a record crowd of 69,459 turned up to croke park to see the first post-war all-ireland decider on 2 september 1945. after four years of one-sided finals which yielded a record-breaking four successive all-ireland triumphs for cork, kilkenny and tipperary provided one of the best games in years. tipp faced a strong sun in the opening half and conceded two early points without reply. a goal by eddie gleeson after fifteen minutes gave tipp the lead and by half-time they had stretched their advantage to 4-3 to 0-3. kilkenny fought back after the interval and goals by tom walton, jack mulcahy and seánie o'brien reduced tipp's advantage to four points with ten minutes remaining. a tony brennan goal settled the game and gave tipp the impetus once again as they finished the game as champions with a 5-6 to 3-6 victory.