Progress is being made but Tipp cannot afford Deise slip up

GAA: Munster Senior Football Championship Quarter Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

WATERFORD v TIPPERARY

Cappoquin Logistics Fraher Field, Dungarvan

Sunday, 12th April

Throw-in @ 2.00pm (E.T.)

Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)

Tipperary will have to be on top of their game to get the better of Waterford in this Sunday’s Munster Senior Football Championship quarter final.

This is the fifth year in a row the sides have been paired together in the opening round but the 2024 loss in Dungarvan, the first to Waterford in the championship in 35 saw Tipp hit rock bottom, still rankles, less than four years after winning the Munster title.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then, including two new managers with Paul Kelly’s term ending after one year before the tragic passing of Philly Ryan last October led to Niall Fitzgerald taking the helm earlier than he would have planned for.

Tipp have beaten Waterford three times since then in both league and championship but the Deise have posed plenty of problems, and the victories for their under 20 and minors over Tipperary across Easter weekend has only reaffirmed the Deise are going in the right direction and will look to complete the set by winning the senior clash on Sunday.

It’s a fact that won’t be lost on the Tipperary players that if there was any sense of complacency ahead of the game, helped by the 4-19 to 0-18 win over their opponents in the final round of the league last month, they know Waterford on their home patch are very much a different animal.

Of the 41 man panel announced prior to the start of the National League, 28 players saw game time in the National League with the focus very much on developing a settled team with nine players featuring in all seven matches with a further seven playing in all bar one of the games.

“A lot of the lads have had a lot of generally consistent performances and that is good. We are reasonably settled,” admitted manager Niall Fitzgerald heading into the championship.

“We have been working on things and there has been definite improvements in certain areas. “We are really targeting our own performance and trying to improve on that.”

Tipperary’s league campaign was much improved on the previous two in division four, three wins, two draws and just two defeats, missing out on promotion by just one point with Fitzgerald relatively pleased with their competitiveness.

“You look at the teams that were promoted and contested the division 4 league final, we drew with Longford in Longford and in that game conceded a bit of a freak goal and had the last kick to win the game. We lost to Carlow by three points but missed a penalty and kicked twelve wides to their four.

“We had one poor performance and that was against Wicklow but we feel we are more than competitive with anyone on our day.”

The stats bear that out with Tipperary having the second best defensive record in the league, despite it being felt that the Premier were a bit too open at times but Fitzgerald feels that is part of getting used to the new rules which he feels “were designed to make it harder to defend.”

One area Tipp can feel they can improve on it in attack, coming in as the sixth best of the eight teams in division 4, with too much of the scoring load being on the likes of Sean O’Connor, Cian Smith and Daithi Hogan, although the addition of Paddy Creedon to the panel towards the end of the league should spread that load a bit more.

“Tipperary were the sixth most improved team of the 32 in the National League in terms of all metrics. There is clear progress there,” Niall Fitzgerald revealed.

“I wouldn’t read much into the last league game. Waterford had nothing to play for so they will have been targeting the first round of the championship against us and in their eyes will see it as an opportunity so our job is to go down there and get the win.”