Progress has been made by Tipp in 2023 but it doesn’t feel like it at the moment
By Shane Brophy
Failure isn’t accepted easily in Tipperary when it comes to hurling. Arrogance is a term thrown a lot at Tipperary when it comes to our outlook on the national game and there was a lot of pleasure taken in many circles at our demise from this year’s senior hurling championship last weekend.
But no one from Tipperary need apologise in any way for our passion for hurling and belief in our teams. There is very little difference between belief and arrogance, yet when Tipp believe they can win a game or an All-Ireland it is deemed as arrogant by some, yet when any other county has the same belief, you rarely hear of them being classed as arrogant, even this great Limerick team at the moment.
Yes, Tipperary went into Limerick last Saturday believing they could beat Galway, if they didn’t there was no point being there or indeed going through the countless hours of training in Dr Morris Park and beyond since last November.
That will be one of the areas that Liam Cahill and his management will review in the coming week as to how and why Tipp’s intensity fell off in recent games. It was an aspect Liam Sheedy alluded to on the Sunday Game as to why the edge had gone from their play in recent weeks.
As a new manager, Liam Cahill had to hit the ground running this year. However, he wasn’t helped by the fact that he had to get his squad championship fit, which is something they were not last year. Already they were playing catch-up in that regard where ideally, he would have liked to start at a similar base to his rivals. Having to do that level of training is always going to catch up on a group at some stage and it appears to have been the case for Tipperary in recent weeks as the hunger and work-rate in the first three games of the Munster Championship wasn’t replicated after that, if it were, Tipp would be preparing for an All-Ireland semi-final right now.
The reality is that the Munster Championship is such a dog-eat dog competition at the moment, all five teams have to peak in April and May to have a chance of finishing in the top three positions. You have to be ready then as if you are not, you won’t get to the All-Ireland Series. Limerick and to a lesser extent Clare have been longer on the road with their current managements and know how to negotiate it well. You could say Liam Cahill is the same but while he managed Waterford for three years, only one of those year was in the round-robin format as 2020 and 2021 were Covid impacted winners/losers group championship formats. However, what he will have to reflect on is why in his final year with Waterford and his first year with Tipp did both teams lose their edge as the round-robin championship wore on.
Another aspect needed dealing with is the seven-day turnaround between games. That Tipp produced flat performances against Waterford and Galway just a week after playing Limerick and Offaly can’t be just down to coincidence. It needs to be drilled into thoroughly as if the Munster Championship schedule for 2024 goes along the same lines, Tipp will have two sets of back-to-back games to negotiate next year. If the same fixture principles for the round-robin remain, Tipp will be on the bye in the first round with Clare hosting Limerick and Cork travelling to Waterford. Tipp would host Cork in their first game in round 2 before travelling to Limerick a week later. Then they would have a weekend off before travelling to Waterford in round 4 before finishing at home to Clare in round 5 a week later.
This year Tipp had the luxury of two weeks between their first three games where they performed, yet in the two games they only had a week between, including Offaly, they didn’t.
Liam Cahill’s commentary on his team is always brutally honest and last Saturday he was no different. However, what was most notable was when he said: “myself and the lads in the management team, we’ll make changes. We will have to go about putting our own stamp on this.” This suggests that Cahill compromised a little in his own beliefs this year, probably in terms of the players he chose to retain from the previous panel rather than the ones he brought in.
Certainly, they are comments each member of the current panel will do well to heed going into the club championship and one of the aspects Cahill will look for is how well will an inter-county player leads when he plays for his club. That mentality will get you a long way to being in his thoughts of being in his panel.
Of the current squad, much of the focus will be on the likes of Seamus Callanan, Patrick Maher and Noel McGrath, players that have been around since 2008. Of the three, Noel McGrath only turns 33 in December and still has a lot of offer, maybe in a different role, ala Cathal Mannion for Galway perhaps?
Patrick Maher turns 34 later this year but still had value as we saw against Limerick, but would he be prepared to have that bit-part role when he is a competitor who just wants to start every game. The fact that he didn’t go out on his own terms due to a late season groin injury might sway him to give it another go.
The most likely retirement is Seamus Callanan who just doesn’t have the mobility he once enjoyed which made him the most feared forward in the game. To have hit the forty goal mark in championship hurling, all from play, against Offaly is a record that will be hard broken.
On the other side of the coin, ten players made their championship debuts in 2023, that is a lot of new faces to bring in one go and still make it to an All-Ireland quarter final and all should come on from that experience. Hopefully, the likes of Paddy Cadell, Ger Browne, Barry Heffernan, and Craig Morgan will come back from long term injuries and beef up the panel while Cahill has said he will be watching the club championships closely for players “that has the culture required to play for Tipperary.” That means players people might not ordinarily think are inter-county standard but have the right tools to be one, such as the likes of Aaron Morgan in Kilruane or Jack Shelly in Mullinahone who might not be the flashiest of hurlers, but they are gritty and determined, the basic requirement for an inter-county player and Tipp need a few more of them.