Championship warm-up
By Shane Brophy
It’s hard not to think that this Sunday’s National League clash between Tipperary and Waterford at Walsh Park won’t have a championship feel to it.
Six weeks out from the Munster Championship opener between the sides at the same venue, everyone involved, both on and off the field, will be acutely aware that this game is so close to the championship that anything gleaned from it will be carried over to the Easter Sunday clash.
It helps that this Sunday’s game is virtually a knockout game in a league context, with the winner likely to progress to the semi-finals, while the losers will be in championship mode from March 20th onwards.
Making a league semi-final doesn’t seem to be high on the list of priorities for Tipperary manager Colm Bonnar who hinted he will be using the game, as well as the last group game with Antrim, to learn more about his 33-man panel.
“Strangely enough we haven’t talked about in terms of what we want to do in the league,” he said following the defeat by Dublin at FBD Semple Stadium last Saturday evening.
“We want to try and bring through a group of players, you can see the different mix of players, between the young and old, and trying to get the balance right and get games into lads.
“We will be going down (to Waterford) with the same attitude. We want the lads to be hugely competitive and we will be going down to win. We are Tipp people and that is what we want to do to get over the finishing line. We want to get over the finishing line, we want to show bravery, a fighting spirit, and we want to do it our way.”
Being up for the battle will be hugely important in the bear-pit that is Walsh Park and in the first clash between the counties since Liam Cahill rejected the offer to manage Tipperary, you can be sure he will feel he has to win to justify his decision to stay with the Deise in the short term, while on the flip side, some Tipp players, especially the younger ones, may well feel that he snubbed them when he was given the chance to manage his native county and will be keen to prove him wrong. It has the potential for some fireworks!