EIGHT TIPPERARY PLAYERS are on the brink of a unique All-Ireland minor hurling and football double over the next month.
Yesterday’s 0-11 to 0-9 win over Kildare propels Tipperary into the football final after the 2-17 to 1-15 victory against Dublin a fortnight ago secured their spot in the hurling decider.
Back in 2000 Cork contested both All-Ireland minor finals but their hurlers lost to Galway before the footballers beat Mayo.
Cork have done the All-Ireland minor double twice in 1969 and 1974 while Dublin achieved it a similar feat in 1945 and 1954.
Tipperary themselves were All-Ireland minor champions in both codes in 1934.
Here’s the eight Premier players that will be trying to achieve history.
- Jack Skehan (Holycross-Ballycahill)
- Emmett Moloney (Drom-Inch)
- Tommy Nolan (Drom-Inch)
- Alan Tynan (Roscrea and Inane Rovers)
- Ross Peters (Clonmel Commercials and St Mary’s)
- Brian McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney)
- Michael Connors (Drom-Inch)
- Stephen Quirke (Moyle Rovers)
After yesterday’s win Tipperary minor football boss Charlie McGeever explained how they have managed their workload and looked to their future prospects.
1. Football battling with hurling
“I think that what people don’t realise is underage is to 21 years of age. When you go past 21 years of age, you’re an adult and you’re there to make your decisions at that point.
“If they can stay with both as they do and at that point make their decision, they will naturally fall in. Football will lose certain players but they will gain others.
“At this stage there’s a conveyor belt of talent I suppose coming through that we feel will make the senior grade. See Colin O’Riordan sitting four rows back today supporting us on.
“He has played with these boys and we have those icons now in Tipperary, himself and Steven O’Brien won national awards over the last couple of months.
“They look up to them and they are the future of Tipperary because they are all very young.”
2. Learning from the Munster final
“We learned a lot that’s for sure. I learned as a manager that I expected too much in the preparation with so many doing the Leaving Cert.
“16 boys doing the Leaving Cert and we only get them half time with the hurling, so I tried to probably go in with too much of a gameplan.
“We said at the time if we got a bit of time afterwards which we did, we’d improve things.
“There are six of the boy s that I took in at 15 years of age for a reason – Alan Tynan, Danny Owens, Stephen Quirke and others to be included – for this purpose that when they’d hit 18, that they would perform.
“It took until the Galway match to really put a performance together. We raised the bar that day, today we met that bar, we didn’t raise it much further but we have space I would hope to build it higher.”
3. Meeting Kerry again
“Look, Kerry are the benchmark for everybody. All-Ireland champions last year, great experience, Jack O’Connor a legendary manager with them.
“But we have the opportunity which is what we want. We didn’t perform in Killarney.
“It’s going to be a big ask because Kerry have not really been pushed other than by Cork in the first round. But we’ll enjoy trying to do it.”
4. Juggling both codes
“I think the hardest part was always going to be around that clutch of matches around the Munster final, time for each and that was a struggle. We’re kind of out of each other’s way now a little bit.
“What I feel is the adrenaline that is there from the All-Ireland semi-final carried through for us today.
“They’re young lads and they’re ready to roll. I would hope they’ll win next weekend and that rush will carry through for us.
“In Tipperary we started last November and isn’t it brilliant to be playing football the third weekend of September.”
