IN ALL FAIRNESS - It all started in Kerry!

Only when the story of Colm Bonnar’s term in charge of Tipperary is compiled in the years to come will we know whether Saturday’s defeat to Kerry was a grounding that the senior hurlers will have built their subsequent success on, or the ignominious start that set the tone of what was to follow.

Strangely enough, the reaction from within the county to the upset defeat has been quite muted, even for an ultra-critical county such as Tipperary. Certainly, it was an inexperienced side that took the field in Tralee, including some players that won’t make the National League panel when it is confirmed in the coming weeks. Still though, I hope it is not a case of apathy among some supporters of Tipperary’s current standing as there is a worrying lack of belief about the current panel at the moment, after the last two championship campaigns.

However, a couple of positive results, and particularly performances can turn that around pretty quickly and certainly Colm Bonnar now has a motivational stick to beat his players with at each and every training session going forward, even among those that were not involved last Saturday as the loss has to be classed as a team failure.

As Bonnar stated afterwards, no team wearing a Tipperary jersey has a divine right to win any game, even against the likes of Kerry, who are an improving side having lost the last two MacDonagh Cup finals, so are on the verge of competing in the Liam MacCarthy Cup in their own right. An understrength Cork suffered the same fate in Tralee in January 2018 but later in the summer were Munster champions and but for a late collapse to Limerick in an All-Ireland semi-final, could have won an All-Ireland. One wonders would the Limerick monster have been created at all if Cork had held on in that game!

Overall, it is good for hurling to see some of these results happen from time to time, even at Tipperary’s expense. Both Clare and Wexford suffered league defeats to Antrim last year, but it didn’t detrimentally impact their championship performances, even if they didn’t ultimately challenge for honours later in the year.

However, the loss to Kerry does mean that the margin for error for Tipperary going into the National League is very small indeed. The first game away to Laois, already a tricky assignment, is now in the must-win category as losses to Kerry and potentially Laois in the first two competitive matches would see the pressure come on straight away on the management.

While Colm Bonnar would have liked to evaluate the players further next weekend by taking on All-Ireland champions Limerick in the Munster League, it maybe is to their benefit that they continue their preparations for the league and championship over the next month or so away from the glare of the supporters and the media. They will play their few challenge games, and without the Munster League, he won’t have to over-burden quite a number of players who also have Fitzgibbon Cup commitments with their colleges in the coming weeks.

Since 2008, we have been largely spoiled as Tipperary GAA supporters with the exploits of our senior hurlers, and the fear is a period in the doldrums might follow. However, Tipperary didn’t win under 20 & 21 All-Ireland’s in 2018 and 2019 for nothing. The talent is there, however, some of those players just haven’t been exposed to senior level hurling and as such have fallen behind players from other counties, particularly Cork. However, it won’t take long for the likes of Craig Morgan, Paddy Cadell, Ger Browne, Mark Kehoe etc… to catch up if they get regular game time, however, provided they earn it on the field in training and in matches.

The concern has been over the last two years why former manager Liam Sheedy didn’t blood enough of these guys in big games, but the question had to be asked, did they show enough to be trusted enough to push some of the more established players onto the subs bench.

Tipperary desperately need three or four of those players to push hard to get into the starting fifteen come the championship. We are now at the stage where the likes of Seamus Callanan and Noel McGrath need to be used in the way Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has used Richie Hogan over the last two years, sparingly but off the bench but with an impact. You can’t tell me that having players of that calibre to come off the bench inside the last twenty-five minutes with fresh legs, or more importantly, fresh minds, from where they could guide Tipperary to victory with their experience.

2022 has the potential to be a hugely exciting campaign for Tipperary hurling if the new management can gel a new team together quickly from where there is a sense of direction, style of play and unity of purpose and who knows come July 17th at Croke Park, memories of a loss to Kerry on cold Saturday in January will be long forgotten.