A lot to do ahead of semi-final rematch - Ralph

By Joe Scully

For Tipperary manager Ray Ralph, it was a feeling of disappointment after his side suffered defeat at the hands of Galway in the final group game of the All-Ireland minor championship on Sunday.

There were no complaints from the Moycarkey native who knew his side were beaten by the better side, and knows there is a lot of work ahead for his side over the next two weeks ahead of semi-final showdown against the same opposition.

“We have no real complaints, Galway were the better side today,” he began.

“They are a very good team, very strong, and their subs made a big difference too when introduced.

“Look, we face them again in two weeks in Mallow, and we have a lot of work to do ahead of that game. They will definitely be the favourites going into the game after today.”

The key moments came either side of the half-time break when Galway scored two goals which changed the momentum of the game and put them in control, and for Ralph the concession of the goals could have been avoided.

“We made a couple of mistakes, and they came right down the centre too easily, and we nee to rectify that over the next two weeks,” he said.

“They caused us problems all game really with their running game, they are a very fast confident team, and we need to now go back to the drawing board and try come up with a plan to curtail it for the next day.”

Despite the defeat, there were several positives for Ralph to take from the game including the gametime given into fringe players.

“I thought in the first half we played some good stuff at times, and the forwards looked sharp when we got the ball into them,” he added.

“We also got seven subs on, and a few new starters got a bit of game time too. It’s important that the whole panel get as much time as possible, and we will now get the head down over the next two weeks put the work in and see where we stand in two weeks’ time.

“I felt we worked really hard today, but at the end of the day we lost by eight points, and now we have two weeks to try turn that deficit around if we are to get into an All-Ireland final, it’s as simple as that really.”