Kelly satisfied with performance in defeat

By Liam Hogan

Tipperary manager Denis Kelly admitted he was happy with his team’s performance but disappointed with the defeat to Cork on Saturday.

He cited a number of things that occurred and he said they will have to address the situation ahead of their round four clash with Clare on St Patrick’s Weekend.

“A tremendous performance but again we came up short because we are here to win games but the girls are disappointed and that is the way it should be,” he began.

“We threw everything at Cork and they are a serious outfit. But now we have to go away now and look at the video of the game and see where we came up short and tweak a few things for the championship.”

There were a few injuries during the game, including Karin Blair having to go off in the first half.

“Karin was in flying form and was a loss at wing back,” Kelly added.

“She went off with a hamstring issue and you never want to see that. It will take a few weeks but that is what the panel is for.

“We had girls coming in and they played their part. Look the panel is strong. Ultimately, we came up short and we are a little bit disappointed, but we have lots to build on.”

Tipp had plenty of chances that went astray when at times they wanted to walk the ball in instead when taking their points would have been more profitable especially when the margins were as low as one or two points?

“We should learn from that,” added the Tipp manager, although he felt his team should have been awarded more frees.

“Some of the decisions were outrageous,” he said.

“You know, Karen Kennedy was through and wrestled to the ground and a soft free given out. The frustrating thing is we were one point behind and a free would have levelled. That is frustrating because you like fair play. Hopefully that won’t come against us going forward.”

Tipperary’s backline played very well with veteran players like Mary Ryan and Cait Devane introduced off the bench and they helped Tipp fight back after Cork’s strong second quarter.

“They are two stalwarts, and we need them,” Kelly added.

“The backs have been outstanding for the last couple of years. But again, you have to be fair to the forwards as they were short one player up there and they worked their socks off and that is why we made a lot of changes at that end of the field. But, overall, we are very happy with the majority of the performances.”

With two wins out of three games, Tipp are in the hunt for a top to finish and a place in the final but Denis Kelly is happy to be competitive in the early stages as they head into key games with Clare and Kilkenny.

“We are happy to competing with the likes of Cork and happy to be competing with the top teams,” Kelly added.

“We are building a nice squad there are other girls who didn’t get a run and we will be hoping to get game time into during the next couple of games and we would like to win those games.

“Karin Blair went off injured with the hamstring and she is the more pressing one at the minute. She will be under pressure for the Clare game. We hoping to have Aoife McGrath back shortly and Caoimhe McCarthy is close to being back and should be ready for some game time against Clare.”