Rested Tipp Minors eager to get going again

Galway stand in the way of the Tipperary minor hurlers reaching an All-Ireland Final when they meet in a semi-final clash in Limerick this Saturday.

GAA: Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Semi-Final Preview

By Shane Brophy

TIPPERARY v GALWAY

TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

Saturday, 15th June

Throw-in @ 2.00pm (E.T.)

Referee: Chris Mooney (Dublin)

Tipperary have been idle for 26 days since their Munster final win over Clare whereas Galway have come through the extended backdoor route with wins over Waterford and Dublin in that time, but Premier manager James Woodlock doesn’t feel his side will come in short of match practise.

“We were looking forward to the ground hardening up,” he said.

“We got a really good block of three weeks training under our belt. We needed it, and we trained really hard for the last two weeks and this week we won’t do a whole pile, but the lass are really eager for a game now.

“I am happy with where we are. I am looking forward to the game. While we dealt with it well, it has been a long couple of weeks waiting to get back into action as all these boys want to do is play matches, and no matter what we have asked of them so far, they have responded. They are really intelligent guys and are involved in a learning environment.”

This will be Tipperary’s sixth game of the championship which began back on April 4th with a home win over Cork.

“The first game against Cork was a really good performance,” Woodlock reflected of their Munster campaign.

“With minors you don’t really know what you are going to get. Yes, we had Cork at home which took some of the pressure off but playing Cork in championship hurling, you are always doing well to get a win.

“Against Waterford, conditions were tough going into their backyard. They had nothing to lose as they really had their team backboned for next year, and they gave us everything. The scoreboard flattered us.

“Every game I thought the boys were learning and getting better.

“The Clare game we performed really well, we made a couple of errors in relation to goals conceded but from that perspective we had asked the players in a lot of those games to push on, go for it, we did it against Cork but sometimes you get caught as happened against Clare.

“I was delighted with the way we grinded out a difficult match against Limerick. We were on a hiding to nothing going into that game, Limerick were already out, and we had everything on the line. We had to do our business and got back into a Munster Final against Clare, who were the best team in the Munster Championship, apart from ourselves.

“I was happy with our display in the Munster Final, albeit not where I would want them to be, but I was happy with the result and happy that they had responded and closed down any goal threat.

“The most pleasing aspect of it was we got better with every game. We got to use 25 players in championship, that is huge. That is a lot of bodies and will mean one of them will be outside our panel come Saturday, that is how many lads have gotten championship time in this squad.

“It also tells you of the evenness of the panel that we have assembled. So, from that perspective it has been good, but it has been challenging.”

As well as being quality players, what has endeared this group of players to the Tipperary supporters has been their workrate and application, highlighted with how the two goals came about in the Munster Final.

“They were two massive turnovers,” Woodlock added.

“One came from Cillian Minogue on the goalie, the second from Billy O’Brien at midfield.

“On reflection, we could have had it handier if we had taken a couple of more goal opportunities after half time. Clare are a quality outfit, they were always going to make things difficult, but I was happy that against good opposition, in a final that we produced our best hurling when the pressure was really.

“The obligation is on me and my management team is to get these boys to perform in a tough environment and what better place to do it than on the Munster Final stage. The county was at a low ebb, we needed something, and the boys delivered.”

Tipperary should have a full strength selection to choose from with JK Brackens Sean Walsh fit again after missing the entire campaign so far but played in the Celtic Challenge final recently, while Toomevara’s Austin Duff is also nearing a return after a serious shoulder injury sustained for Nenagh CBS against St Raphael’s of Loughrea in the All-Ireland Schools semi-final some eleven weeks ago.

In terms of Galway, they didn’t set the world alight in the Leinster Championship, although recording wins over Dublin and Wexford, but were well-beaten by Kilkenny in both the group game and Leinster semi-final.

It forced them into the All-Ireland preliminary quarter final where they easily accounted for Waterford before taking the scalp of Dublin for a second time in the quarter final.

“They are physically powerful and really good hurlers,” said Woodlock of their semi-final opponents.

“You never look at Galway minor team and see that they are not a good team or are not competitive, they really are, and we will have to be at the peak of our powers and play really well to beat them at the weekend.”

The Galway team has been strengthened by the return to fitness of forward Harry Holmes who missed most of the Leinster Championship through injury.

Their key players are full-back Dara Burke, number six Jonah Donnellan, midfielder Seán Moran, and lively forwards Ciarán Leen, Cillian Roche, and free-taker Brian Callanan.