TIPPERARY ATTACKER LAR Corbett has defended the tactics that they employed in yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final with their bizarre attacking philosophy of getting the Thurles Sarsfields player to trail Tommy Walsh during their clash with Kilkenny, having created much debate.
Tipperary crashed to a massive 18-point defeat against Brian Cody’s side with the Premier county’s strategy of getting Corbett and Pa Bourke to follow Walsh and fellow Kilkenny defender Jackie Tyrrell provoking a huge response.
Yet Corbett believes the ploy worked successfully in the first-half as they created space in the Premier frontline.
“They came with a game-plan and so did we. What we were doing was working up to half-time. As regards who was right and who was wrong, I suppose when you lose you have to say that maybe their system was a bit better than ours.
“We just have to deal with what Kilkenny are going to throw in front of us. It’s up to us to counteract it and what have we to say about it? What we had to say about it brought us a long way in the first half. We believed in the system and it was working for us. There were a few chances that came off it and that was good.”
“If you look at my game, my game is getting on the ball and getting scores. I won’t tell lies – I didn’t score 12 months ago and I didn’t score today. Last year I couldn’t offer much because I was isolated, but this year I thought I got a little better ball and created space for the movement of other players. That’s what we were trying today – to create space for other players.”
Tipperary boss Declan Ryan concurred with Corbett’s assessment of Tipperary’s tactics.
“It seemed to work out alright in the first half. We had a little bit of room inside in the full-forward line. The second half then didn’t give us the kind of room inside we were looking for, particularly when we brought on Shane Bourke. We know the kind of pace Shane has and he can do damage.
“Lar was picked at number 12 and Tommy was playing at number five. For ideal match ups that was the plan that Lar would pick up Tommy and obviously Jackie Tyrrell didn’t agree and he wanted a piece of it as well.”
Corbett also explained what happened when he was late emerging after half-time as it was not until the 37th minute of the game when he joined the action after Henry Shefflin had already notched the first score of the second-half.
“I just had a few things to tidy up to just get ready and just got caught for 20 seconds. That was my own fault there. I was just doing whatever had to be done to get right for the second half. There was nothing to it really.”
The attacker also insisted he had no regrets about his decision to return to the inter-county game this year after previously announcing his retirement in early February.
“I’ve no regrets in life today at 31 years of age, thank God. I don’t know about coming back. I have to wait and see. No one wants to go out like that. It’s hard to know what to do. Look, we’ll just have to deal with today. Tipperary have to go back and rebuild.”
