Babs Keating's 30 years of controversy had never prevented him procuring a ticket for hurling's showpiece event - until this year.
The Kilkenny-Galway decider went ahead without Babs in attendance. And the atmosphere was a touch subdued at the end, although some have implied that Babs' absence may not be the only reason for that.
Tipp's one point defeat to Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final caused anguish within the county and Eamon O'Shea called it a day afterwards. Babs gave a characteristically measured response to the setback in an article eight days later.
The article was entitled 'Tipp's trips to plush hotels insults fans'.
He wondered aloud 'what all the extra expert advisors were at during their time at Carton House' considering that 'Tipperary didn’t seem to have a plan in place at Croke Park.'
It all seems like relatively tame stuff compared to his excoriating remarks after Tipp's humiliating semi-final exit in 2012. That was the day Tipp hit upon the ingenious tactic of having Lar Corbett mark Tommy Walsh. In his Irish Sun column, Babs described Corbett's performance as 'despicable' and announced he would not watch Tipperary the following year if Lar held his place in the team.
Other controversies in Babs' long career
- Following the All-Ireland victory of 1989, Babs entered the 1990 season in bullish mood. Ahead of the Munster championship clash with Cork, Babs expressed scepticism about their opponents' credentials, saying that 'donkeys don't win derbies'. Naturally, Cork went on to win the match and later the All-Ireland.
- As manager in Offaly in 1998, he reacted to Offaly's limp Leinster Final defeat to Kilkenny by describing his players as 'sheep running around in a heap'. In Offaly, where player power reigned even before the term arrived into hurling discourse, these comments were received with outrage. Soon enough, Babs was gone. Offaly went on to win the All-Ireland.
- His decision to drop Brendan Cummins in his second spell as Tipp boss has been much criticised. Tipperary were dumped out of the championship by Limerick and reports surfaced that Babs was off to Dubai.
