Hennessy thrilled by another character-laden performance
By Michael Dundon
For the second time in a week, Tipperary’s minor footballers, Lazarus-like, came from the dead to beat Clare in the Munster Championship.
However, this win in the Phase 1 final on Monday, hot on the heels of the round-robin success, delivered a Darrel Darcy Cup triumph and also a home draw next week in the Munster semi-final against Cork.
Four points down going into the last quarter, and then having a man black-carded with eight minutes left, Tipp finished powerfully to force a draw. Rattled by a goal at the start of extra time, they again showed their fighting spirit when getting back on terms by the interval before powering home after the break.
No wonder joint-manager Shane Hennessy, who was both goalkeeper and manager of his club Loughmore/Castleiney’s county senior football title winning side, was on a high at the final whistle.
“Thrilled – why wouldn’t you be after winning a game in extra time and we had to go to the well to do it,” he began.
“There is great character in this team, We always knew that. We were a man down and missed a crucial free, but we kept coming at them like a train, wave after wave. The scores just had to come.”
He added: “We always knew there was great spirit in this squad but we keep getting punished for our mistakes. We had problems with turn-overs around the middle at one period but once we dealt with that, we were fine.
“They got a great goal at the start of extra time, but we kept at them, and we were very effective in attack in extra time and that made the difference. We just got the job done and we are looking forward to next week.
Next up is a Munster semi-final in which Tipp will have a home advantage against Cork who lost 2-18 to 2-8 to Kerry last Monday, despite leading at half time.
“This is where we want to be,” Hennessy added.
“We want to be testing ourselves against the likes of Cork and Kerry to see where we are at.
“We were beaten in the last two Darrel Darcy Cup finals and last year’s defeat by Clare really hurt us. We just got the job done today and we are looking to next week’s semi-final. We will see how it goes and plan ahead for what is to come.”