TIPPERARY’S CHAMPIONSHIP PREPARATIONS were dealt a blow yesterday as star forward John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dywer suffered a suspected broken finger.
O’Dwyer injured his hand in the first half of Tipp’s Allianz National Hurling League semi-final defeat to Waterford.
He played on until the 45th minute when he signalled to come off, and manager Eamon O’Shea confirmed afterwards that the injury “doesn’t look good.”
“His hand, his finger is broken,” O’Shea said. “It was broken in the first half.
“He’s going for an x-ray. We suspect that it’s broken.”
Tipperary play either Clare or Limerick in the Munster Championship semi-final on 21 June, giving O’Dwyer nine weeks to return to full fitness.
He scored 1-1 in the first half as Tipp raced into an early lead but they were pegged back by a defiant Waterford who set up a league final against Cork in a fortnight’s time.
“We never got a rhythm and we need a rhythm to play,” O’Shea said.
“I thought we did well to get it back to level. I thought we showed good heart.
But one defeat at the end of the league here doesn’t mean we didn’t get a lot from the league, even from today’s game.
“I thought we got a lot from today’s game in terms of what we want to do in the future.
“Look, it was very disappointing. We wanted to win the game, obviously.”
