It’s crucial we stay at senior level - Creedon

By Thomas Conway

TIPPERARY v WATERFORD

Piltown

Saturday 15th July

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

Referee: Paul Burke

Nobody quite knows what happened to Tipperary in their All-Ireland Championship round 2 fixture against Cork a fortnight ago. In case you haven’t heard, Tipp were hosed, beaten by an astonishing scoreline - 8-12 to 2-3. It was a complete annihilation, a capitulation, a full-blown blow-out of the most negative type. And Tipp emerged from it mentally and physically scarred.

Devoid of confidence and desperate for a reprieve, they now face into a crucial relegation play-off semi-final against Waterford - a game which could determine their future trajectory. Lose to the Déise and they’ll be cast into a last chance saloon clash with either Cavan or Laois. That’s a fate Tipp will dearly want to avoid.

Relegation play-offs are dangerous, cagey affairs. This semi-final will likely be characterised by ultra-cautious football, the type one might associate with a stalemate men’s Ulster Championship clash between Tyrone and Fermanagh. It won’t make for easy viewing. The entertainment value will be low. The tension, on the other hand, will be sky high.

But Tipp have the vim and energy to win this. The All-Ireland series might have been a disaster - Tipp were whipped by Galway the week before that humiliation against Cork. But both their league form and their exploits in the Munster Championship created the impression that the side was building nicely.

They lost their three fixtures in Munster including to Waterford, but they exhibited flashes of fast and furious football. There was a sense that the side was going somewhere, that they were readying themselves to take on and challenge the top tier counties. And then it all came crashing down. The performance against Galway was poor, the display against Cork doleful.

Manager Peter Creedon is under no illusions. He’s well aware of the consequences should Tipp fall through the trap-door into the intermediate ranks. He’s well aware of how great a set-back relegation would represent. But he’s also realistic. The Tipp panel is both depleted and jaded. The Cork capitulation was evidence of that.

“We conceded four goals in five minutes against Cork, and that obviously really hurt us,” he reflected.

“To be honest, after that the girls did well to just hang in there and keep playing.

“But look, it will be tough against Waterford. We played them in the Munster Championship, we know what we’re up against.

“We’ve had injuries to four or five of our key players, and I won’t lie, we’re struggling as a result of that. But it is really important that we stay up because playing better teams, senior teams, is the only way you’re going to learn and develop. We’re a senior side, but it’s crucial it stays that way.”

The Tipperary manager believes the ladies’ game has changed dramatically in recent years, and it hasn’t necessarily suited Tipperary. They have a young squad, brimming with youthful potential but lacking physicality and heft. Creedon makes no secret of the fact that they’ve struggled with the physical dimension of the game this year. It has essentially been the reason for their downfall.

“I’m not making excuses, but we are a very young squad, and what’s happening in ladies football this year is that the top five or six teams are very physically strong and powerful,” he said.

“And we’ve struggled when it comes to that physical contact. Overall, the ladies’ game is really coming on in terms of physicality, and we’re only really adjusting to that.”

In reality, that adjustment process requires years of precisely targeted strength and conditioning work. It doesn’t happen overnight. But for Tipp to ensure they remain within the senior ranks; they will have to conjure up a performance against Waterford which far exceeds any display they’ve produced thus far this year.

It won’t be easy, but Creedon believes in his players to an almost dogmatic degree. He believes they can emerge with their senior status still intact. He believes that he has a future as manager, and that this squad have a future as senior competitors.

“Look, the girls have been great. They’ve trained really hard, and they’ve worked really hard, but I feel myself, the three Munster games back-to-back really took it out of us,” he added.

“It sapped us of energy just prior to the start of the Championship, those three games. And I think we’re only really bouncing back from that now. But look, we have two cracks of the whip now - against Waterford and then potentially against Cavan or Laois. So, we’ll give it our all, we really will.”