Clare’s pride will ensure no dead-rubber for Tipp

By Shane Brophy

It was another good weekend for the Tipperary senior hurlers, and they only sweat they worked up was among themselves at training.

Limerick’s defeat at the hands of Kilkenny in their rearranged round 4 clash on Saturday was the result that booked Tipperary’s place in the National League final for the first time since 2018. Their opponents will be either Cork or Galway who meet in a de facto semi-final in Pairc Ui Chaoimh on Saturday night, a draw would be enough for Cork to progress.

With both Clare and Wexford’s relegation also confirmed last Saturday, it means the final round clash between Tipperary and Clare is a dead-rubber.

This has worked out well for a Tipperary point of view, particularly for the five under 20 panellists (Darragh McCarthy, Sam O’Farrell, Oisin O’Donoghue, Conor Martin & Aaron O’Halloran) who won’t now have to be risked ahead of their Munster Championship opener against Limerick next Tuesday night, 25th March.

With McCarthy, O’Farrell and O’Donoghue having started the round 6 win over Kilkenny, it affords the Tipperary management an opportunity to experiment a little, although they will be unlikely to make too many changes to upset momentum ahead of the final and indeed the Munster Championship.

With Barry Hogan getting the nod over the fit again Rhys Shelly for the Kilkenny game, where he performed well once more, the Kiladangan clubman would appear to the choice of the management between the posts.

Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly and Michael Breen have settled themselves as the full-back line with Joe Caesar, Ronan Maher, and Bryan O’Mara in the half-back area.

Should Sam O’Farrell be rested, Willie Connors would appear the likely choice to replace him in midfield, alongside Craig Morgan, but it could also be the ideal game for Noel McGrath to get an extended run after his impressive cameo off the bench last time out.

There will be one enforced change from the Kilkenny match with Alan Tynan ruled out through suspension after his controversial red card was upheld on appeal after being reported by referee Sean Stack under the rule for “behaving in a way that was dangerous to an opponent” in his challenge on Cian Kenny.

Seamus Kennedy could be one to benefit from Tynan’s unavailability as the St Mary’s clubman looks for vital game time ahead of the championship and has previously played that abrasive role in the middle third in the past.

Should McCarthy and O’Donoghue also not feature, a new free-taker would be required, and John McGrath could fill that void with the space left by McCarthy’s willingness to run into space would appear suited to Dylan Walsh, while Jason Forde, Andrew Ormond and Conor Bowe would also been keen to get the nod.

On paper, this appears a game with little at stake, but this is set up to be big challenge for Tipp, not only against a Munster rival who they meet in the championship in seven weeks’ time, but Clare will come stung by their heavy loss to Cork last time out.

With the defending Munster and All-Ireland champions having been relegated with just one win from five games so far, it would be expected that manager Brian Lohan will have read the riot act, and the minimum he will expect of his players this Saturday night is to restore pride in the shirt, although they will have to do it without Peter Duggan and David Fitzgerald who also had their suspensions from red cards against Cork upheld.