As poor a home performance in Tipp’s history

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary have produced their fair share of no-show performances in their history, but they have rarely happened on home turf.

Whatever Tipp’s struggles at any time, Semple Stadium should be a safe haven to perform but the fact that Colm Bonnar’s men failed to raise a gallop makes this eight-point loss to Clare hard to understand the how’s and why’s of it.

It wasn’t just the fact they were out-hurled in almost all facets of the game by a Clare side that played well enough, however they didn’t have to hurl outstandingly well for the win. But for Tipp to not even put Clare to the pin of their collar, is particularly galling.

Even in 2018 when Tipp struggled in the first round-robin championship and went behind by double-digit margins to Cork and Waterford, there was a response in the second half, and while they tried here, they just didn’t have the hurling to make it happen.

Trailing 3-11 to 0-7 at half time, Tipp got the perfect start to the second half with a Ger Browne goal, and it really should have ignited a fightback of sorts, but they were unable to build on it. This was despite the half back line dominating the Clare long puckout and providing plenty of ball for the forwards, but they didn’t have the quality to put it into scores, with the starting forwards managing just three points from play in the entire game.

Each wide, and many were just poorly executed shots, sucked what life was left out of the players and indeed the supporters, and even when Clare goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan gave Tipp and Barry Heffernan a gift of a second goal on 49 minutes, there was still no response. That lack of urgency is hard to understand, Brian Hogan was slow on the puckouts in the second half, but he didn’t have many options to play a pass to. Even when Tipp won a long range free, there was no urgency to take a quick one and up the pace of the game.

For Tipperary to have scored nine times (2-7) by the fifty-minute mark indicated the paucity of the performance in terms of quality. For all of Tipperary’s shortcomings over the years, be it winning their own ball in the forwards, or adapting to working the ball through the lines, the one thing they could always rely on was their hurling, but they didn’t even have that here. The first touch of many players was not to championship standard. When on the ball, players were uncertain about what to do with it. When you are trying to adapt to a new style of play, there can be a hesitancy as instead of working off instinct which most of these players have played with since they were kids, they now have to think twice about what they do with the ball, and it is certainly not playing to their strengths.

So, when the hurling is under pressure, you need workrate to fall back on and that wasn’t there either to the required level. Right from the throw-in, when Tipp gave the ball away, a Clare defender got the ball and instead of the closest Tipp player busting a gut to get to him, they allowed him time to pick his pass to a teammate, and that was symptomatic of much of what followed. Pressuring the ball-carrier is what Limerick do in every game and is one of the key reasons why they are as good as they are because they fight and chase for every ball, even the ones they appear to have lost.

The one aspect of Tipp’s play which has been quite solid in recent years was workrate, but those levels dipped and when you are playing a fresh Clare side you are going to be punished. Tipp did look sluggish and maybe the exertions of the round 1 game over Waterford took their toll, but not to the extent as to where there was no spark to the players movement.

They appear a group of players who are rudderless and lacking in confidence at the moment. They appear uncertain of what they are being asked to do. They have to adapt to the modern game, they have no other choice, but it requires a lot of work and repetition to become good at it, and there could be a lot more tough days ahead before they begin moving in the right direction again.

Clare gave Tipperary the short puckout, knowing well Tipp’s struggling in the half forward line going long. However, with the short puckout, there appears to be no understanding about what they are trying to do after Brian Hogan makes the first pass. Whichever defender gets the ball, there is no plan from there and in the modern game, you’ll be caught out pretty quickly.

Tipperary’s defending continues to be naïve, and it is too easy for opposition teams to draw out the half back line. The first two Clare goals were carbon copies of each other, similar to Kyle Hayes goal from deep in last year’s Munster Final, with Dillon Quirke dragged up the field from his wing back position, and into that space Clare ran into from where Ryan Taylor and John Conlon, set up the goals for Ian Galvin and Peter Duggan, although goalkeeper Brian Hogan can feel very frustrated that his two fine saves only rebounded into the path of unmarked Clare attackers.

Add in the penalty, a silly foul by Brian McGrath pulling the jersey of Duggan right in front of the referee, there was so much naivety in the Tipperary play, it just wasn’t senior inter-county standard.

Clare won comfortably despite Tony Kelly being largely held by Seamus Kennedy, who along with Cathal Barrett, Craig Morgan, Brian Hogan, and Ger Browne, who finished with 1-3 from play, come out of the game with their credit intact.

It was a great start for Clare who can take confidence but not too much for all the good things they did, Tipperary made things easier for them and they’ll face much tougher tests, starting with Cork next Sunday.

For Tipperary, the worry is that things might get worse before they get better with a trip to Limerick on the horizon on Sunday week. It’s always darkest before the dawn and in the long term rebuild of this Tipperary team, Colm Bonnar will get the best sense of who is willing to roll up their sleeves and respond in the appropriate fashion, or who is willing to throw in the towel and let the year peter out. That’s the challenge before the players now.