Tipp await route for next phase
Killinan End
Tipperary’s season has just entered its most interesting phase. It will be quite a surprise if the Munster Final is not Limerick against Cork – that requires the Rebel County to beat Waterford in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, which on all known form should happen. Third place will do Tipp very nicely and for a team in the developmental phase is no harm. We may be heading down a familiar route. It is almost forgotten about by now but in 2023 Tipp came third in Munster and met a Joe MacDonagh team (then Offaly) in a preliminary quarter-final before playing Galway in the quarter-final. The same arrangements are entirely possible in the coming weeks though there are many ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ around that.
In the previous few games Tipp showed resilience in the face of potential adversity. Against Cork, with numerical disadvantage and the concession of early goals, Tipp stared down the barrel of an absolute rout. In the circumstances they stuck a finger in the dyke with pure determination, sticking to the principles driven home constantly in many training sessions and made the best of it.
In Ennis, they faced a Clare comeback with all the surge behind the home team late in the game and were able to ride it out and not concede soft momentum-driven scores. By those standards the hill Tipp built for themselves in falling 1-3 to 0-1 behind on Sunday was relatively mild but at the same time it tested the character in another way, as did Waterford’s second-half surge. The response was good and the margin of 1-29 to 0-18 after those early setbacks tells the story of a convincing win. Hitting the 30-point mark in a big Munster game is significant too, as is the emergence of Andrew Ormond as a starter, and Seán Kenneally champing at the bit for a starting berth.
If this is to be the end of the road for Tipp and this Munster campaign, we can certainly regard it as a success. Indeed, reaching a Munster final might only serve to complicate matters for Tipp. As already outlined the road to Croke Park looks manageable and seems a feasible path for a team at the current stage of development of this Tipperary one. The prospect of Waterford beating Cork and catapulting Tipp into a provincial final against the jolly green giants is one to be approached with caution.
Whatever the merits of the performance and outcome in Thurles, or indeed the exploits across the border in Leinster where Kilkenny and Dublin shot eight goals between them, the story of the weekend was that of Limerick and their demolition derby performance against the anointed next-big-thing in the shape of Cork. It was remarkable how ordinary Brian Hayes and other Cork forwards suddenly looked when under intense pressure and not being allowed to run wherever they liked.
On the other hand, any suggestions that staleness was undermining Limerick, that the team was just a little overcooked, a little over the hill, now look as if they were premature to say the least. The Rebel coronation as hurling’s leading team may have to wait another while before it has the imprimatur of Shannonside. Of course, this falls into the trap of judging everything by the very latest result. We may have to wait just three weeks to get the true measure of Cork in a return match with Limerick in the Munster final, should the Rebel County prevail against Waterford in their remaining game.
That would be a fascinating turn of events if only to see how the two teams handle the fact that they met so recently with such a stark outcome. Joe Canning suggested on The Sunday Game that Cork wouldn't be too worried about the match, and he may well be right in the sense that they simply cannot afford to dwell on the outcome with the Déise coming to town while still having live championship prospects. Cork might well be forced to contemplate their mortality very shortly after Waterford though. Can they cope with a Limerick team in full flow? And, perhaps as significant a question in the context of the broader championship might be if their destruction provides a template for other teams to take on a Cork team which suddenly looks more vulnerable? Time will tell on that question, and perhaps the bounce-back next weekend will tell us plenty more.
It won't gladden many hearts in the homes of Cork to consider this, but a Limerick team at full strength with all players available and no injuries to worry about is a different prospect. Right now, such a team has the vibe of a 1959 Sonny Liston when every heavyweight contender avoided eye contact, and their managers chose their opponents more wisely. Early days yet, of course, but the signs are ominous.