League outcome changes little
Killinan End
The National Hurling League Final threatened the worst outcome and yet in the end delivered better than we might have hoped for at the half-way stage.
On the best of days winning a match when you concede three goals more than you score is a herculean task. To ship 3-16 in one half of hurling is extraordinary though these days is not uncommon. It is the same score as that conceded by Cork in first half of the 2021 All-Ireland Final, and three points more than the first-half score managed by Kilkenny when they annihilated Waterford in 2008. Indeed, Tipp put 2-16 on the great Limerick team in the first half of the 2021 Munster Final before all hell was unleashed in the second half.
Of course, you will get the naysayers who will claim that Cork took the foot off the pedal - or whatever phrase you choose to employ - and that Tipp dodged a bullet. Whatever the flaws that might be pointed out in Tipp’s performance - and they are always there on days you lose - it would be remiss not to suggest that the tenacity and resilience of many Tipperary players contributed in no small part to containing Cork’s margin to respectable proportions. Of course, it is a pitiful business to be seeking solace in the margin of defeat.
Such margins do not always reflect the precise difference between teams. A case in point might be the 2022 All-Ireland Final when Kilkenny got within two points of Limerick. Some twelve months later, it provided scant evidence of what would transpire in the second-half of the final between the same teams. Cork have travelled much farther along the road than this Tipp team with a dozen of the Cork players who took part last Sunday seeing service in that 2021 All-Ireland final defeat against Limerick. While they are backboned by some successful under 20 players they have suffered and endured much to get to their current status. Tipp’s competitiveness to the end instead of leaking scores from all angles and taking the father and mother of all beatings should not be overlooked.
It is part of the same process that Cork have been through in recent years. If someone had offered you a ten-point defeat at half-time you might have cut your losses and taken the offer. Cork’s “worst half of hurling” since Pat Ryan took over might just have had something to do with an opposition which kept on going. On a day when Tipp fumbled, misplaced passes, and generally seemed to find the pace and intensity a level above what they have previously experienced the outcome might have been much more damaging.
Nor does the outcome of the League Final move the dial in respect of Tipp’s championship prospects. Indeed - and you nearly have to whisper it these days – it will count for little when Cork take the field either. Most rational people in our county were probably relying on the chances of beating Waterford at home and maybe maintaining our recent good record in Ennis. The Limerick and Cork games were regarded by many as unlikely places to rely on for points.
Nothing that happened in Páirc Uí Chaoimh change those fundamentals of Tipperary’s summer aspirations. It remains a tall order, a big ask, a challenge to test the team’s fortitude to stretching point. Ironically what could undo Tipp is not so much these games themselves but getting through the Limerick and Cork matches in the earlier weeks unscathed. Limerick will be a day to empty the tank and see where it takes us. Win, lose, or draw on that day, heading to Cork a week later compounds the challenge of the opening weeks.
All that said, our assumed rivals for third place in Munster don’t have an easy path either. Should Clare lose to Cork on day one they will face a difficult trip to Walsh Park. By the time we go to Ennis in round three there could be plenty of blood on the carpet from all sides with lots still to play for. Waterford’s relative ease in their winning of the second tier of the League might remind us of what they can do when they are in the zone. While they will represent formidable opponents for us, they could be responsible for upsetting the perceived order when they play others too.
Billy Connolly used to joke about the Scotland soccer team expecting to win the World Cup and then being drawn in a group with “Brazil, Germany, and Pele’s favourites for the tournament.” Munster is getting a bit like that with a Limerick team having won five All-Irelands and the last six Munster Finals, a Clare team that won last year’s All-Ireland, and a Cork team that by all accounts nobody will keep it pucked out to in the summer. A Limerick man told me recently that Cork would win the League Final handy enough because “Cahill will be keeping his powder dry.” He was right about the result. Time will tell on the other point.