Tipp's character remains strong but play needs to be quicker

By Shane Brophy

Such were Tipperary’s difficulties coming into last Sunday’s Munster Senior Football Championship quarter-final, nothing could be taken for granted.

On league form, Waterford were the second worse team in the country, and considering the new championship darlings, New York, don’t even compete in the competition, they are below them as well.

Tipp might have played a division above the Deise in the league, but the six defeats from seven games had sucked the confidence from the side and left them primed for a shock upset and on the hour that looked to be on the cards.

Waterford manager Ephie Fitzgerald has been around the scene long enough to know what it takes to win games, with both Nemo Rangers and the Cork ladies’ footballers. He’s no fool and set his side up to be hard to beat, knowing full well that Tipperary don’t have the attacking threat they used to. From there, it was all about being patient and taking the game into the final quarter from where the pressure would grow on Tipperary and where they could strike. To that end, it worked perfectly and when Darragh Corcoran burst past Shane O’Connell to goal in the 60th minute, Tipp’s worst fears looked to be coming through and a humiliating loss appeared to be on the cards.

However, whatever can be said of Tipperary’s poor performances and results in 2023 so far, there is no shortage of character and team spirit and that came to the fore after they went a point behind going into the final ten minutes, plus added time.

Their response was impressive, from the restart (all of their own kickouts were won but that was easy when Waterford never contested any of them) Colman Kennedy floated a high ball into the square when Stephen Quirke used his power to claim possession and fire over from an acute angle.

For the first hour, the game was played at a pedestrian pace, but shocked by the goal, it kick-started Tipp into life and they played with a greater urgency they should have early in the game, and in the 62nd minute, Jack Kennedy showed all of his soccer skills perfected in Clonmel to jink his way through the Waterford defence before squaring for Stephen Quirke who side-footed to the net.

From being a point down two minutes earlier, Tipp were back three points in front, and from there, they never looked like relinquishing command for a second time, with Paudie Feehan adding a third goal in added time. That goal came from a superb dispossession by Steven O’Brien, whose return from almost two months out through injury was timely and showed just what Tipperary had been missing in his absence. The Premier do not have the depth in quality to be without the likes of O’Brien, Conor Sweeney, or any of those that have departed the squad for various reasons in recent years.

That O’Brien played the whole game was a relief in itself, placed in the full forward line along with Quirke and Sean O’Connor as Tipp aimed to go route one in possession but they could rarely do that with Waterford deploying fourteen men behind the ball out of possession, with two sweepers in front of the three-pronged Tipp attack.

They had to be patient in how they used the ball, and it paid off with Donough Leahy’s measured floated delivery into the square to where O’Brien was one-on-one with his man and fisted powerfully to the net in the first half, as part of his 1-3 haul from play.

Tipp didn’t help themselves in their attacks by the lack of pace put into them. Too many players sauntered with the ball rather than going at pace to put the Waterford defenders on the back foot. Even doing that, they needed to be working in twos and threes to create openings but there was none of that. There was also too much lateral play which Waterford were comfortable in deal with.

In fairness to manager David Power and his selectors, they are trying everything to generate some momentum into Tipp’s play, including the placing of regular forward Colman Kennedy at centre back. You could see their thinking as he is an excellent passer with his left foot, particularly of the long ball, but was caught of defensively too often with Darragh Corcoran taking him for 1-4. It’s something worth persisting with, but with the support of an out and out centre back going forward and in many of the games that remain, Tipp are likely to be without the ball for long balls and will need an extra defender at the back.

2023 has been a hard campaign for Tipperary with their only two competitive victories so far coming against Waterford in the McGrath Cup and last Sunday. Next up is a trip to the lion’s den and a Munster semi-final in Killarney against All-Ireland champions Kerry.

Tipperary go into the game with no pressure as they aren’t expected to win, and they know that themselves. However, they need to go there and do themselves justice before the Tailteann Cup which will ultimately define their season.