Tipp are mastering the basics

KILLINAN END

The primary characteristics we looked for from this Tipperary team in the Munster Championship were those old-fashioned ones of heart, determination, and that never -say-die attitude.

There was never much reason to doubt the hurling capacity within the county. However, in this game one of the first challenges you encounter is that of being competitive. If you cannot stand your ground, fight your corner, and win possession, skills and hurling ability become secondary.

The signs in this championship prior to Ennis were good. Limerick is always an acid test, while playing Cork with fourteen players was, to put it mildly, a huge test of character. Ennis was a test of a different colour. On this occasion, not only would all those primal characteristics be tested but this was not a game where honourable defeat was an option. This was simply a must-win game. In that sense it was a significant step up from the previous examinations.

The outcome was an immense validation of what the Cahill administration has been trying to achieve. The intensity, blocking, hooking, and aggression was again there in abundance. Allied to a ruthlessness up-front it created a potent cocktail which caused severe problems for the All-Ireland champions. But what came in the second-half was a virtual root-canal examination of the character of these Tipperary players.

When Shane O’Donnell joined the fray amid much hootering and hollering, all of which was dwarfed by their reaction to his high catch, the Banner County had all the momentum. The great hurling heartland of East Clare was clearing its throat and preparing to roar its champion team home to yet another great victory. With ten minutes to go only the most incorrigibly optimistic Tipp supporter would not have been looking over their shoulder. The response from the team, when honourable defeat to a very good team would not have carried much shame, was bitterly stubborn and extraordinarily resilient. Better still the coaching and ball-skills remained robust when the battle was raging at its fiercest.

A few essential truths are worth considering. Many people have pointed to the absence of players from the Clare defence. This is all well and good except that it ignores the actual source of Clare's defeat. When these counties last played in Ennis the home team, despite losing, scored 3-14 from play. In the All-Ireland Final last year just five points of the Banner’s gigantic total of 3-29 came from dead ball situations. Last Saturday the total from play had receded to just 1-7. Conversely, last year Tipp conceded from play the following: Limerick 2-18, Waterford 2-18, and Cork 4-25. There is huge credit due to the Tipperary defence which stood up to a bombardment in the second-half. Yes, frees were conceded but that is a function of the pressure and touch-tight intensity of it all. This was the foundation stone on which victory was built and much of the post-match reaction more or less ignored this.

That said, the old adage of goals winning games hasn’t gone away. Alan Tynan’s perfect pass loaded the gun for the sniper that is John McGrath for the first goal while great credit is due to Andrew Ormond for his second goal. Inevitably Jake Morris went for the jugular when he got a sniff of goal and Quilligan’s parry came out to Ormond. What happened next was not simple. A lesser man might have taken a step or two and been forced into putting it over the bar. To bury that one in that situation took tidiness and economy of touch.

John McGrath’s absolute sitter was probably too easy, and the blasting shot went over the bar. He did not deserve that to have been the miss that cost the game and indeed he played no little part in rattling a couple of key scores late in the game to avoid this fate. Seán Keneally’s point was vital and gritty too, while Jason Forde, when in the groove, remains a master free-taker. It was a concern when he left the field with regard to frees, but the striking of Eoghan Connolly will have impressed the great Seánie McMahon even if the outcome won’t.

Again, we must reference the setting of fixtures. Tipp face a fourth game in five weeks while Waterford, previously the victims of scheduling, have an extra week. With five counties there is bound to be difficulties in this respect, but it is unclear what benefit there is in splitting the third round of games. It is said that many Kilkenny supporters remained in the hostelries of the city to watch Tipp and Clare rather than heading to Nowlan Park to see their own county play Offaly.

They now face the prospect that the Munster Championship games next weekend are at 2.00pm and 4.00pm, while some genius set the Kilkenny-Dublin match for 3.00pm. If this is a determination to prevent one of the country’s most loyal hurling populations seeing the relative handful of top-quality hurling matches during the year you have to say it is an inspired move.