The focus today on Tipperary’s Greatest Sporting Moment pits the 1951 Tipp hurlers ‘3 in a row’ victory up against Aishling Moloney’s wonder goal for the Tipp Ladies footballers against Cork in 2019.
The famous hurling three in a row of 1949 to 1951 was the county’s second three in a row, with Tipp unbeaten in the championship for those three years and claiming a final day victory against Laois in 1949, Kilkenny in the 1950 final and Wexford in the 1951 decider.
A young Borris-Ileigh native broke onto the senior team in 1950 and marked Jim Langton in the 1950 final and then went on to captain the team in 1951.
In the recently published hurling book ‘Tipperary Game of My Life’, Jimmy Finn said it was between himself and Ned Ryan for the captaincy that year: “Sean Kenny got injured which meant Ned Ryan and myself were the only two from Borris-Ileigh on the Tipp team. Neither of us wanted to win the toss but I happened to win, and so I became the captain which was a fierce big thing for me. There was a bit of luck attached to it.”
The other of today’s greatest sporting moment features Aishling Moloney’s overhead flicked goal against Cork in 2019 under lights on Leeside. The Cahir native produced a moment of magic while facing away from the Cork goal late on in the game but managed to steer the ball to the net as the Tipp Ladies footballers looked to overcome their more established opponents.
The dual star told Tipp FM this week she is now back in training for ‘more such moments’ after a difficult winter where she missed the camogie championship showdown against Galway in last years All Ireland semi-final due to a leg injury picked up against Monaghan in the Ladies football championship.
Speaking to Tipp FM about her wonder goal against Cork under lights, Aishling said “Things like that – you don’t mean them, they’re just flukes! It happened to go in, and it gave us a great head start then for the last ten minutes of the game. I just wanted to win the game. You just need to take these chances when you’re playing and if they go in great and if they don’t, go at it again.”
Voting on the last 16 of Tipperary’s Greatest Sporting Moment is now open on the Tipp FM website and is sponsored by your local Credit Union.
