IN ALL FAIRNESS - Setting the Mood

No team determines the mood of Tipperary quite like the senior hurlers, and at the moment, it’s as gloomy as the sky as I pen this piece on Tuesday morning.

Between 2009 & 2019 we were largely spoiled arguably by Tipperary’s second greatest team in history, only behind the 1960’s team who won four All-Ireland’s in five years. With the three All-Ireland’s won in 2010, 16 & 19, it felt like a par score for the hurling they produced in that time, arguably denied more having come up against a Kilkenny team still at the peak of their powers under Brian Cody.

We also had a golden generation of players, largely from the 2006 & 2007 All-Ireland minor winning teams which yielded the likes of Brendan, Padraic & Patrick Maher, Noel McGrath, and Seamus Callanan, players that will go down in folklore. Add in the likes of the mercurial John O’Dwyer and the classy John McGrath to name but two more, we were largely entertained.

However, this group also had its low points, the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final and the 2017 National League Final come to mind where not only were they soundly beaten by Kilkenny and Galway respectively, but humiliated.

Blood letting after a Tipperary defeat is nearly a past-time, as the senior hurlers are only as good as their last performance, and for the the team at the moment, that is almost twelve months ago when they drew with Limerick in the Munster Championship in Thurles. Since then, it has largely been downhill with the same lethargy being present in many of the big games since, through Waterford and Galway in the championship, Clare in the league, and once again last Sunday.

We can understand this Tipperary team is in transition but what is hard to accept is the level of performance from a group of players that are much better than they are showing. The doom and gloom merchants among the support will feel Tipperary are heading into another famine period like the late 70’s & early 80’s, and that scar is one that will always remain, and is why it made the 1987 rebirth in Killarney so cherished. However, we never want to feel that low again, but if you want to relive that period, a new book has been published last week entitled: “The life and times of a Tipperary hurling supporter, from 1974 to 1986” written by Tommy Treacy.

But back to the present and while the senior hurlers might take a lot of the limelight, whether positive or negative, there is still a lot to be encouraged about in this county. The fortunes of the senior hurlers last Sunday took the shine off what had been another good weekend with the senior ladies footballers winning in Munster while the minor team continued the feelgood factor within camogie by winning the All-Ireland title.

And in the positive performances of our underage hurling and football teams and the strong performances of our schools, we are doing a lot right that the fortunes of our senior hurling and football teams won’t be too slow in turning around, similar to the senior camogie team and their recent league success.

The one frustrating aspect from last weekend was the poor coordination of fixtures at inter-county level particularly in hurling where on Sunday you had Cork v Clare on at the same time as Galway v Kilkenny. Considering hurling needs every bit of coverage it can get, particularly in the early stages when it is at its peak, fixture clashes need to be avoided.

Going forward, instead of being in competition with each other, the Munster and Leinster Councils need to sit down and, in coordination with RTE, not have their hurling games cut across each other.

In reality, it is only on three weekends where this is an issue, rounds 1, 2 & 4 all have five games where as round 3 in both provinces sees games split over two weeks with Waterford v Tipperary and Wexford v Galway on this Saturday with the remaining three games the following weekend. The final round of games are always simultaneous throw-ins for fairness, so fixture clashes are unavoidable, although in Munster where there is always one idle team on the final day, this year being Cork’s turn, games starting at the time is not a must.

There is a simple solution for next year and that is three time slots of 3, 5 & 7pm on Saturday’s and 2 & 4pm on Sundays with one hurling match in each of those slots, so there will be no game cutting across each other plus when it comes to live coverage, be it on television or GAAGO, and it would allow fans who like the live sporting experience to attend a game on each day if they wish to.