing. I think it was brilliant, as a GAA person; as a hurling person you couldn’t feel but it was a thing of beauty today,” said the two-time All-Star.

The panel also lauded the performance of Lar Corbett who produced his best hurling in quiet some time and contributed heavily to the Tipperary attack.

“He seemed so relaxed out there – maybe it’s the Eamon O’Shea effect -you see him just happy where he was and he was just able to express himself. He chipped in with a couple of scores but some of his distribution [and] some of his hand-passes were class and I think that all hurling people would be delighted to see Lar being able to do that on the big day,” Cusack said.

Kilkenny legend Eddie Brennan also hailed the Thurles-Sarsfields man, adding that perhaps not being the talisman for the Tipp attack helped the 2010 hurler of the year.

“It probably helped too that he wasn’t the main focus of the Tipperary attack like he was previously; you know, he was the form attacker for Tipp around 2010/11 – he was scoring heavily and we’d have said, ‘If we can hold Lar’, and that did happen in 2011. Whereas today, it was Seamus Callinan; it was

Bubbles; it was Bonner who were the spine of their attack really and I think that frees up a fellow to maybe go along and perform,” explained Brennan.

Sheedy, Corbett’s former coach with Tipperary, praised the mental strength of his former attacking star too given the criticism he has endured this season.