McGrath lost for words

September 07, 2010

Tipperary's Noel McGrath
Tipp teenage sensation Noel McGrath says winning his first All-Ireland medal hasn't sunk in yet.

"It's hard to know. It's an unreal feeling. I don't think it'll sink in for the next few days. It's hard to put into words," said McGrath, who will now turn his attention to Saturday's Bord Gais All-Ireland U21 hurling final against Galway.

The attacking ace said he didn't think Tipp had Kilkenny beaten until Lar Corbett completed his hat-trick of goals in the dying moments.

"Last year we thought we had it won with 10 minutes left, maybe, so we decided we'd play it out to the end this year. On Sunday we did that. Lar (Corbett)'s third goal came on 68, 69 minutes, so we knew we had to finish strongly and thankfully we did."

He continued: "We expected the intensity to be unreal. It was, Kilkenny are a good team, but our lads brought a good intensity as well. It was as tough as we expected."

McGrath insisted that Tipp hadn't been distracted by Henry Shefflin's injury in the build-up to the final.

"We concentrated on our performance. We couldn't determine what was happening in Kilkenny or what they were going to bring to the game. We could only influence what we could bring to the game. Thankfully it worked out."

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