IT WAS AMUSING to watch Liam Sheedy and Eddie Brennan wrestle over where the spotlight shone on League Sunday at the weekend.
In a country where anything more than modesty can be construed as cockiness, it pays to big up the opposition. Tipperary have fallen foul of it before as Michael Babs Keating had a nice big taste of his foot back in 1990; as it turned out, Cork weren’t donkeys but they did win derbies. Much like Offaly’s players weren’t simply sheep in a heap, as Michael Bond went on to lead them to an All-Ireland.
The last thing any teams want to do is make a rod for their own backs. To give an opposing manager some quotes to slap up on the dressing-room wall and hammer the butt of a hurler off while he demands retribution from his players.
The forecast on Sunday was cloudy with a chance of fawning. Michael Lyster first called Sheedy up to the mic after highlights of Kilkenny’s demolition of Galway. ”It’s clear from today that Kilkenny don’t do two in a row in terms of defeats,” exclaimed the 2008-10 Tipperary manager.
“They were on top, in a league of their own today in terms of their overall play, their team play. Everyone working for each other… some of the play was outstanding for this time of the year.”
Lyster wasn’t satisfied. Surely a scoreline of 3-26 to 0-10 was worthy of further mileage. “They’re experts at it (blitzing teams early). This man beside me (Brennan) has done it manys a time too. They really are good at it.”
Though there were only fleeting glances at Brennan during Sheedy’s monologue, there was a sense that his old team-mates were getting too much attention. Sheedy got the last few drops out of it: “In Kilkenny, every player seems to be able to win (their own) ball. They’re definitely a team that look to mean business… surprise, surprise.”
No doubt Sheedy held the upper hand and even though Tipperary hadn’t won against Cork, Brennan put his weight behind the Premier. He was loudly impressed by what he saw. “It was an exhibition of scores today, all bar 1-2 from Tipp today came from play. Shane Bourke, the UCC captain, under pressure scores a great point,” he said as a clip ran of the JK Brackens man scoring.
“In general, there was a super spread of scores from the Tipperary forwards, five of the six forwards scored from play. Very good return.”
A points decision for Sheedy then, albeit Fast Eddie did all he could given the respective teams’ performances that afternoon. The All-Ireland champions might just have to accept being known as the best team in the country for now.
Yet it can be truly hilarious to watch teams poormouth about themselves. Quite a world away from the world of professional boxing where one man proclaims to be the best, while all others are chumps. They’re trying to sell themselves for a pay-day – GAA players are anything but.
In May last year, Kilkenny’s Michael Fennelly gave a scarcely credible interview as he tried to poormouth a team that had won four in a row – based on losing a league final to Dublin when so many star men were absent.
“It’s unbelievable the way it changes. We were runners-up last year and were in the league final this year and were well beaten, now we’re maybe third or fourth best,” Fennelly said.
“It’s amazing how it can go from one to the other in a couple of months. That’s public opinion and it’s probably right but it’s up to ourselves to get back to scratch. It’s going to be a great championship.
“Everyone else is on par, with Tipperary maybe ahead of the rest. Producing that game against Dublin at Croke Park wasn’t nice. We are looking to gain our momentum again in training. Training has been a bit flat. It hasn’t been as good as it should be. That has been down to the players basically.”
Fast-forward four months and you have the Hurler of the Year celebrating yet another All-Ireland title. For anyone who believed talk of a Kilkenny demise, more fool them.
Even the more sensationalist might have some aspect of dis-ingenuity to their commentary at times. Babs Keating is the most extreme example we can think of and he makes Eamon Dunphy seem sedate by comparison. Take, for example, what Babs said in 2010 after his native county Tipperary lost by 10 points in Cork.
“Tipp are to come through, they’re going to meet either Waterford, Galway or Kilkenny along the way,” he said, months before Tipp won the All-Ireland. “I don’t think the players that have failed Tipperary for the last number of years will relish meeting them all and beating them all.
“Take the goal that Lar Corbett missed on Sunday – we missed three of them in last year’s All-Ireland because those guys did not take on board the advice they were given. If (Pat) Fox or (Nicky) English got the opportunity that Lar Corbett got on Sunday, it would have been a definite green flag.”
On reflection and taking into consideration that Babs has since slammed the likes of Corbett, Eoin Kelly and John O’Brien for the 2011 final, maybe his is just a big mouth. Or perhaps, in his own world where collateral damage is an afterthought, he feels he is doing what the likes of Sheedy and Brennan are doing: lower expectations at home. Ramping up the pressure on the rival.
It sure never worked when he insulted the opposition, so maybe Babs figures a hot poker will drive on his own. Stranger things, and all that. As much as we can understand why those steering the spotlight say what they do, don’t believe the tripe.