Tipperary Football is at a crossroads

By Michael Dundon

After five defeats in six games there is no argument about Tipp’s relegation to division 4 of the National Football League.

Tipperary have not been good enough and make a speedy, if disappointing return, to the basement division a year after they were promoted.

Granted, one could make a case for a different outcome to some of the games, including Saturday’s defeat by Offaly when two injury time goals conceded on counter-attacks while Tipp were chasing a levelling point when a man short, were decisive – but the fact remains that Tipp have not won a game in the competition and in terms of trying to rebuild, the Premier boys are possibly better off in the bottom division.

The memorable 2020 Munster final win a century after Bloody Sunday, and all that went with it, seems light years away now but the reality is that Tipperary’s lack of success at underage level in football has now come back to haunt us. There is no flow of young talent coming along to challenge the established stars and until such time as that situation is addressed Tipperary will continue to struggle.

Tipp are at best fifth in line in Munster, with only Waterford languishing in division four of the league, below us in the rankings. Limerick and Clare have progressed to the point where they are viable challengers to Munster’s top two, Kerry and Cork, which prompts the question why have Tipperary not followed suit. Like ourselves, Limerick and Clare would be first regarded as “hurling counties”, but their footballing endeavours are on a much higher platform than Tipp’s. Why?

As memorable as the Munster final win was, we have not progressed from there – rather have we gone backwards. The big difficulty, and one which seems insurmountable, is that young players who show promise at both hurling and football, will invariably opt for hurling when a decision has to be made between county panels. Such is the intensity of preparations today, and so closely aligned are the hurling and football championships due to the championship time frame, that it is not physically possible to be part of both panels.

Unlike in the days of Michael ‘Babs’ Keating, John O’Donoghue and company, county team managers will not entertain dual players, and when choices are being made, football is undeniably the poor relation. Tipperary is “a hurling county”, and proud of it, with immense success at all levels, and until such time as we begin to win trophies the footballing fraternity will not attract the best young players to their ranks. That is the reality.

Last Saturday’s defeat saw Tipperary relegated to division four. With a full squad available Tipp would most likely have retained their division three status but in the absence of such quality players as Conor Sweeney, Steven O’Brien, and Michael Quinlivan, Tipperary have not got the strength in depth to mix it with the traditional footballing counties. Can anybody say, hand on heart, that this is going to change in the immediate future?

This is no reflection on the players and managements of the various grades. David Power and his backroom staff have worked as hard and are as committed as the hurlers to do their very best for Tipperary and they must find the lack of progress extremely frustrating. However, right now Tipperary football needs to be critically analysed to see where changes need to be made to improve matters and how they can be made.

What was apparent in Saturday’s defeat by Offaly was that Tipperary’s build-up was too slow and predictable, allowing the opposition time to funnel back in defence. Players did not have the strength and physicality to break the tackle to create space for the attackers and generally we have been operating at a lesser intensity that the opposition. This has cost us league points and ultimately relegation.

Looking for light at the end of the tunnel – Tipp are almost certainly going to be playing in the Tailteann Cup. This gives the management a bit of time to get key players fit again to mount a serious challenge for honours that would restore flagging morale. This is where the focus should be now.