O’Shea influence on Tipp’s Camogie play

By Thomas Conway

Ever witness a sporting annihilation first-hand? Even if your team is on the winning side, it isn’t always the type of cheerful, merry experience that one might predict. No, there comes a point when you start to feel pain for the opposing side, when you start to virtually will them on and hope that they can salvage some iota of respectability. As a reporter, this was how it felt last Saturday in The Ragg.

Clare were dreadfully poor, a shadow of their true selves. But credit where credit is due, Tipperary were electric. They cascaded through their opponents at every opportunity, converting chances with a rate of efficiency rarely seen even at inter-county level.

Cáit Devane was immense. Grace O’Brien was like Cian Lynch - slipping handpasses this way and that, anticipating moves moments before they took place, even pitching in with a brilliant score of her own from out on the wing. It all bodes well for Tipp.

They are now within touching distance of a league final, and with it the chance to claim silverware for the first time in God knows how long. However, low and behold, it is now Kilkenny who stand in their way from the result they need.

The reigning All-Ireland champions evidently made a strategic decision not to invest in the league this year - they’ve only managed to win one of their four games thus far, beating Dublin away in round 3.

But Tipp manager Denis Kelly believes that the Cats will be intent on making a statement next weekend. The Leinster Championship is just weeks away, and Brian Dowling’s side will be keen to send out a message ahead of the commencement of this year’s provincial competition.

“Look, we’ve been in this position before and Kilkenny have knocked us out. That was back in 2021, and we were in a winning position a couple of times during that game. So look, we won’t be taking anything for granted,” Kelly said.

“We know Kilkenny are probably finished their league campaign, we know they haven’t prioritised it, but they’ll still be hoping to have a big performance before they start into the Leinster Championship.”

Understated and humble, Kelly is a manager with a deep knowledge of this panel. He’s been involved within the set-up for several years and developed a strong relationship with a core group of players. The Toomevara clubman was wholly satisfied with his side’s showing at the weekend, though he cautioned against any hint of complacency.

Clare, he felt, just weren’t at it. Tipp ran up against them and felt their wrath on a couple of occasions last season, but whatever happened on Saturday, things went miserably wrong. Conversely, things went perfectly right for Tipp. They executed their gameplan to a tee, something which their manager was keen to emphasise.

“We were happy with the performance overall,” he added.

“We had a good few tussles with them last year and there was nothing in it. We got pipped at the post once or twice maybe. So look, to be honest, we were expecting a stronger resistance but at the same time it was positive that our own players actually played so well.

“We had a plan in place going in, and they stuck to that game plan throughout. Now it helped that we had the wind in the first-half, but we went into break fourteen up, and they were a player down as well. The second-half things went a bit ragged, but we made something like eight changes so that was bound to happen. But overall, we’re very happy with the performance, yes.”

Kelly admits that this year Tipperary are seeking to adopt a slightly different playing philosophy, opting for a more fluid, dynamic game-plan - particularly amongst the forwards. It’s something they’ve worked hard to develop over the course of the winter, even enlisting the help of former Tipperary manager and selector Eamonn O’Shea. To be frank, you can see O’Shea’s fingerprints all over this Tipperary side with the forwards running lines and playing an almost trigonometric brand of camogie, as Kelly acknowledges.

“We’re definitely looking to play that type of running game, to bring that to the table. We had a good training session with Eamonn O’Shea earlier in the year, and that’s obviously something he specialises in, that kind of playing style. So that’s the kind of philosophy we’re trying to bring to the team, but look it, it won’t always work. Some teams just won’t allow you to play like that, but we’re happy with how we’ve executed our game so far in the league, and we were happy with how it went on Saturday,” Kelly concluded.

Irrespective of what happens this weekend, Tipp have had an excellent league campaign, but they will dearly want to take things a step further and claim some silverware. Kilkenny will pose a significant challenge.