There’s no shortage of fight in these young Premier dogs

If ever a team played in the image of their manager, it is this Tipperary minor hurling team under James Woodlock.

By Shane Brophy

As a player, the Drom & Inch clubman was the epitome of a team player, there’s no I in team,,and that base value was hugely needed to finally get the better of Galway in this titanic All-Ireland semi-final.

Galway must be sick of the sight of Tipperary in a minor semi-final at the TUS Gaelic Grounds; two years on from the epic clash which Tipp won with a late 1-2 blast in injury time, they did it again, this time in extra time with three late points to snatch an unlikely victory.

Objectively, it was a cruel loss on Galway who played the entire second half and extra time with fourteen players after defender Rhys O’Connor was sent off in added time at the end of the first half for a flick out on Darragh O’Hora. It was soft in the extreme, but it technically a strike under the rule of “minimal force”, plus it also happened right in front of the referee who immediately brandished the red card.

It was a huge moment in the game as the sides went in level at 0-12 apiece at the break, but it halted Galway’s momentum as they had just found a game-plan that helped them get on top, outscoring Tipp 0-6 to 0-2, after putting a sweeper in place to negate the impact of Cillian Minogue and Stefan Tobin who were on fire in the full forward line with seven points between them while both also had goal chances denied by the outstanding Sean Kelly.

Adam Ryan was also potent through the middle in the early stages until Galway moved Sean Moran to wing-back with the imposing Jonah Donnellan providing the effective barrier on route to goal.

The timing of the red card did allow Galway to re-organise for the second half where they would have the aid of the strengthening breeze which played a major part as the tribesmen penned Tipperary back in their own half with long puckouts.

However, the Tipp defence to a man were outstanding, they must be a horrible group to play against such is their work ethic. While they didn’t get everything right, you couldn’t quibble about their ability to get the hooks and blocks in, epitomised none more so than by captain Cathal O’Reilly who made a key block on Brendan Fox which led to Tipperary’s equalising point in extra time, before Minogue’s winner.

Galway were restricted to just two points in the first twenty minutes of the second half of normal time and when Euan Murray finally managed to get a shot past the Galway keeper for a 1-15 to 0-14 lead on fifty minutes, Tipp looked in a strong position.

Maybe the players felt that too and began to ease off a little, and with nothing to lose, Galway poured forward and outscored Tipp, as in the first half by 0-6 to 0-2 in the closing stages, and they could have snatched the win deep in added time but Jonah Donnellan’s long range free tailed wide, before Tipp thought they had an opportunity to win the game when Stefan Tobin was fouled but the referee adjudged he tried to buy the free and a free out was awarded. It would have been a controversial call in different circumstances.

Onto extra time, and the amended rule which meant Galway couldn’t revert to fifteen players, but the trend of the game continued where they didn’t play like a team with a numerical disadvantage, aided by the likes of Donnellan and the outstanding Brian Callanan who top-scored with fifteen points, six from play.

Galway’s greater size certainly was a factor against a smaller Tipperary team, but the size of the fight in the dog was there among the premier puppies where the defence was so good that goalkeeper Daire English didn’t have a save to make where as his opposition number had four.

Tiarnan Ryan and Billy O’Brien were hugely industrious in the middle of the field, added to by Killian Cantwell for extra time. In attack, Euan Murray was well marshalled for the most part but was central in his sides late recovery when they fell 0-26 to 1-21 behind with two minutes of extra time remaining.

The Durlas Og clubman, who is underage for next year, got the 22nd point which was not far off being a goal. He was also involved in the play for the equaliser by Cantwell before winning the ball on the wing and playing a perfect cross-field pass to his clubmate Cillian Minogue who crowned a player of the match performance with a cool and composed finish from 45-yards out for what proved to be the winning score.