Woodlock proud of players despite disappointing campaign

By Michael Dundon

As Tipperary minor hurling manager James Woodlock reflected on a disappointing championship run which saw his charges surrender their Munster & All-Ireland titles with just one win from four games, that against Waterford in Semple Stadium last week, he said that he was very proud of the players and his management team for the huge effort they put into the campaign.

Tipp were comfortable winners over Waterford in a contest which was a dead-rubber as both counties were out of the running for knock-out qualification, but the Drom-Inch clubman was keen that they would end the campaign on a high.

“The boys wanted to win this game for themselves and the county,” Woodlock revealed.

“It is the last year in this grade for most of them and they wanted a win in front of their own supporters. Though there was nothing really at stake they treated the game with the utmost respect, and I am delighted with that.”

A positive from the campaign in the manager’s eyes is the number of players who saw championship action and played at inter-county level.

“We played something like 24 games including all the challenges, and we used 24 players in the championship run,” he revealed.

“In all 29 players figured on match-day panels. That is hugely important for those players and will help greatly in their development. I have no doubt that some of these lads will go on to represent Tipperary at the highest level.”

The manager felt that having to start the programme with two away games was a major factor in their failure to qualify for the knockout stages.

“That was always going to be very difficult, especially for young lads,” he revealed.

“We lost to Clare away and then, on a horrible night weatherwise, we lost in Cork. We were improving with every game and had to win our first home game to stay in the championship. That defeat by Limerick (1-23 to 1-22) in our first home game was the hardest to take. We needed to win that to be still in the running and we looked to have done enough but Limerick got a late point to get the win and we missed out narrowly.”

A disappointing conclusion to the championship, yes, but James Woodlock is quite happy that his group of players gave their all.

“I am very proud of each and every one of them. They did all we asked of them and it’s a pity it didn’t work out as we would have liked,” he concluded.