Tipp's weaknesses ruthlessly exposed

BACK MAN'S JOB with Paddy Stapleton

 

The Limerick of 2018 were seen for the first time in the 2019 championship last Sunday, and unfortunately, we were on the receiving end.

There were some days I played for Tipperary and you could say that maybe the team or some individuals were not as tuned in as you would like but in the Munster Final we were just ground down by the better team on the day. To go in at half time two points down was a real worry and the second half Limerick were ruthless in exploiting our weaknesses.

For a lot of the first half it was a relatively even wrestling match with scores coming for both teams. The issue I felt was that our scores were coming from pretty far out the field and that we were not troubling the Limerick full backline at all. Our goal, while being a nice bit of quick thinking by Noel McGrath and Seamie Callanan, was also just a lack of concentration by the Limerick backs. It was the only real time in the first half that we had Limerick stretched with possession around their D area.

They managed this by stopping us from our own full backline outwards. Even though we worked a few nice scores to the likes of Ronan Maher and John O'Dwyer in the first half we were still getting caught and turned over around the middle in possession. I know people will say they should have just went long but that is like death by a thousand paper-cuts playing a team like Limerick. They would have liked nothing more than Tipperary hitting long balls down on their monster half backline.

 

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