The 2013 season was Eamon O'Shea's first year as manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team.
On 25 September 2012, he succeeded Declan Ryan as manager.[1][2]
A panel of 26 players was announced in December 2012 to prepare for the Allianz Hurling League.[3]
In February Shane McGrath was appointed as captain for the 2013 season.[4][5][6]
In phase 2 of the All-Ireland qualifiers on 6 July 2013, Tipperary were eliminated from championship after a 1-14 to 0-20 defeat to Kilkenny at Nowlan Park.[12][13][14][15]
On 17 October, goalkeeper Brendan Cummins announced his retirement from the Tipperary hurling team after 20 years and 73 championship appearances.[16]
Tipperary reached the semi final stage of the hurling league and defeated Dublin by 4-20 to 0-17 at Semple Stadium on 21 April.[21]
As a contest the match was effectively over within the first 10 minutes with Tipperary leading by eight points, 2-3 to 0-1 with an early goal from Shane Bourke and a further goal from Patrick Maher. Séamus Callanan scored a third goal from a penalty to leave the half time score at 3-11 to 0-8. A fourth goal came in the last minute of the game from substitute Michael Heffernan after a mistake from the Dublin goalkeeper.
[22][23][24]
Tipperary were defeated by Kilkenny in the final by 2-17 to 0-20 on 5 May in Nowlan Park.[25][26][27]Michael Fennelly scored two goals and three points in the first half as Kilkenny led by 2-07 to 0-11. In the second half Lar Corbett and JJ Delaney were sent off in the 46th minute after they wrestled each other on the ground near the Kilkenny goal.
[28][29]
P Horgan (0-13, 10f), D Kearney (0-3), S Moylan (0-2), C Joyce (0-1), L O'Farrell (0-1), L McLoughlin (0-1), C McCarthy (0-1), W Egan (0-1), P O'Sullivan (0-1), C Lehane (0-1), M Walsh (0-1).
E Kelly (0-9, 7f, 1'65), L Corbett (1-1), J O'Dwyer (1-0), P Bourke (0-2, 1f), P Maher (0-1), B Maher (0-1), N McGrath (0-1), S Bourke (0-1), S Callanan (0-1).
J O'Dwyer (1-06), S Callanan (0-07, 4fs, 265s), S Bourke (1-02), L Corbett (1-01), B Maher (1-00), J Woodlock (0-03), C O'Mahony (0-01), J Forde (0-01), S McGrath (0-01).
S Callanan (1-07, 1-0 pen, 0-2f, 1 65), S Bourke (1-01), J Forde (0-04, 1 sl), M Heffernan (1-00), Patrick Maher (1-00), P Bourke (0-03), N McGrath (0-03), S McGrath (0-01), L Corbett (0-01).
The game was shown live on TV3. A crowd of 23,307 attended the game in Nowlan Park in Kilkenny on a sunny Saturday evening.[30]
The sides were level at half-time on a 1-06 to 0-09 with Lar Corbett getting the goal for Tipperary after 14 minutes when he finished with a shot to corner of the net when the ball broke to him from ten yards out. Corbett was forced off with a hamstring injury after 28 minutes. Henry Shefflin came on as a substitute for Kilkenny with five minutes remaining as they ran out winners by three points. The game was Brendan Cummins's last match for Tipperary.[31]