Tipp chase 20th All-Ireland Minor title against Offaly

GAA: Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

TIPPERARY v OFFALY

UMPC Nowlan Park, Kilkenny

Sunday 23rd July

Throw-in @ 1.30pm

At a time when Tipperary hurling needed a lift, the minors have provided it and they will hope to top it off by becoming All-Ireland champions on Sunday.

Victory would see Tipperary claim the Irish Press Cup for a twentieth time and join Kilkenny a top of the roll of honour and end a six year wait for their latest success.

However, Offaly will have a lot to say for that and of the bumper crowd expected at UMPC Nowlan Park on Sunday, Tipperary are likely to be seriously outnumbered as much like their under 20 footballers last year, this minor hurling team has captured the hearts and minds of the Offaly supporters.

It would be hard for them not to as they are a very good team that won their first Leinster minor title since 2002 in a county that is craving a return to being competitive again at adult level and their hopes are high that many of this team will backbone that in the coming years.

Well, if Offaly are craving success, Tipperary are glad of the green shoots this team have provided with the senior team struggling so badly this year. Now many of these players could be as many as four years away from playing at senior level but the supporters need some hope that Tipperary slippage from the top echelons of senior hurling won’t be for too long.

In fairness to manager James Woodlock, he hasn’t shied away from the fact that the county needed a lift, and this was the group of players to provide it, and to their credit they have overcome some pressure of their own, particularly coming into the campaign after the disastrous 2021 Munster semi-final exit to Waterford where they were a long way off the Deise.

Nine players who played a part that evening remain, including captain Sam O’Farrell who has led from the front, particularly in the opening round win away to Waterford where when his team were under the cosh early on, made a surge forward which resulted in a goal for Damien Corbett, which literally kickstarted the campaign in earnest.

Winning in Dungarvan at any time is a tough ask so to get a win there, coming from behind in a tight game, suggested this Tipperary team were one of substance, which is most importance as you’d always feel the hurlers are there to compete with anyone.

Of interest also this year was how Tipperary would adapt to the modern style of hurling where you have to use the ball to its fullest. In fairness, they are a team that don’t overdo the hand-passing, but the plan is simple, get the ball to the man in the best position. They play a lovely brand of hurling, mixing up the short with the long.

They like to play a two-man inside full forward line of Tom Delaney and Damien Corbett, who aren’t the biggest but are livewires if they get enough possession with Delaney contributing 2-22, all from play in four games, while Corbett has top-scored with 1-29.

However, it isn’t all on their shoulders which was the difference in the All-Ireland semi-final with Paddy McCormack, Joe Egan, Adam Daly, and Conor Martin all able to contribute, along with Ciaran Foley who is the long-range free taker.

It is a very settled Tipperary team with thirteen players having started in all five games, including the entire defence and midfield which is a huge benefit in terms of consistency and everyone understanding their role.

However, it doesn’t suggest the panel isn’t strong as the impact of the bench in the championship so far has played a part in three of those wins, including Sam Rowan against Waterford (1st game) and Clare (2nd game), Darragh McCarthy, Jamie Ormond, and most recently Senan Butler with the last gasp goal against Galway to seal their passage to the final.

As well as Tipperary have played in all five games to get to the final, that final two minutes of the Galway semi-final were the most telling as after giving up a six-point lead to fall behind in added time, they showed no element of panic and stayed worked their way into the best positions to conjure up the winning scores. That could benefit them against an Offaly team that have been a very good front-running team in all their games so far.

Tipp will need that composure and more in against Offaly, a county who don’t get to many All-Ireland Finals, but they generally always perform on the big day so they are unlikely to get the jitters.

They have also the edge on experience having played in front of bumper crowd in the Leinster Final win over Laois with over sixteen thousand people in Portlaoise that evening, whereas the biggest crowd these Tipp players played in front of, was just under five thousand in the Munster Final at the TUS Gaelic Grounds.

With a crowd of over twenty thousand expected in Kilkenny, it promises to be a special atmosphere for these sixteen and seventeen-year-olds to live the dream of playing in an All-Ireland Final and if Tipp play anywhere close to their best, it will take something special from this talented Offaly team to deny them All-Ireland glory.