Ralph encouraged heading into All-Ireland Series

By Joe Scully

For Tipperary minor manager Ray Ralph there was disappointment but also pride despite their six-point defeat at the hands of a very talented Limerick side in the Munster semi-final on Sunday.

The Moycarky native felt his team gave it their all in difficult and trying conditions.

“Look, it wasn’t but two pucks of the ball in it in the end,” he began.

“It is very hard to play against that kind of negative system, but I thought the girls worked really hard in the first half, it was real energy sapping stuff.

“The second half I felt a few dubious frees went against us, which Limerick converted and it put us on the backfoot, but the girls never stopped and we emptied the bench and the girls went in and gave it everything.”

Overall, Ralph was very happy with the performance of his side and knows there is a lot to work as well as encouraging signs for the rest of the year.

“Look, Limerick were All-Ireland champions two years ago at under-16 level, and when Tipp played them, they suffered a big beating at the time, so we are very happy with the performance, and we feel like we have something to work with moving forward, so yeah overall very happy with our performance out there today,” added the Tipp boss who was critical at the scheduling of the game with three of his players having played in the Munster Senior ‘A’ School’s final for the Ursuline Thurles the day before.

“They were very tired, and it probably wasn’t fair them having to play two days in a row, and is something we need to address, because they are super players,” Ralph said.