Tipperary have come a long way

IN ALL FAIRNESS

For the first time in a number of years on Sunday, it felt that Tipperary were truly part of the Munster Hurling Championship.

Coming into Thurles in the couple of hours before throw-in, this was what Munster Championship have been about through the generations. On a warm, bright, sunny day, Liberty Square thronged from before midday, then the procession through Parnell Street, and up over the Railway bridge with the Field of Legends that is Semple Stadium coming into view. Supporters mingling in a relaxed atmosphere, maybe too relaxed, as the start of the game ended up being delayed, with late arrivals mentioned as the reason but not all turnstiles being open didn’t help the process either.

In fairness, the stadium was packed out for the Cork game last year, but it didn’t feel like Tipperary were part of it as it was more like a Rebel carnival such was the red everywhere with blue & gold jerseys speckled in. Last Sunday, theTipperary colours were everywhere you turned, outnumbering Waterford fans around 2:1 in the almost 29,000 crowd.

You cannot underestimate the help a vociferous support can be. It is why manager Liam Cahill has mentioned regularly getting the supporters to come in greater numbers. Man of the match Andrew Ormond said the players fed off the energy from the supporters, and there is no doubt that the connection between the team and the supporters has been restored in recent weeks.

A county cannot be successful without a strong support. In the modern era, loyalty to ones county is largely built on success, win and they will come, lose regularly and they’ll fall away. Tipperary are no different in that regard.Liam Cahill is no fool, and neither are the Tipperary supporters, they’ll come when they know there is a team giving everything for the cause and that is what we have been getting since the turn of the year. Most supporters will enjoy winning and playing with great style, but there is no better satisfaction than seeing a team wearing the Tipperary badge, playing with honour and pride.

The Tipperary manager also referenced it in his post-match comments that the jersey was weighing heavy on players in recent years. That can happen when results aren’t going your way and there is no critical supporter than the Tipperary one who will let players and management know that what they are seeing isn’t up to standard.

Cahill is nothing if not blunt in his self-assessment of situations and it was interesting to see him mention the embarrassment of watching the heroics of the minors in winning last years All-Ireland title, and how they could perform in such adversity, and the seniors under his watch could not.

What we saw from Tipperary at senior level last year was so far removed from any Liam Cahill team we had seen through minor, under 20/21 and most of the first year ar senior level in 2023, and even in his stint with Waterford where they won a National League and reached an All-Ireland Final.

The potential was there for a turnaround but not many would have foreseen the level of improvement since the turn of the year. It can’t have been easy to get things going again when the panel gathered together for the first time late last Autumn. Psychologically, as anything else, getting players to believe that they are better than what they were showing.

Then came the slog. There were a lot of things wrong with Tipperary last year, key among them was they weren’t fit enough for the demands of the senior inter-county game. It wasn’t planned to be that way, but the course they took to be ready for the 2024 campaign just didn’t work out, and the manager admitted as such in an interview in this paper earlier in the year.

The stability in having Angelo Walsh going into his second full year as strength & conditioning coach cannot be overlooked. There is still a way to go in that regard for some players, but Tipp are lasting the seventy minutes, and more, outlasting Clare and Waterford in their last two games, the latter despite having just eight days rest compared to Waterford’s fifteen.

When you are physically fit, you are also more mentally fit, from where you can withstand the pressure that comes in any game, and Tipperary have shown that in all their championship games so far, even the Cork game where they played the entirety with fourteen men. It was still a heavy loss, but you never felt they threw in the towel at any stage.

The exciting prospect is what is to come; hurling into June with at least two more games (accepting Tipp will win a preliminary quarter final against the MacDonagh Cup runner-up). Winning an All-Ireland quarter final would make it a successful year, meaning getting back to Croke Park for the first time since 2019. However, a Tipperary team playing with freedom, confidence, and purpose, is a dangerous animal so don’t rule the Premier County out of challenging for ultimate honours just yet.