Kennedy urges patience with senior transition

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary County Board chairperson Joe Kennedy has urged premier county supporters to be patient and allow new manager Colm Bonnar space as the new manager enters a period of transition.

In his first address as chairperson of Tipperary County Board at County Convention on Monday night, in welcoming the appointment of the Cashel King Cormacs clubman and his management team of Tommy Dunne, Paul Curran and Johnny Enright, they bring a wealth of experience.

“We may now be entering a transition and a rebuilding period for Tipperary as Colm will try to add new players to the panel and team,” he began.

“I would urge all our supporters to have patience and come out and support our hurlers during the coming leagues and championships.”

In a wide-ranging address, he referred to the review of the inter-county seasons in 2020 and 2021 which has led to the overhaul of the county’s strength & conditioning programs at all levels.

“In the past, every team had its own strength and conditioning coach all working independently of one another,” he said.

“We have now formed a partnership with Setanta College to deliver all our strength and conditioning from the academies up to our adult team. This is a new approach that will have a co-ordinated structure and will prepare all our players in both codes to develop and transition from youth to adult level.”

However, he feels a further review is needed in terms of the coaching structures for the development of county teams, and it will be done when the appointment of a new County Games Manager is confirmed with Dinny Maher retiring at the end of this year after 22 years in the role, which the position currently being advertised publicly.

Indeed, Joe Kennedy also wondered is there a shortage of coaches at club level, considering many clubs appoint outside managers, and highlighted the success of double senior champions Loughmore/Castleiney who are led by home-grown management.

“Have clubs no faith in coaches within their own club or have we a shortage of qualified coaches within the county. Is there a need for a major coach education program?” he said.

Looking ahead to the first full split season in 2022, while it presents opportunities for clubs in the second half of the year, it also creates challenges for what to do in the months of January to July when the inter-county season is in full swing.

“The focus for the first part of the year is inter-county so the big challenge for the county and divisions is to provide games for clubs who must play without county players,” Kennedy said.

“There needs to be competitions for clubs when they are without county players and obviously championship when they have. Historically in Tipperary our commitment to league competitions has been poor. I would urge clubs to take all leagues very seriously in the coming year to provide games for their players during the county season. If clubs don’t buy into the leagues, they run the risk of losing players.”

The Moyne-Templetuohy clubman also addressed the looming shortage of referees which he said has now reached a critical stage “where matches are being called off due to a shortage of refs.”

“There is a lot of debate on our structures and competitions, but we cannot play games without referees. Clubs really need to focus on identifying new referees for the coming year,” he said, while also paying tribute to the late Kieran Delaney, the popular Toomevara referee who was tragically killed last week.

In a rather low-key Convention, there was just one change of officer with Killenaule’s Eleanor Lahart defeated incumbant John O’Donovan (Thurles Gaels) 103 votes to 82, while the County Board agreed to see if an under 21 championship can be retained in some form for 2022.