News story / Kilkenny beat Tipperary in the All Ireland Hurling Final / Click here

Sean O'Shea: 2009 All-Ireland hurling final will go down in history as best ever!

A disputed penalty, a man sent off and the best All-Ireland hurling final in decades ended with Kilkenny beating Tipperary 2-22 to -23 points. It means that Kilkenny has now won four All-Irelands in a row, the greatest since a similar Cork run in the 1940s.

They can lay claim to being the best team of all time.

Tipp ran them close however, and were leading by three points midway through the second half when two major incidents turned the game.

In the first, Tipperary substitute Benny Dunne was sent off after a hard pull of his hurley on Kilkenny man of the match Tommy Walsh. In the second, a disputed penalty for Kilkenny was scored by Henry Shefflin to leave them one point  ahead with Tipperary with an extra man entering the vital final minutes.

KIlkenny pulled away in the final moments to fulfill their role as hot favorites, but Tipperary came closer to them than any other team in recent times.

Over 82,000 were at the match, which was also shown live all over the word. Despite warnings about pitch invasions, the Kilkenny fans coud not be contained and spilled onto the pitch after their heroes won the game.

In the minor match, Galway narrowly defeated Kilkenny for a famous victory.