Tipperary supremo Liam Sheedy admitted Richie Hogan's 33rd minute sending-off had a "huge bearing" on today's All-Ireland final outcome.
The Premier county stormed to victory against old rivals Kilkenny with a powerful second half display, subjecting the Cats to a humiliating 14-point defeat at Croke Park.
Controversy raged over referee James Owens' decision to send off veteran Hogan for a foul on Cathal Barrett, when he appeared to catch the corner-back with an elbow on the touchline in front of the Hogan Stand.
"Obviously to play a man down for such a long period, it's always going to be a difficult, difficult assignment," said Sheedy, who returned to the helm this year and guided Tipp to a second All-Ireland triumph on his watch.
"For long periods of that first half we were gasping for air, to be honest with you.
"We needed a goal when we got it, an individual piece of brilliance by Niall (O'Meara) and a great finish because Eoin Murphy is a hard man to pass.
"Obviously at half-time we probably felt we didn’t find our flow in that first half, never got to the pitch of it.
"We spoke about what we wanted to achieve in the second half and the level of performance we wanted to find. That’s such an honest group and they self-correct - honestly, I had to say very little.
"This all comes from inside the white lines, this all comes from this wonderful wonderful group of players – they show maturity way beyond their years.
"They went out and probably the (Seamus Callanan) goal after half-time settled us. Once we got it settled and got a bit of a foothold...whatever about playing a game a man down, when you start chasing it and you go seven or eight down, it’s very difficult to claw it back.
"Look, it (the red card) had a huge bearing on the game, no question. No question".
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