Philly’s memory to the fore in Clonmel return

By Stephen Barry

Tipperary’s impressive triumph over Leitrim was delivered in tribute to former manager Philly Ryan.

This game marked the Premier’s return to Ryan’s home club of Clonmel Commercials for the first time since his sudden passing in October. A further reminder of Ryan’s legacy was the presence of Leitrim, who were also the opponents for his final game in charge in the Tailteann Cup last June.

“We knew this kind of performance was there,” said Niall Fitzgerald of their thirteen point victory.

“I'll be honest, something we spoke about during the week was coming to Philly's home club. The lads felt we had to bring a performance and there was no one going to out-battle us.”

Steven O’Brien echoed that sentiment, saying: “It was a bit poignant that Philly's last game in charge was against Leitrim. We had Leitrim coming to his home club, so we wanted to respect that. I'm delighted with how everyone responded to it.

“For his family, I hope it does something for them, because it's never going to be easy for them. But we carried Philly's memory in today's victory and performance.”

Niall Fitzgerald was delighted with the nature of Tipp’s first-half display to take a 1-12 to 0-5 lead against the gale.

“If you told me we'd have that lead built up against the wind in the first half, no, I wouldn't have believed you,” he added.

“The lads did really well in difficult conditions and showed a lot of composure. We had a couple of turnovers, but in the grand scheme of things, in these conditions, it wasn't bad at all.

“We worked really hard for each other and didn't give them any oxygen. We made it really difficult for them to get scores on the board and I was really happy with that effort.

“We probably had chances at the start of the second half and we didn't take them. It's hard to criticise that, though. We were nearly slipping, walking up and down the sideline, it was so heavy underfoot.

“What I was happiest with was that we didn't really give them any sniff at all in the second half. They never got the score back to anything significant.”

Fitzgerald’s side will head to fourth-placed Wicklow on Sunday week needing another positive result.

“It's must-win,” he said.

“Longford beat Carlow and it's probably not the result we wanted.

“We can only look after our two games that we have left. We have to go to Aughrim and get a result and then we have Waterford at home. We have to get a result in both those games to give ourselves a chance. We're in the melting pot, which is positive."