Refreshed Tipp must be ruthless in approach to Laois clash

GAA: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Preliminary Quarter Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

LAOIS v TIPPERARY

MW Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise

Saturday, 14th June

Throw-in @ 1.45pm (E.T.)

Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin)

Structures, damned structures! The hurling championship has never been as good since the round-robin format came in to being in 2018 but it isn’t without fault.

The set fixtures of the group games in Munster and Leinster are great, but from then its into the unknown, not helped by the fact there is a preliminary quarter finals involving the MacDonagh Cup finalists.

This was a key part of ensuring the proposal to restructure the Hurling Championship was passed at Congress in 2017, so as to keep the next tier of counties happy, that they wouldn’t be completely cast aside with the focus primarily being on the tier 1 Liam MacCarthy Cup.

So far, just one MacDonagh Cup team has won a preliminary quarter final, that being Laois back in 2019 when they upset Dublin, before going onto lose a quarter final to Tipperary at Croke Park. Apart from that, they have largely been turkey shoots, apart from honourable performances by Carlow and Offaly in recent years.

In truth, these games shouldn’t still be happening, despite the MacDonagh Cup counties voting to keep the link to the MacCarthy Cup last year. New champions Kildare should be allowed end their successful year as winners and be allowed fully celebrate their success this week rather than having to refocus to take on Dublin.

It is even harder for Laois, who not only lost the MacDonagh Cup final for the second year in a row, they were also well beaten on Sunday, so trying to pick themselves up to face an improving and fresh Tipperary side is a tough asked admitted Premier County manager Liam Cahill.

“It can’t be easy,” he said, speaking to the Guardian this week.

“It is a tough assignment to come out of a national final like that and six days later have to go again.

“That Laois team are a lot better than certain aspects of their play was on Sunday.

“They are a county that won’t like to end their year on that performance, and as players they will come ready to give a really good account of themselves and we have to be ready to meet that.”

For Cahill and his players, they welcome a game to focus the mind after being idle for the last four weeks. Off the back of their final Munster round-robin game against Waterford on May 18th last, the players were given a week off before reconvening to have a mini pre-season, for what they hope will be long second half to their championship campaign in the coming weeks.

“It’s always difficult to try and manage,” Cahill said of the last few weeks.

“Not necessarily the gap in time but to have a fixed date and an opposition to focus the minds but after last weekend we are glad now to know the route that has been outlined for us to go and progress in the championship.”

Finishing in the top three in Munster was an achievement in itself and the extended period without a match has allowed everyone to reset for what comes next.

“There’s a huge appetite within the group to find more and progress more,” Cahill added.

“Our priority from day one when we reconvened for the 2025 campaign was to do well in the league around getting our structure, our personnel, and our game flow going in relation to our hurling.

“From there was about making sure after the league we were equipped to go into the championship proper. We finished top of the table in the league, albeit not winning the league, so that was our first real objective.

“Obviously, to be one of the three to come out of Munster was the key target for us at the start of the year. Secretly, we were disappointed then that if one or two things had gone our way in the championship, we would have easily found ourselves in a Munster Final as quick.

“On the back of that, and the form, and the way we are starting to put things together, there is a huge appetite in the group to go after the next couple of games and the next target for us would be to reach the last four of the championship, without looking too far ahead.”

This will be the second time in three campaigns that Tipperary will have to negotiate the preliminary quarter final route, in 2023 routing Offaly in Tullamore but were poor seven days later in losing a quarter final to Galway, who again await should Tipp emerge from Portlaoise unscathed.

“We have to manage that as well,” Cahill admitted of preparing for what could be two games in a week.

“We ran up a fairly sizeable score two years ago in the same fixture, and then looked to produce it seven days later, and we were just a tad off.

“Week after week is always a struggle to manage and we have to be careful how we manage that over the next seven days to come out with a win, please god, and be in a good place physically and mentally going into a quarter final.”

“There are little tweaks that can be done to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen.”

The Tipperary manager reported a clean bill of health bar a few niggles, with Alan Tynan available once again after recovering from a hamstring injury sustained against Clare while the panel has been boosted by the addition of Paddy McCormack.

There are two ways to look at how Tipp might line out for this game; go strong and get much needed match practise, but it does run the risk of injury, or a team is selected to get the win, which they will be expected to do to ensure the first teamand key players are primed for a quarter final which they were not two years ago.

However, unlike then, they come into this preliminary quarter final with momentum. What the management can do to ensure the players are primed for a game like this is in terms of the players mentality and those twenty players that get to perform do so in a professional and ruthless manner, to take care of business and go into a quarter final in the best shape possible.

Tipperary team v Laois: Rhys Shelly; Robert Doyle, Bryan O'Mara, Michael Breen; Craig Morgan, Ronan Maher, Joe Caesar, Willie Connors, Seamus Kennedy; Alan Tynan, Andrew Ormond, Sam O'Farrell; Darragh McCarthy, John McGrath, Jason Forde.