AS TIPPERARY GET ready for a nervy trip to Walsh Park with their Munster championship survival on the line, they face the very real scenario of their season being terminated at the hands of Davy Fitzgerald and Waterford.
We look at the implications here.
The scenario
On 19 May, Tipperary host Cork in Semple Stadium. At the risk of setting a few fire alarms off, it’s probably the most famous fixture in hurling.
However, there is a serious possibility that a defeat to Waterford away could render this all but a dead rubber for both teams.
It’s an appalling vista for Tipperary manager Liam Cahill after the early positivity of his spell in charge, winning all five of their league regulation games including handsome wins over Kilkenny (six points) and Waterford (10 points).
There was no shame in losing to Limerick in the semi-final at the Gaelic Grounds, and that was followed by a strong opening win over Clare in the Munster round robin.
Draws against Cork and Limerick were followed by a home defeat to Waterford. A preliminary quarter-final ended in a massacre of Offaly, before they exited the quarter-finals with a two-point loss to Galway.
It was a start.
They settled a few scores in this league and came within a point of Limerick.
And then came Portlaoise. The league semi-final defeat to Clare could be written off as ‘one of those days’ but starting Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher, who struggled at full-forward, the free-taking malfunction, where they tried four different candidates at the dead ball with mounting frustration, and the lack of appetite, were evident problems.
To some extent, all of that was still an issue on Sunday when they were handed a 15-point hiding by Limerick.
The strategy
There are four games in recent memory that Tipperary have not turned up for: Galway and Waterford last year, Clare this year, and Limerick.
In the league game against Limerick, it was a one-point hammering, if such a thing exists.
The Tipp nation are ruminating on the cause. Are they mentally flat? Have they gone after the physical side a little too much?
While they have been trying to develop themselves to face Limerick, have they lost sight of the things that made them identifiable as a Tipperary team?
Which are, in no particular order: natural hurling, in a flow state, as best advanced by Eamonn O’Shea.
If there is one quality that can be attributed to Tipperary, it is the historical thread of off-the-cuff hurling. As good and as free as all of that sounds, it takes a lot of coaching and structure to actually pull it off.
And it also takes a lot of hunger to do that – and hunger has been markedly absent in recent weeks.
Liam Cahill teams at underage were workmanlike. No major stars were elevated above the collective, but they were goal-hungry.
When Cahill brought underage Tipp teams into finals against Cork teams that were more highly-rated on paper, they would frequently win, Tipp prevailing through goals.
Could it be said that they have a definite gameplan now? No.
Are they mentally flat? Certainly.
Physically flat? They have all the signs of it. The support systems to have your strength and conditioning and energy levels at optimum level are there, but sometimes a mood can stink the place out.
The staffing
In the early days of strength and conditioning becoming an area that counties had to really pursue, Tipperary were market leaders by recruiting the services of Lukasz Kirszenstein.
He was with the Premier from November 2012 to October 2016, finishing his term there with Tipp as All-Ireland champions. He’s since been with Galway, and is now with Clare.
But it was the sight of Cairbre Ó Cairealláin mooching out of the tunnel after Sunday’s game in the Gaelic Grounds as he went to put the unused Limerick subs through their paces that would have provoked pangs among Tipperary people. He was the S&C coach with them when they last won an All-Ireland in 2019.
Angelo Walsh now heads up that department for Tipp, but the turnover of players has made his job difficult.
Liam Cahill took on an ageing group and a lot of retirements followed.
He has had to forge a new-look squad. Some would have you believe the Tipperary depth chart right now is grim enough.
Cahill is a tough task master. Seriously demanding, but also very passionate about it.
He has had to do stuff that he maybe thought wasn’t part of the brochure; rebuilding the team, giving the biscuit tin a shake for some necessary funding.
And the injuries are now legion.
Those struck down include team captain Seamus Kennedy. Cathal Barrett hasn’t been right all year long but came on for his club Holycross-Ballycahill last week, so he is getting there Midfield dynamo Paddy Cadell suffered a cruciate tear last February and is on his way back. Barry Heffernan is only coming back from an ACL injury.
They are central players, do all the communicating on the pitch, and demand leadership from everyone around them.
The imponderables
One of the least discussed factors openly discussed in the GAA, is how investment in a team is frequently rewarded.
The wealthiest counties are the most successful counties. That is an absolute fact. And Tipperary is just not flush right now.
Now, to the Tipperary fanbase. It was small enough at the league semi-final against Clare, but remarkably small and reserved when it came to Sunday in the Gaelic Grounds.
Perhaps the numbers were seeping away during Liam Sheedy’s final year in charge, once it became apparent that they were falling away from being genuine contenders.
There’s a fickle element to some supporters; some only come out if there is a chance of winning.
The Tipp public will back a team, and there will be a decent group of diehards, but there is nothing original in saying the bandwagon only mobilises when there is a chance of serious silverware. It doesn’t stop us making the point all the same.
There are more question marks rather than established facts about Tipp.
The public will see this weekend like this. Forget the sports science. Forget the over-arching strategy and the high-performance jargon. What they need is the old-fashioned pride in the jersey, the performance. The little bit of blood spilled wouldn’t harm anyone.
What that looks like is debatable, but supporters know it when they see it.
