Focused Tipp can end Galway hoodoo

GAA: All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

GALWAY v TIPPERARY

TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

Saturday, 21st June

Throw-in @ 6.15pm (E.T.)

Referee: Sean Stack (Dublin)

If Tipperary could have hand picked an opponent to play in this All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter final, Galway would be it.

This might seem a strange statement to make considering Galway have won four of the last five championship meetings between the sides going back to 2015 (throw in the 2017 league final thrashing for good measure).

They should welcome the sight of Galway as it gives them an opportunity for redemption, not only for all those defeats, but particularly the most recent one, the 2023 quarter final.

The final margin between the sides two years ago was just two points but that was incredibly flattering on Tipperary who were very much second best throughout to a Galway side that didn’t play that well themselves but were full value for that win.

Yes, Galway did things in the game to ensure Tipp under-performed, but from an early stage there was a lack of energy and spark to the players wearing the blue and gold jerseys that was frustrating and manager Liam Cahill referenced it in the immediate aftermath.

Some point to the previous weeks preliminary quarter final win over Offaly serving Tipperary no good and there is certain merit in that. However, it wasn’t that Tipperary got into bad habits in that game, it was the fact they took all their frustration out on Offaly, stewing for three weeks after losing to Waterford which cost them a place in the Munster Final. They used up all their edge which they couldn’t dip into the following week.

This year is completely different. Tipperary finished the Munster campaign in good shape, emerging in the top three when they weren’t expected to. From there, the learnings from two years ago were put into place, ensuring they did just enough to win a preliminary quarter final against Laois, to be primed for a quarter final.

They will have to be as Galway will be coming in sore, and that is when they are incredibly dangerous. Their performance for long stages of the Leinster final against Kilkenny was poor, but they showed in the fifteen minutes towards the end when they cut a thirteen point deficit to four, just how potent they can be when they click.

That is the frustration but they have form in bouncing back from Leinster final defeats, winning quarter finals in 2022 and 2023, while earlier in this years championship, they responded to their group stage loss against Kilkenny with a ruthless win over Offaly seven days later.

The other aspect that makes Galway hard to read is whether they will make changes from the Leinster final, not just in personnel but also positionally. Darach Fahy should come back in goals following suspension. Will Padraic Mannion come out to the half back line? Will Gavin Lee stay at centre back or go to midfield? Will they persist with Conor Whelan in the half forward line or push him closer to goal to give them a goal-scoring threat which they lack at the moment?

For Tipperary, things are a lot more settled. The main focus will be whether Eoghan Connolly has recovered sufficiently enough from a leg injury to start at full back. He was held out of the Laois game, but the sense was the Cashel clubman will be good to go and should come straight back into the starting line-up with Seamus Kennedy likely dropping to the bench, with Bryan O’Mara moving back to the wing, or indeed to the corner if Michael Breen is sent after Conor Whelan as he has done in Tipp’s recent games against the tribesmen.

Another key defensive match-up will be who they put on Cathal Mannion, arguably the hurler of the year at the moment. It would appear made for Robert Doyle who has shown in the championship so far, be it Alan Connolly, Tony Kelly, or Dessie Hutchinson, he doesn’t get spooked by marking the oppositions best forward.

With Jake Morris likely to come back into the attack, be it the half or full forward line, the only decision is over who drops out. Joe Caesar got through a lot of work in midfield against Laois and would be the most likely to miss out, and if that is the case, Sam O’Farrell or Alan Tynan can go into the midfield alongside Willie Connors.

In that middle area, Tipperary now have a competition for places which is welcome, but they can also go with the guile and creativity of Willie Connors to the power game of Kennedy, Tynan etc…if that is the way a game is going.

Noel McGrath would likely be best served as an impact sub off the bench, as could Galway’s talisman David Burke who hasn’t set the championship alight yet and that is another wrinkle the Galway management could throw at Tipp.

Tipperary have found the physicality of Galway a problem in recent championship games so playing at a high tempo and working the ball quickly would serve them best. Rhys Shelly’s puckouts in the league clash in January against Galway were a huge asset and so they’ll look to target that again, while Tipp also had the upper hand when they forced Galway to go long with their restarts.

For Tipperary, they should lack motivation, not just to end a three game losing championship run against Galway, but because they didn’t show their true selves when in the same position two years ago. If they do, they will have a great chance of punching their ticket to the All-Ireland semi-finals.