Breen lauds supporters for filling in as the extra man

By Shane Brophy

“We just had to go for it, and it took bravery at times,” was how Michael Breen described how Tipperary negotiated the last sixteen minutes of Sunday’s All-Ireland semi-final after going down to fourteen men.

“You're looking for short puck-outs after making a mistake and you just have to get on with it.

“It takes those big moments and big plays, and our subs getting in there as well, they just give energy to the whole thing and as a unit then we just drive forward. That energy lifts the whole thing.”

The Ballina defender also praised the Tipperary supporters for the role they played, not only in the closing stages, but throughout.

“That was a serious Tipp support that we had out there today; you could hear them all the way through. Whether it was a point or a block and when the goals came it was deafening,” he said.

“When it went to fourteen men, you have to be that little bit smarter and that little bit braver because you are down a man, and your distribution of ball has to be better.

“You do raise your level in those scenarios, and we've seen that before, we've seen it this year and last year and when you get to this stage of the championship, it's never going to be an easy day or a handy day when you're up against top-class opposition who like to move and find space and drag you all over the place.

“They can handle the ball really well, it's never easy but you just have to do your best.

Breen, a two-time All-Ireland winner from 2016 and 2019 has seen the good days but also the bad, and the lauded the belief of the playing group, as well as the management to turn things around so quickly.

“The last 24 months, maybe the finish of those seasons it was hard to see immediately where we would go,” Breen admitted.

“But, as we kickstarted each campaign the last two years, we always believed that we could get up to this arena and perform here.

“It wasn't big, massive fixes, it was small tweaks. We had the players there. This man (Cahill) is putting it on the players and saying that we drove it but no more than he did, he had to put this plan in place to get us up here and thank God everyone together, we did it.”