Ryan lauds impact of returnees

By Stephen Barry

Tipperary manager Philly Ryan praised the performance of captain Steven O’Brien who returned from injury with a man of the match performance to help his side progress past Waterford in the Munster Championship quarter final on Saturday evening.

Hopefully nothing will go against him over the next couple of weeks and we’ll get there.”

The difference that extra experience can make was displayed by Steven O’Brien, who scored 1-8 on “minimal training”.

“We didn’t know if we’d have him,” said Ryan.

“Even up to seven, eight days ago, we weren’t sure where he’d be in terms of fitness.

“It just shows the calibre of the player he is that he’s able to come out and do that with minimal training.

“But Steven is around the block. He keeps himself right, as do a lot of the lads here, so it’s a testament to the panel and the team. We’re delighted to come away with the result.”

In terms of other injuries emerging, Luke Boland broke down with a recurrence of his hamstring strain and Emmet Moloney will be assessed for a head knock.

After a tough finish to the League, Ryan was relieved his team held out against a late Waterford whirlwind.

“Waterford did give us a fright coming towards the end and we did make hard work of it.

“We didn’t take our chances late in the game, probably 12, 13, 14 minutes went abegging without a score. We’ll have to look at that and we’ll definitely have to improve on it.

“But we’ll be very happy with our first-half performance, moving the ball at pace.

“We had only five survivors from last year’s team that lost to Waterford and Waterford are a good team. They didn’t beat Tipp by accident last year. They came back to us late in the game and, lucky enough, we just held on.”

Meeting Division 3 side Clare with a Munster final at stake will offer a step up in class.

“It’s a different level,” said Ryan.

“Clare are playing at a good grade. I saw them playing Offaly the last day; they’re a very good team and move the ball very fast as well.”