Tipp aiming for a Sligo double

It is a busy weekend for Tipperary football as the senior, under 20, and minor footballers enter All-Ireland competitions.

By Shane Brophy

Tailteann Cup Round 1

SLIGO v TIPPERARY

Markievicz Park, Sligo

Sunday, 10th May

Throw-in 12.45pm

Referee: Kieran Eannetta (Tyrone)

A year on from losing to Sligo in the corresponding fixture in the Tailteann Cup last year, Tipperary return to the Yeats County with ambitions of overturning that result in the opening round of this year’s competition on Sunday.

Then, as now, Tipperary head to Sligo as underdogs but do so in a better frame of mind off the back a strong fifty minute performance in the Munster semi-final against Cork before falling away in the closing stages.

However, Tipperary manager Niall Fitzgerald said on reflecting further that the inexperience of the players paid a part in how the final period unfolded.

“We went in down a point at half time but we shouldn’t have been,” he reflected.

“The goal came from a really poor mistake, and we butchered a few chances. While Cork kicked six wides in the first half, they were under pressure whereas we should have tagged on a couple of more scores.

“The first 10-15 minutes of the second half we were very much in the game and left 4-5 scores behind us and that was disappointing.

“If you were told you’d be level after fifty minutes before the game you’d be happy but looking back at it we would be disappointed as we could have been in a better position and Cork would have to chase and open up things a little bit for us.

“Then, we had a really bad turnover and they kicked a two-point free and the next thing they pinned us in on the next two kickouts, suddenly they are four points up and what we were disappointed with was we didn’t stick to our gameplan and lads started chasing the score.

“That comes with experience, instead of sticking to the plan as a four point lead isn’t much in football anymore, you don’t need to go and chase it, stay doing what you are doing, but unfortunately, we did the same against Wicklow when they got a bit of a lead, we started chasing and got punished.

“When you chase it, mistakes start to happen and going up against a division 1 team you are going to be punished.

In league parlance in the Tailteann Cup, it is a division 3 team at home to division 4 side but there is a form-line that gives Tipperary a good chance in Leitrim whom they easily defeated in the league before Wild Rose county upset their near neighbours in the Connacht quarter final last month.

Sligo have undergone considerable change in the twelve months since the 2-15 to 2-10 win over Tipp in Tubbercurry, with just eight of the players who featured in that game, playing a part in the loss to Leitrim, including a new goalkeeper and an entirely new defence, but they still have stalwarts Niall Murphy and Alan McLoughlin to call on as they look to beat the Premier in the competition for the third year in a row having easily accounted for them in Thurles in 2024 also.

The Tipperary manager is hopeful to be able to call on the experienced trio of Steven O’Brien, Luke Boland and Jimmy Feehan to play some part but not start. Manus McFadden is definitely out while a virus has swept through the camp in the last fortnight which hasn’t helped preparations.

All-Ireland Under 20 ‘B’ Football Semi-Final

SLIGO v TIPPERARY

Markievicz Park, Sligo

Sunday, 10th May

Throw-in 2.45pm (E.T.)

Referee: Christopher Ryan (Galway)

On the face of it, Tipperary playing an All-Ireland under 20 football semi-final away from home is a tough ask but has been made a little easier with their senior football counterparts being on the same bill at Markievicz Park on Sunday.

The secondary under 20 All-Ireland Championship involves the seventh best teams in both Ulster and Leinster, with Down meeting Wexford in the other semi-final, while the fourth and fifth best teams in Connacht and Munster are also involved.

“There will be a crowd up there for the seniors and the Friends of Tipperary Football are organising a bus so it would be great to have a Tipperary crowd there for both games,” said Tipperary manager Paddy O’Gorman.

“It will be a massive experience for the players to play in a stadium like Markievicz Park in preparation for next year which is the way we are looking at it with 25 of the panel still underage for next year with ten or eleven lads underage for the next two years.”

While the aim at the start of the campaign was to progress to phase 2 in Munster and get a crack at Cork and Kerry, O’Gorman is happy with how the players have refocused to win the Munster ‘B’ title and using the secondary competition as a development platform for the next couple of years.

“In fairness to the players we were all disappointed when we are knocked out after losing to Waterford but we have reset and the players said, because we are so young, we’ll give this a right rattle,” O’Gorman continued.

“The Saturday morning after losing to Waterford the night before, I put a text into the group and every single one of them replied to say they would be at training. That was massive. They all really care about Tipperary football.

“On the Thursday night before the Limerick game, Liam Freaney (captain) spoke before the group and the speech he gave that night about wearing the Tipp jersey and you only get a certain amount of chances to wear it, it means a lot.”

They face a Sligo side that endured a frustrating a round-robin campaign in Connacht where they lost narrowly to Mayo and Galway, and eventual champions Roscommon, with their only win coming against Leitrim, whom they defeated again in the Philly McGuinness Cup final, 1-15 to 1-11.

All-Ireland Minor Football Tier 3 Round 1

TIPPERARY v LONGFORD

Pairc Shilean, Templemore

Saturday, 9th May

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

The Tipperary minor footballers also return to championship action this Saturday when they host Longford in Templemore in the first round of the All-Ireland Tier 3 Championship.

The Munster Championship was a bitterly disappointing one for Tipp, losing all three of their phase 1 games to Limerick, Waterford and in last gasp fashion to Clare. The last one was almost a month ago and while players were let back to their clubs to play in leagues, how the management will have negotiated that timeframe will be key to getting Tipp in a place where they can use this competition to develop players by getting to the latter stages if possible with the winners progressing to play Laois or Limerick.

In what is a straight knockout competition designed to provide more games for players to develop, they start out against a Longford side who were defeated by Westmeath, Offaly and Dublin in the Leinster Championship.