We did everything bar win the game - Woodlock

By Shane Brophy

“We did everything bar win the game,” was how Tipperary minor hurling manager James Woodlock reflected on his sides last gasp defeat in the All-Ireland final.

“It's just an awful pity,” he continued.

“So much effort has gone in by the boys, so much work gone in. We got everything right and just, on the day, we couldn't put the ball over the bar or in the back of net.

“Some was poor decision-making and normally you wouldn't associate with the team but they took the wrong options.

“I can’t fault their effort, they never give up, they stayed at it, to be fair, and just got caught at the end.

“I thought maybe when we went three up, we had enough done but look, the final whistle matters once and once only, and Limerick kept going and they probably got their bit of luck as well.

“Eighteen wides overall tells its own story. We were probably all over them for a long period of time and just didn’t get enough up on the scoreboard to push ahead.”

The Drom & Inch clubman admitted the wides eroded their confidence as the game wore on and allowed Limerick to stay in touch.

“You're hoping that it will come right, then at the end we got a couple of scores but to score six points in the second half isn't enough,” he continued.

“Limerick made bad decisions as well, Limerick had an awful lot of wides as well. They stayed in it.

“I just felt, even in the first half, we were by far the better team and just didn't go in (up) enough at half time.

“The penalty before half time was probably a sucker punch, and then they got the goal in the second half.

“It was one of those games when you go at it, you need to be keeping a scoreboard ticking, and we probably didn't do that today and we suffered because of it.”

Goals had been Tipperary’s currency in the championship, with nineteen in their first six games, outgunning their opponents in each game, until Saturday.

“We've always encouraged our teams to be brave, and attack every game and attack every ball,” continued the Tipp manager.

“A couple of decisions, we could reflect on they could have done differently, but we hit the post, we hit the goalie, we hit one of their backs, and just the ball just wouldn't go into the back of the net.

“I felt that if we could get a goal or two or three points, if we got five or six ahead, that we’d push on but we just couldn't get there, and just ran out of time at the end. They got the goal and the sucker punch.”

As welcome as a record 23rd All-Ireland would have been for Tipperary and a third in five years, minor (under 17) is still a development grade and Woodlock feels the hurt will fuel great senior careers for players.

“It'll have to be a key learning day,” Woodlock continued.

“I said it in ‘22 and ‘24, there's players here going to hurl for Tipp as seniors, there's no question about that.

“It's a bitter pill today for them, really disappointing for them. Their attitude is top class, I'd love to have seen them getting over the line because they've been brilliant all year, a really tight group, 28 of them gave played championship hurling, that's development.

“Bringing them down into the lion’s den, making them brave, making them resilient and they have a huge spirit in the group so they did everything bar win the game today.

He added: “You’ll know the players after today that’ll want it and they'll come through in a couple of years.

“There are players that are built for inter-county hurling, and then there are players who just can't live in that environment. It’s a high-end environment when you go on playing and when you're coming in here for any championship game but in an All-Ireland final especially.

“But they'll take those experiences from today and they'll definitely be better because of it. It won't seem like that to them today but in weeks and months ahead they will.

“They're still Munster champions, they played really well throughout the year and gave Tipperary supporters a team to follow when they had nothing else to follow.”

2026 will go down as a positive campaign, winning a Munster title, plus winning six out of seven games played, including beating Limerick twice, but the fact their loss was the last game that they lost is the one that will linger.

“We had played them a couple of times but I always felt that we were the better team, there's no question about that we had the better hurlers but Limerick were a good side and had shown improvement all year. They had a huge belief system themselves and huge honesty around the field as well,” Woodlock added.

“It lent to probably our poorest display all year. It wasn’t a good game of hurling, but at the end of the day, there's a winner, it's Limerick and it's not us.

“We have to go away and lick our wounds and learn from it but there's definitely players in there that are going to push on.

“I'm mighty proud of their efforts all year and what they have done. They have been magnificent all year to myself, my management team, and those in the backroom team have been absolutely excellent, I couldn't ask for any more of them.”