Panel strength has gotten Tipperary this far - Roynane

 

By Thomas Conway

 

Shane Ronayne is well-accustomed to the agony and ecstasy of an All-Ireland Final. After all, he watched his club-side Mourneabbey fall at the final hurdle three times – in 2015, 2016 and 2017 – until at last they conquered the summit in 2018, winning a coveted All-Ireland title.

In the middle of all that, Ronayne had guided the Tipperary ladies to an All-Ireland Intermediate crown. On that particular Sunday in September 2017, Tipperary ladies football seemed like it was an unstoppable force.

Two years on from that win over Tyrone, despite the pain of relegation in 2018, Ronayne’s squad is looking wiser, stronger, and more assured than ever. Losing their senior championship status after just one year was an unexpected blow, but it seems to have generated a sense of resilience within the group. New players have emerged, new styles have developed, giving management a variety of different options in terms of team selection.

“Look, there’s definitely a scrap on for three or four jerseys, and the girls know it, but there’s probably ten or eleven of this team that picks itself,” he began.

“I think every serious inter-county team is that settled, you can’t be chopping and changing your players every week. But yeah, there is a fight for three or four of those jerseys, because there’s serious competition within the squad – I think it’s the first that I’ve ever been involved in a team that has gone through a championship without naming the same team twice.”

 

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