Greater consistency in scoring stakes is needed

By Stephen Barry

After the Sligo-Tipperary highlights package on RTÉ’s The Sunday Game, analysis of the Tailteann Cup quickly strayed away from the games themselves.

Cora Staunton raised the prospect of a third tier for those counties on the bottom rung, citing Leitrim, Waterford, and Longford’s struggles.

Enda McGinley disagreed. He warned against syphoning off those teams into a ‘bottom of the barrel group’ as reinforcing the divide between the Division 3 and 4 sides. There’s plenty of truth in that.

There would be even less discussion and coverage of a third-tier championship. How much airtime does the Christy Ring Cup receive? Can you name any of the teams vying for a place in the final this weekend?

For the second year in a row, Tipp entered the Tailteann among the fourth-seeded teams. Based on their current standing, they would be siloed away into such a lower tier.

Therefore, facing Sligo was a significant marker of where this young side are at in their development. And where they can aspire to reach.

Handily, these two sides met last year to provide a barometer of progress. The best encapsulation of that game was the audible groan from the crowd when five added minutes were announced. That day in Thurles, Tipp were already 3-20 to 0-11 behind as the fourth official’s board was raised.

There was no such whine from the 1,949 fans in Tubbercurry when five added minutes were revealed. Sligo had just pushed five points in front after surviving a real battle.

Compared to the rest of the fourth seeds, Tipp performed best of the lot. Even third seeds Leitrim (25-point losers to Kildare) and Antrim (16 points worse off to Westmeath) suffered heavy defeats to higher-ranked opponents.

The major exception was Carlow. The Barrowsiders pipped Tipp to the final third-seed berth and exploited the kinder draw for a shock victory over Fermanagh.

Sligo have been semi-finalists on both of their Tailteann entries. They should’ve held off eventual champions Down in an extra-time thriller last year. Their superior experience and conditioning always had them pencilled in as likely winners, but Tipp thoroughly tested their defensive solidity.

The Premier County were efficiency personified in the first half as they kicked 2-6 (including one two-pointer) from nine attempts. It wasn’t a sufficient number of shots to get off with the wind at their backs, but the 78% conversion rate compensated.

Tipp’s recurring issue is providing a consistent threat. With the wind, they went scoreless for 23 minutes of the first half until stoppage time. They got off one shot in that spell. In the second half, the pattern repeated across 27 minutes until stoppage time.

Against Clare, they went scoreless for nineteen minutes in the first half and 23 minutes in the second. In victory over Waterford, Tipp didn’t score for the final fourteen minutes.

Playing in bursts, they need those big scores to keep them afloat. Their first score against Waterford was a goal followed by a two-pointer. Against Clare, it was a two-pointer followed by a missed penalty. Against Sligo, it was another fourth-minute goal.

They boot in direct, early supply to unsettle their opponents. On Sunday, Paudie Feehan delivered the speculative floater towards Micheál Freaney. The big Kilsheelan/Kilcash clubman didn’t need to get a touch as the ball flew all the way to the net.

They tried it a couple more times in the second half. Freaney claimed one for an attacking mark and pointed. He couldn’t quite get his next shot away when pouncing on a goalkeeper fumble. Then, in the 64th minute, he pushed the ball onto the crossbar when a goal would’ve levelled the game.

Tipp played six minutes of the second half with a two-man advantage due to a pair of Sligo black cards. Under the new rules, that created an 11 v 9 attacking overload. They played eight further minutes with an 11 v 10 advantage in attack.

Two of those high balls were booted in when playing with a two-man advantage. While they garnered some success, Tipp didn’t work the ball around enough to exploit the extra bodies. Their return of three points during those fourteen minutes of the second half playing with a numerical advantage wasn’t enough.

Apart from the attacking mark, their two other points were gifted by Sligo’s technical infringement on the kick-out for a tap-over free and a giveaway pass coming out of defence.

In effect, Tipp didn’t score against a full complement in the second half. By the time of Seán O’Connor’s closing point, Sligo defender Nathan Mullen was essentially immobile due to injury. They had used up their subs by that point.

While Tipp’s conversion rate was strong in the first half, in the second it dropped to 33%. They scored 0-4 from twelve shots.

Both sides could’ve had more goals, but Tipp’s defenders stood up well under pressure. Manus McFadden and Jack Harney did excellent man-marking jobs. Harney produced two block downs, Luke Boland another, and Jimmy Feehan dived in to foil a goal chance in a matter of minutes. Mark Stokes was very influential on the wing.

The three debutants, McFadden, Jack O’Neill, and Daithí Hogan, were central to Tipp’s best move in the build-up to the penalty.

Steven O’Brien was exceptional early on, but a heavy first-half fall seemed to hamper his influence. Encouragingly, he played on to the finish.

The warning for Tipp is their Tailteann experience last year. Having produced an encouraging first-round display in Antrim, they couldn’t summon a repeat performance six days later and lost to Sligo by sixteen.

Kildare head for Clonmel on Saturday having put up 0-36 on Leitrim. They won’t be easily stopped!