Moloney opts out as Tipp aim to lay down a marker

By Enda Treacy

CORK v TIPPERARY

Pairc Ui Chaoimh

Saturday 15th May

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny)

Almost six months on from their All-Ireland semi-final exit to Galway, the Tipperary senior camogie team are back in action this weekend where they will face a tough opening National League assignment against Cork on Saturday.

It was a disappointing end to what was an extremely positive 2020 for Tipperary who went the whole year unbeaten up to the semi-final loss and with a team looking like they are continuing to build, manager Bill Mullaney is eager to go one step further this year with an extremely motivated group of players.

“I can’t describe how good it is to be getting back out on the field on Saturday,” he said enthusiastically.

“It’s what you train for and it’s what you play for, we’re all looking forward to it.”

The loss to Galway was disappointing for Mullaney and his team to say the least, but he feels it is important to take learnings in defeat and despite having been down key players for the game, he still feels that his side left everything out on the field and they are eager to move on to the next opportunity to make amends.

“We can use all the cliches we want really, but it’s over and that’s it,” he said.

“Look, we could have had all the players available to us and we could have played better on the day but it just wasn’t to be. But we certainly stuck with them all the way and we gave a good account of ourselves I thought, and it just goes to show that we are getting closer.

“All we can do now is start off the year again we the same positive attitude and try and beat whoever is put in front of us.”

A short preparation period for the opening game of the league presents with it unique challenges for Mullaney and his backroom team which now includes Denis Kelly and Angelo Walsh this year, but he is looking forward to having a look at how his team has come through the countless individual sessions and where they are in terms of match sharpness.

“Every county is in the same boat,” Mullaney added.

“Really, we won’t know where we are until the ball is thrown in on Saturday but I’m sure every county thinks they’ll be in decent nick until they come up against someone who is going well themselves, you know!

“The first few games will just be a case of seeing where we’re at, win our matches if we can, hopefully unearth a few new players, and maybe learn some more about ourselves in the process.

“But at the end of the day, we also want to win it (the league) which would set us up very well going into the championship.”

In terms of personnel, there is a very familiar look to the panel from the previous campaign, but with what is very much a youthful panel that is yet to hit its peak, there is still massive potential to be reached.

The return from injury of Ereena Fryday, Nicole Walsh, and Casey Hennessy will be a welcome boost to Tipp but they will have to cope without the services of recent AFLW winner Orla O’Dwyer who is still in Australia, along with the news that Aishling Moloney has not made herself available for the upcoming year, choosing to focus solely on football after making a big impression in her short stint with the camogie team.

“We have much the same panel as we had last year really, but just added in a few more to have a look at and we’ll be hoping to blood a few more players into the panel as well,” Mullaney continued.

“But you know, a number of the panel have matured greatly from what we had last year, and they’ve had another year of action under their belt and I’m eager to see how far they’ve come on in the meantime.”

However, the build-up to the league opener has been overshadowed by the ongoing fixtures dispute surrounding the Camogie Association’s proposal to sandwich club championships in between the inter-county league and championship, which is not in line with the split season format announced by the GAA and LGFA.

Many county players have expressed anger with the proposal while the WGPA released a statement claiming that 84% of players have said they will not participate in the camogie leagues should the current season structure be retained, and when mentioned to Mullaney he said he was, “perplexed” by the announcement.

“It’s a little bit messy,” he stated.

“As a management team – and I think this applies to all counties – we want to see players on the field playing games.

“Camogie has gotten enough bad press and I just find it hard to understand why they would want to go down a different route to the GAA and LGFA, which basically gave them an open door to go ahead with the split season. That’s what happened last year and I know that everybody loved it and we were all wondering why we didn’t do it sooner, but now it could be back to club versus county, club manager versus county manager, club player versus county player even though they could be from the same club.”