Both pride and disappointment from Tipp display

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary’s hurling decrees they always have a chance in a two-horse race, even when written off, and some credit was restored to the account despite this opening round Munster Championship loss on Sunday.

In defeat, this was Tipperary’s best performance of the fledgling Colm Bonnar era, but we have to be careful going too overboard as it still was, a defeat. It would be easy to come away from Walsh Park with a moral victory having pushed a red-hot Waterford side to the wire on home turf, but it is tempered by the fact that Tipperary should have taken something from the match.

This is what a fully confident Tipperary side would have done, being further than four points in front after a dominant first half, but missed chances allowed Waterford to stay in the game, and you knew with the bench they had, they were going to respond after half time and within nine minutes of the restart, they arguably had the game won.

We have seen this same Tipperary film before, as recently as last year where in three games the premier seemed surprised by the level of intensity teams bring at the start of second halves, v Limerick and Waterford twice. This time it was a 2-6 to 0-2 blast to go from four up to six down.

Tipperary deserve credit for not being sunk by that Waterford blitzkrieg and with the chances they had towards the end, particularly Kehoe and Morris, should have been at least level going into added time. However, the fact cannot be avoided that Tipp’s post half time slumps are leading to too much damage and are ultimately costing them results, and it is now officially a trend which Colm Bonnar and his management need to address.

That was the one frustrating aspect from an overall performance which had more positives than negatives. Despite giving Waterford a four-point head-start, Tipperary led them a merry dance for much of the first half and outscoring them 1-12 to 0-5 until just before half time was a fair reflection of their overall dominance.

Defensively, Tipperary were tigerish, Barrett was all over Hutchinson like a rash, as was debutante Craig Morgan who kept Stephen Bennett scoreless from play while James Quigley relished his battle with Michael Kiely who was the home sides greatest threat in the first half.

It provided the platform for Tipperary to use the ball very well. Dillon Quirke and in particular Seamus Kennedy were busy, while Ronan Maher was less influential in a more of a holding centre back role to protect his full back line, rather than trying to get too involved in the play.

Tipp mixed up the short and the long ball well, particularly to the flanks where Michael Breen, Conor Bowe and a retreating Jake Morris were busy, and inside Mark Kehoe was a terrific target man. Indeed, Bowe was a loss when he had to come off with a hand injury at half time as Tipp missed his power up the left wing, plus having to play Patrick Maher for 35 minutes probably was a little earlier than the management had planned for.

In that first half, the forwards were also excellent in a defensive sense, particularly in turning over Waterford players in possession or forcing them to make errors, which they turned into scores. This is an area Tipperary can be particularly dangerous in if they continue to perfect it, with Noel McGrath pulling the strings, and he was majestic once more and it is a pity Jason Forde didn’t finish off his pinpoint pass for the goal chance in the 26th minute which could have put Tipp in a commanding position.

When you are an underdog, you have to take the big opportunities when they come and that would have put Tipp seven clear. In fairness to Jason Forde, he did everything right, going low with the shot with decent power but credit to Shaun O’Brien who made a superb save. His one with his legs from Jake Morris in the second half was just as impressive as Tipperary carried that goal threat throughout. The Waterford keeper is really becoming a thorn in the Tipperary side for making big saves.

At the other end, Brian Hogan made a good save from Michael Kiely in the first half with Tipp’s swarm defence excellent, but there was little he could do with the two second half goals, as Waterford got the space to run into and punished Tipp in a devastating fashion.

One thing you can’t do in the modern game is hit the ball away rashly and in the main, Tipp used the ball well but they few times they forgot their lines they were punished, including the first Waterford goal where Dillon Quirke looked to clear a ball wildly and one-handed up wing but was intercepted by Stephen Bennett and three passes later, although the final pass from Patrick Curran to Michael Kiely was especially dubious, Michael Kiely doubled to the net.

It was the perfect start to the second half for Waterford who had sent Austin Gleeson and Jamie Barron into the fray and within three minutes of their arrival they had gotten on the scoresheet as all Tipp’s good first half work was gone. It threatened to be undone in the 44th minute when Dessie Hutchinson goaled, the only time he managed to give Cathal Barrett the slip. There were claims that Michael Kiely took steps and barged; many refs could have called it like that, but Kiely’s strength was impressive to make something out of going into a cul de sac.

Indeed, that Kiely scored one goal and set-up another, when he could have been off the pitch was another talking point from the game. His wild pull in the air which connected with Seamus Kennedy’s head before half time and forced the defender off for a blood injury would have been a red card for some referees. I don’t believe there was any intention on Kiely’s part to injure but anything around the head area like that, particularly in these modern times with concussions in a no no.

The Tipp defenders didn’t argue vociferously for dangerous play but much like the Aaron Gillane incident last year in the Munster final, they could have made more of it by showing their anger and maybe tell a different story to referee Johnny Murphy, who was his usual inconsistent self, particularly in holding fouls where Waterford got many more of those decisions than Tipp, particularly in the first half and was one of the frustrations that led to Tipp coach Tommy Dunne being sent to the stand at the start of the second half.

In terms of the positives, the new faces impressing was encouraging for the long term.

Mark Kehoe was superb all through, finishing his two goals well and offering a superb target man. If Tipperary could get runners working off him to take passes off the shoulder, they could become even more potent.

However, midfield remains an area where Tipperary don’t get enough from. Barry Heffernan started well but came under pressure when Barron came on while another game seemed to pass Alan Flynn by, and his lack of size compared to the Waterford counterparts showed. Dan McCormack’s impressive 25 minutes and two scores should see him come back into the team for the Clare game, but over all it is an area Tipp need to get more out of.

McCormack, along with all of the Tipp subs contributed, particularly another debutante in Conor Stakelum who pointed and also assisted for the second Kehoe goal, while John McGrath and Ger Browne got on the ball. Leaving John McGrath so late in the 65th minute to bring him on seemed strange as a lot like Noel, he only needs one ball to make things happen and in his brief time of the pitch he won a free and also played in Ger Browne for a shot which he should have made a better effort of.

Tipperary would have beaten most other teams, apart from Limerick, with this performance, which shows the level that Waterford are at, but that Colm Bonnar’s men are not that far behind. This needs to be the base level of performance, and with a little fine-tuning, there is scope for a lot more, starting with a must-win game with Clare next Sunday.