Mullaney pleased with half time response

By Joe Scully

Tipperary under 23 manager Bill Mullaney was happy with his sides win over Kilkenny in their final group game of the All-Ireland Championship, a win that puts them into a semi-final.

However, he was also disappointed with aspects of the performance, notably their first half effort.

“Our first half performance today, wasn’t very strong,” he began.

“So, we made a few changes at the break had a chat and I thought we came out in the second half and hurled a brilliant half, going from two points down, we outscored them seven points to nil at the start of the second period, with Aoife Dwyer contributing an awful lot to that.

“Our second half performance was really good, but the first half was a bit hit and miss.

“The girls at the break had a chat among themselves and knew the performance wasn’t good enough or intense enough or up to the required standard, so they changed it up and adjusted a lot themselves, and you could see the performance in the second half was a lot better.

“But still at the same time, we kept them in the game by conceding soft frees, and any Kilkenny team as you well know, if you give them an opportunity, they are very dangerous.”

Mullaney felt there was some key moments by individual players particularly in the second half that had a big impact on the outcome of the game.

“Aine (Slattery) in goal, she’s a fabulous keeper and has been for years and had a great performance today,” he continued.

“Not only with her two massive saves in the second half, but her puck outs were good, and her organization was excellent.

“Danielle Ryan down the other end came up with some big catches throughout and the one she got with about five minutes left and pointed to keep us four points ahead with the game still in the balance.”

The Newport/Ballinahinch clubman has been delighted with his sides reaction to what was a crushing defeat at the hands of Cork in their second fixture and is now looking forward to an All-Ireland semi-final.

“They are a good bunch of girls, a mixed bunch in terms of experience with a mixture of inexperienced players and then some with a bit more experience,” he pointed.

“We have a lot of girls just out of minor but yeah were delighted with the response to the Cork game, we have two wins in a row now and are on a good bounce.

“Hopefully now we can give a good performance in the semi-final, which is exactly where we wanted to be, delighted with the response the last two games so it’s in our control and we will give it our best shot.”