Not all doom and gloom despite relegation

Twelve months ago, the Tipperary senior footballers were seconds away from promotion to division 1, this week they face into the prospect of division 3 football in 2020.

It is an indication of the fine margins between many of the teams in the 12-24 range that fortunes can change so dramatically and you only have to look at Cork as the example, playing in a division 1 final as recently as 2014 but will now be slumming it with Tipperary in the third tier next year along with Down, Longford, Offaly, Derry, Leitrim and one of Louth or Westmeath.

In that respect, the level of opposition of some of those teams to what they would face in division 2 isn’t much different but second tier football brings with it extra exposure which Tipperary football can’t do without.

However, it is what they will have to deal with next year but for the moment they have to reflect on a campaign where they were competitive in all five games lost, with their greatest margin being six points away to Armagh where they played three quarters of the match with fourteen men following a red card for Brian Fox which was subsequently rescinded.

Again, one of those breaks that Liam Kearns continually referenced while he made a lot of the players that were missing for various reasons, it's hard no to be sympathetic and feel that with a full hand Tipperary would have comfortably stayed in the division and possibly challenge at the top end by turning the defeats to Clare and Cork, as well as the draw with Fermanagh into an extra five points.

They can also look back on the campaign having defeated Donegal which was a notable scalp, however, they were unable to build on it, hampered by their inability to get enough scores on the board, apart from the defeat to Clare.

It was interesting to hear former Tipperary midfielder George Hannigan comment this week that the attacking style suits this team more, even if they are as vulnerable to conceding more at the other end but feels the Premier County will win more games playing this way than not.

 

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