LIAM CAHILL, MUCH like John Kiely, was adamant. Tipperary’s League semi-final defeat wasn’t predetermined, planned, or the product of heavy training.
Listening to the Premier manager post-match, his team trained like a dream during the week and the last thing he saw coming was a scoreless first dozen minutes and an eight-point head start for Clare.
He can’t afford any such surprises when the Munster Championship throws in next month.
Kiely last week predicted that 75% of games will be decided by one score or less. Last year, including the final, it was 64% as Limerick and Tipp squeaked out ahead of Cork.
Limerick’s four-in-a-row credentials and Clare’s unbeaten League record minus Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell places them firmly front of the queue to edge those fine margins. They were the top two the past two years and have only lost one group-stage game in that sequence.
How to split the rest is a far murkier business.
Waterford, we’ll leave for another day. They haven’t shown the form but have beaten Tipp in the Championship and almost pipped Cork in the League. They will come with something different next month but rank as outsiders on their recent record.
Of the other two, Tipp edged through last year with one win and two draws. Had Cork scored one more white flag in any of their games against Tipp, Clare, or Limerick, they would’ve taken that place. They didn’t but the margins are that tight.
If it comes down to what either side has learned since then, who has developed more?
Cork are maddeningly inconsistent as ever. They gave Clare and Kilkenny six- and nine-point head starts in defeat and almost coughed up a 10-point lead against the Déise.
Against Offaly and Wexford, they found a shiny new hat-trick-firing cannon in Alan Connolly, still as good as advertised after a prolonged spell on the sidelines. Were Robbie O’Flynn to be fit, there’s buckets of power and pace there to add to the precision of Patrick Horgan and co.
And should he win his race to start, there are few finer at unleashing that skillset than Mark Coleman given his distribution and determination in bending the Kilkenny game to his will in a second-half fightback.
Whatever about knowing your best 15, better to have fellas grabbing the jersey than winning it in a coin toss. In that trio, Cork have some game-changers.
Defensively, Ciarán Joyce continues to be the man to build a team around and there are enough other pieces there to construct into a coherent unit. Their midfield was a work in progress all spring but Darragh Fitzgibbon’s comeback couldn’t be more timely.
While Cork started the League on a bum note and ended on a high, Tipp started on a high and ended on a bum note.
For all their attacking jewels, Tipperary have sometimes lacked a variety of threats outside their main men.
Clare had 10 scorers to Tipp’s three by half-time on Sunday. Morris (1-2) was the only player to register more than once from play all day. Jason Forde was the only other starting attacker to score but had eight wides. Gearóid O’Connor didn’t get a shot off outside of two missed frees.
Morris will likely finish as the League’s top scorer from play but has looked frustrated at times. His late red card was a symptom of that exasperation.
In defence, Tipp sent Michael Breen out to man-mark David Fitzgerald but he took the Ballina man on a tour of Portlaoise.
In the space left behind, Clare exploited that right wing for 1-8 of their opening 11 scores. From a short puck-out, Adam Hogan ran untouched from his own 21 almost to the opposition 45 for his point. Moments later, Fitzgerald’s goal saw him sprint straight towards the posts, unchallenged again, after winning a puck-out on that flank.
When it became close, frees for pick-ups, throw balls, and loose flicks on players running down cul de sacs frittered away their chance.
Dan McCormack and Willie Connors battled well but it was a day when those not present went up in public estimations.
Alan Tynan did come on but he’s needed back to his destructive 2023 form. Also necessary are Cathal Barrett’s nous in defence, Mark Kehoe fit and consistently firing, and finding the best roles for Noel and John McGrath, whether starting or coming on.
Liam Cahill spoke about players failing to find the answers when the stakes increased. Those experienced heads have been all-in before. They know the odds.
He did back those younger players too and there’s no suggestion to throw the babies out with the bathwater but they need to learn quickly.
It’s hard to give Cork too much credit for not making a League semi-final over Tipp who made the cut and received the harsh lesson but momentum is a valuable commodity.
Right now, Cork will be the happier. In a month’s time? Too early to tell.