Carr sees glimpses of what Tipp can be at their best

Relegation playoffs are frequently referenced for their ability to either resurrect the ambitions of a team or hammer a final nail into the coffin.

It was debatable which of Tipperary and Westmeath entered Saturday’s Division 1 survival battle in a worse position – Tipperary, having suffered three heavy defeats and without two of their most established point-scoring forwards; or Westmeath, still scarred by an Intermediate Championship final defeat last December, and hurt even further by three similarly heavy losses in Group 1A of the league.

In reality, the situation was a little more complex for both sides, and while both would have been determined to avoid the demotion to Division 2, Tipperary will not view relegation as the end of the world – they simply can’t afford to. Rather than dwelling on the prospect of playing second-tier football in next year’s league, manager Declan Carr will spend most of the next few weeks contemplating how he can tweak his side’s performance levels in preparation for Championship.

There were undoubtedly positives to Saturday’s display against Westmeath, but as the Carr emphasises, consistency is a major issue for Tipp. Fading out of games, or failing to arrive until after half-time, will cost them dearly against high-quality opposition.

“Well certainly, we can be hugely proud of the way we came back into it,” Carr began.

“We played nervous football in the first-half, and that certainly didn’t replicate what they had been doing in training. We were nervous on the ball and probably put ourselves under pressure. That left us seven or eight points down and we still hadn’t played football, but when we started to play, we really showed what we can do.

“But to be fair to Westmeath they came back at us. After that last water-break, we had the momentum on our side, but they stood up to us, so it was disappointing in the end.”

Tipp have all the attributes to make it at senior championship level, provided they implement a game-plan which centres on fast-paced, counter-attacking football – a strategy which Carr believes is the only way to approach the modern game.

“It’s the only way of breaking down good defences,” he said.

“I use Dublin and Cork as the benchmark, and this is what they do, they set it up in the middle third, and then everything is fast, fast, fast, with the ball.

“Where we’re getting caught is we’re slowing the ball down, because good defences will get bodies back and then your chance is gone. But then when we did transition the ball quickly, the result was that we scored two goals and a few points – we put ourselves in a position to win.”

Tipperary’s Senior Championship campaign gets under way with an away clash against Cork on July 17th, before a home fixture against Meath the following weekend. With two teams emerging from each group to contest the quarter-finals, Tipp will feel relatively optimistic about their prospects, and while few will underestimate their ability to challenge Cork, Meath will also be determined to avenge their 2019 Intermediate Final defeat to Tipp.

As Carr outlines, Tipperary’s objectives are straightforward and simple – play football, play it well, and play it consistently throughout the game.

“We know we’re playing two excellent teams. Our ambitions are to play more of the football that we played during that period at the start of the second-half – for that fifteen minutes. We know we can do it. We just need to unlock that potential for the full sixty minutes,” he said.