Passing the Ennis test can set Tipp up for strong championship run

GAA: Munster Senior Hurling Championship Round 1 Preview

By Shane Brophy

CLARE v TIPPERARY

Cusack Park, Ennis

Sunday, 23rd April

Throw-in @ 4.00pm

Referee: Thomas Walsh (Waterford)

Live on GAAGO

The road to redemption finally here!

46 weeks is a long time since Tipperary’s disastrous 2022 senior hurling championship campaign came to an end and next Sunday in Ennis provides the opportunity for the Premier County begin a new journey that will hopefully lead to success.

When that success will look like, no one knows but it has to start somewhere and there is no more difficult place than in Cusack Park to start but maybe that is the challenge we need to see this new Tipperary team face up to first out the gate.

As the saying goes, league is league, championship is championship, and while Tipperary come into the 2023 Munster campaign in better mood than twelve months ago, it guarantees nothing in terms of the four games that are to come.

Tipperary are notoriously slow starters coming off decent league campaigns, you only have to go back to 2018 when they reached a league final but went onto fail to win a game in the first Munster round-robin. Indeed, in the three iterations of the format, Tipperary have won just four of twelve games, all coming in the 2019 campaign when they reached a Munster Final, then losing heavily to Limerick. Thankfully, not a fatal loss as later in August in Croke Park would prove.

Next Sunday’s game against Clare is important but cannot be classed as must-win. There is still a mindset going back to the old straight knockout days that everything is on the line in the first round of the championship. There is no doubt that Tipperary will be going out to win but the Munster Championship is a marathon, not a sprint. There is no point putting all the eggs into one basket next Sunday, come out with a loss, and then feeling there is nowhere to turn despite having three games to follow and six points to play for. It is about accumulating enough points to be in the top 3 in the table come May 28th. Survive and advance is the motto for all five Munster teams as they prepare for the six-weeks that lie ahead.

However, with one of Tipperary’s home games being against the all-conquering Limerick side, Liam Cahill’s men will have to pick up at least one win on the road to take into the two games at Semple Stadium in rounds 4 & 5. Cusack Park is a daunting challenge but not insurmountable, as Tipperary proved in 2019 when they played that occasion superbly, facing down the Clare barrage in the early going before going onto win comfortably by thirteen points. However, what Tipperary had to their advantage that day was seasoned team with great experience from Cathal Barrett at corner back right through to Seamus Callanan in the full forward line.

While there is still experience in Barrett, Ronan Maher, Noel McGrath, Jason Forde, and Patrick Maher, the vast majority of the Tipperary players will be tasting this atmosphere for the first time and how they handle it will go a long way to getting the result they want come Sunday evening.

On the flip side from that meeting four years ago, Clare have the more experienced side and with the addition of Adam Hogan, Mark Rodgers, and Aidan McCarthy to last years squad, manager Brian Lohan has the strongest panel at his disposal in his fourth year in charge.

That brings with it its own pressure, not only to make home advantage count, but they will also feel they are primed to win an All-Ireland. They were as close as anyone to taking Limerick down last year and won’t fear the Shannonsiders in the slightest when they come up against them, be it in a Munster Final or in Croke Park later in the summer.

Clare didn’t show much in the National League which leads you to suspect that their only focus was on the championship and hitting the ground running against Tipperary which is very much a must-win game for the Banner as if they don’t, they face Limerick the following Saturday and possibly starting the campaign with two losses would make it very difficult to advance from there.

Clare were comprehensive 3-21 to 2-16 winners over Tipperary in Thurles this time last year, but you cannot draw any comparisons to that with Tipp under new management and very much in a different mindset. However, building on the positive National League campaign is important. While the manner of the semi-final defeat to Limerick left an element of demoralisation in the county, the All-Ireland champions have been doing that to most counties so Tipp need to focus on the positives and if you were to do a power-rankings after the league, Tipp would be very much next in line behind Limerick. However, that won’t county for anything in the championship and they need to build on that progress and find more over the coming weeks.

In terms of the likely starting team, Barry Hogan has very much cemented his place as number one goalkeeper, with his shot-stopping ability and excellence with his puckouts notable in the league.

The return from injury of Cathal Barrett is timely for a game of such difficultly and you need players of his toughness for such an atmosphere, but also for an inexperienced full-back line at this level with Michael Breen set to be at full back with Johnny Ryan expected to get the nod in the other corner, although Eoghan Connolly could come into the reckoning if the management feel they need more size.

Bryan O’Mara and Ronan Maher should make up two-thirds of the half-back line, be it at 6 or 7 as both are inter-changeable depending on what the management feel is needed at centre back. The other wing back berth is an open one. Initially they were keen on Brian McGrath, but his injury hit campaign has hurt his chances as his vision on the ball would be his biggest strength. He would be giving something away in terms of physicality and if the management feel they need more of that, Dan McCormack or Enda Heffernan would come into the reckoning, or maybe Seamus Kennedy if he is given the man-marking role on Tony Kelly which he was so effective in last year, one of the few plus-points from the defeat.

There is a lot of interchangeability in this sector and in midfield with McCormack, Kennedy, Alan Tynan, Noel McGrath, and Conor Stakelum. The placing of Noel McGrath will be important as while he doesn’t have the legs for midfield in a modern sense, his vision on the ball remains the best in the game and Tipp might be best served by him playing as deep as possible and him getting on as much ball as he can from where he can see most of the field in front of him.

It might mean Tipperary having to sacrifice a forward but in the modern game five forwards is the way most teams operate with. Jason Forde and Gearoid O’Connor should take up two spots while Jake Morris’ eye for goal is something Tipp cannot afford to be without.

The presence and experience of Patrick Maher might be key in this game at full forward to get Tipp through the early going. It is also a venue of one of his best ever Tipp performances back in 2019 before injury in the subsequent game ruined his season.

The one thing the management aren’t short of in the forwards are options with John McGrath, Conor Bowe, Mark Kehoe, and Sean Ryan, all to an extent having shown up well in the league so the management can go the horses for courses depending on what they feel is the best way to attack this Clare defence who aren’t the most physically imposing and can be got at keeping the field as big as possible, as Kilkenny showed in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

The build-up to the first round of the championship is always special and with the weather thankfully turning to what we would more associate with the Munster Championship fare, it should wet the appetite for a build-up which has been a slow burner with tickets still available for the 18,000-capacity venue.

Tipperary will be out-numbered on Sunday in Ennis, but it cannot be underestimated how important as many blue and gold supporters make it their business to be there to cheer on the team. There are still doubts about the ceiling is of this Tipperary team, but they have to start somewhere in terms of their development and a win in Ennis would be as good a place to start.

There is nothing better than in an underdog victory hearing supporters getting louder and louder in the second half of a game they are under pressure to win. The players notice it too and can feed of it, both for Tipp and indeed for Clare who will get edgy if this is tight going down the home-straight.

Tipp have the ability to win but it is going to be a tough ask but if they pass this test, the belief that will be gained will be incredible and who knows where the team will go from there in 2023.