Better days ahead says McFadden

By Thomas Conway

There’s a chemistry to this Tipperary senior football squad that we haven’t seen for maybe a couple of years.

This year marked the return of Ed Burke as manager, who immediately brought a sense of clarity to the equation. Before the league, he made sure to ascertain which players would be available. He cobbled together all the information, selected his panel, and went from there. Always a good start.

Now, as the Munster championship approaches, the players give the impression that they have bonded together, both on and off the pitch. Sliabh na mBan clubwoman Kate McFadden has been a Tipp squad member for a number of years, and she feels some of Burke’s newer additions to the panel have generated renewed energy.

“A few of the new girls on the panel have given us a huge boost, and you can feel it in training,” she admits.

“The younger ones bring out that hunger, because they’re fighting to make themselves known and that encourages everybody else to bring their standards up a level.

“The future is bright in Tipperary ladies football. We have players coming through that will really make a difference at senior level and that’s great, but our focus is on this year, and on the Waterford game.”

McFadden is pushing hard for a first-team place. We may well see her in the starting fifteen throughout the course of this championship. If not, she will feature off the bench.

But the spotlight, as it always is, will shine on Tipp’s marquee forward Aishling Moloney. The Cahir woman ranks as one of the best all-round footballers in the game and has also flourished in her career down under with Geelong in AFLW.

There’s more to Tipp than just Moloney, but their chances of success will still rest heavily on the shoulders of the 27 year-old.

“Aishling is a great talker, first of all,” McFadden reveals.

“She’s always talking, always encouraging, always the loudest person at training - in a good way! But she is just such an asset to have on the team. Her skill-level is so high, but she's a team player.”

McFadden, a trainee accountant with Grant Thornton, doesn’t give much away in terms of Tipp’s gameplan going into this Munster championship. But one thing that is noticeable is her optimism and winning mentality.

“We need to play as a team and stick to our system,” she feels.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to work on. If we trust in the process and stick to our plan going into championship, I think we can win games, and that’s what we want to do this year - win games.”

Perhaps Ed Burke’s influence really is rubbing off on the players. Bear in mind, the Moyle Rovers clubman was part of the management set-up that guided Tipp to All-Ireland intermediate honours in 2019. His mandate is now to get them back winning - consistently. Overturn any of their opponents in Munster and they’ll be doing very well indeed.