Bourke and Tipp in the zone to avoid distractions
By Thomas Conway
Saturday evenings’ Munster Championship clash between Tipperary and Limerick was supposed to serve as the perfect exhibition of inter-camogie.
Theoretically speaking, the stage was set. The crowd was building. The electricity was flowing. The Limerick senior hurlers even made a brief appearance pitch-side to support their female counterparts.
However, the plan failed spectacularly. Tipp disarmed Limerick with a salvo of early points. They killed the game within the first fifteen minutes, ensuring that, by half-time, they had already virtually secured their semi-final berth. It was a shame.
Bill Mullaney would probably have relished a tense, exacting encounter, but Limerick were never going to present that type of challenge. Still, despite the one-sided nature of the contest, Tipp joint-captain Julieanne Bourke, who was rarely troubled at corner-back, revealed that the game was actually quite physically demanding. There was a hint of frustration detectable in her assessment of the game, and the reasons for that were clear.
Tipp squandered chances. They failed to execute several goal-scoring opportunities and seemed to slow down at different stages. Tipp thrive in a high-tempo environment. They flourish when the pace is frenetic and can sometimes find it difficult to adjust when the pace drops and the play becomes fragmented, as Bourke noted.
“It’s hard to describe it - it was kind of a strange game,” Bourke said.
“In the first-half, they did attack us at stages, and they were physical as well. Then I suppose we pushed on and got a few scores, but we missed an awful lot as well. It was good to get the win, of course, but we do have an awful lot to work on.”
What did she make of the occasion as a whole? Bourke and her teammates are growing accustomed to being part of the showpiece. They tasted Croke Park last August, and quickly became hungry for more. Saturday’s game may have failed to ignite on the pitch. It may not have been a pressure-cooker environment, but the atmosphere was certainly palpable from half-time onwards. The noise grew louder and louder, which presented its own challenges for the players, as she explains.
“To be honest, when you go out to play, you’re in the zone, so you don’t really notice the crowd,” added the Tipp joint-captain.
“And when you’re on the field, the most important thing is that you’re able to talk to the other players. The bigger the field, the bigger the crowd, the harder it is to get messages across. But we made that our focus - we wanted to make sure that we were constantly talking to each other, constantly focusing on the next ball.
“But it is nice to have a crowd there looking at you, and it’s definitely a positive to play in venues like the Gaelic Grounds or Semple Stadium or wherever. As a player you do look forward to that.”
She can now look forward to a Munster semi-final against Clare, next Sunday in Semple Stadium, before the Cork v Clare Munster Hurling Championship game. Another tick-the-box exercise? Probably, but neither Bourke nor teammates will view it in that light.
Momentum is crucial for Tipp now. Their mission is to enter this year’s All-Ireland Championship in peak condition, both physically and mentally. What better way to prepare than to win a Munster title.