North Final win won't count for much in County decider - Lawlor

 

By Shane Brophy

 

The landscape of Tipperary senior club hurling has certainly changed over the last two seasons.

When Kiladangan and Borris-Ileigh were on the wrong end of heavy county final defeats in 2016 & 2017 respectively, few would have seen Thurles Sarsfields domination ending any time soon.

However, in the two years since, Sarsfields haven't gotten back to another final and this year didn't even make the knockout stages leading to one of the most open championships in living memory and for Kiladangan manager Brian Lawlor, that is a crucial difference in building his side up for their second county final appearance in four years.

“At that stage, Thurles were very dominant,” Lawlor said of their 2016 final experience.

“They had teams beaten before they went out, which is what happened on that day.

“Now Thurles are not as dominant as they were. There are seven or eight teams now fairly even and now the championship is much more open. The whole mentality is different. All four teams in the semi-finals thought they had a chance of winning the county final.

“Both Kiladangan and Borris-Ileigh are psychologically are in a different space going into this final than the two previous finals which they got to.

“Both teams have played here in recent years and both would want to atone for their performances.”

 

 

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