Power makes no excuses for under-par performance

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary manager David Power wasn’t making any excuses for his sides below-par performance in their Munster semi-final defeat to Limerick on Saturday evening.

“We just didn’t perform in the second half, and that is the most disappointing thing,” he began.

“I don’t know what it was. At half time it was even enough, after coming back well after conceding the goal.

“In the second half we missed a couple of opportunities, dropping a few shots short and we needed them to go over the bar which might have given us the energy.

“But to be fair to our lads while we didn’t have a great day today, they kept trying, and there are days like this where things just don’t work.”

Power was amazed by how poor the first half was with both sides extremely cautious in their approach, with the prize of getting to the Munster Final probably getting to both sides but it was Limerick who adapted better after the break to press on to reach a first provincial decider since 2010.

“Sometimes that happens,” Power reflected over the quality of the game.

“There was a lot on the line in many ways, a Munster Final.”

He added: “Overall our kickout had gone well in recent weeks but that summed up our night when things like that start unravelling that is what happens.”

With Bill Maher and Kevin Fahey ruled out by injury from the win over Waterford, Tipperary lined-up but just five players that started the corresponding Munster semi-final with Limerick in 2020 which led to the counties much heralded provincial success with Sean O’Connell, Mark Russell, Luke Boland, Stephen Quirke, and Dean Carew bringing the number of players who have made their championship debuts in recent weeks to twelve, and that should have long term benefits according to the Tipperary manager.

“I am still happy with where we are going,” Power added.

“This is going to be a massive learning curve for our players. After this evening, twelve players will have made their championship debuts this year which is a huge amount of players.

He added: “Ultimately, we still had fifteen men that wanted to be on the field.

These things happen and one of the things we will have to look at going forward is we are picking up injuries and maybe have a look at the off-season and get things right there.

“There is great things going on behind the scenes, the Setanta link-up is only kicking in so over the next couple of years we have a lot to look forward to.”