Ryan looking forward to Tailteann Cup run
By Stephen Barry
As the Tipperary team gathered in a huddle after the full-time whistle at Cusack Park, Philly Ryan pointed to the result as a hopeful sign ahead of a Tailteann Cup tilt.
They battled basic errors, missed goal chances, and a confident Clare side but emerged with credit from a six-point defeat.
“We’re looking forward to a run in the Tailteann Cup,” said Ryan.
“This is a building block for us.
“Clare are a Division 3 team. We referenced it there; we were six points away from a Division 3 team that were third in the division. So, it was a standard up from what we played. We'd be happy enough with the performance of the lads.
“You’re never happy when you lose but we were eleven points down at one stage in the second half, we were making basic errors, and we came back well. We fought to the end. That's as much as we can ask from the lads at that stage.
“The game was won for Clare, but we’d be happy we plugged away. We could have folded at eleven points down, we could have left it slip out to 15-16, but we didn't. We kept going. We'd be happy with that.”
The missed penalty, in the ninth minute, was a major sliding doors moment. Instead of jumping 1-2 to no score ahead, Tipp found themselves six points behind before long.
“We felt we owned the first part of the game,” Ryan added.
“We didn't convert the penalty. That was a big one for us. We seemed to die out of the game for a while after that. If we got the penalty, who knows what would have happened?
“Then we left in the goal, but we were giving the ball away too cheaply. Our own unforced errors. It's been a costly mistake of the team over the years. It's something we've been trying to work on, something we've tried to rectify, but we'll get there. We'll get there.”
A promising element was their goal threat from high balls floated into the square, which returned 1-2 from four chances.
“We probably saw that they were in a bit of trouble at the back,” said Ryan.
“We had an advantage when the penalty arose, so they had an opportunity to throw it in, see what happens, and that's exactly what happened. We got the penalty out of it.”