Experience key in the outcome as Cummins awaits decision on future

Tipperary manager Brendan Cummins said how the players use the disappointment of an All-Ireland final defeat will determine how many of them go onto have big careers in the blue and gold.

By Shane Brophy

Speaking following Saturday’s All-Ireland final defeat to Offaly, the Ballybacon/Grange clubman was magnanimous that they were beaten by the better side on the evening.

“The boys are gutted,” he said, after emerging from the dressing room after speaking with his players.

“Offaly were always that bit ahead of us as they went through the game.

“The lads battled really hard, which we’ve been doing all year.

We just couldn’t get our noses in front to put them under little bit of pressure. I think that little bit of experience they had from last year where they had nine or ten of the group that played in an All-Ireland final, down the home straight you could see that in them.

“But I have to say I couldn’t be any prouder of these men inside there. At the start of the year, we were no-hopers.

“Everyone was saying we didn’t have a chance, blah, blah, blah stuff, which you’re going to hear anyway.

“But they really battened down the hatches and even today when it was going against us, they really fought and fought and fought and that’s the spirit that’s inside in those young men there.”

In terms of the game, Tipp started well to lead 1-3 to 0-3 after fifteen minutes but in the second and third quarters fell eight points behind before making a late surge which came up short.

“Obviously, we had wides in the second half and turnovers and all that, but you can’t beat that bit of experience Offaly have. I think that was the deciding factor,” Cummins added.

“When they got ahead, they were comfortably ahead to be fair to them and they used the ball really well.

“They did and you know that’s why they’re All-Ireland champions.

They didn’t panic when Senan got the goal and it’s that response that we see all the time in this group.

“Every time they have been tested, they come back and find a way to keep hanging in there but unfortunately in the last four or five minutes when we pushed up chasing the game, they picked us off with a couple more points and that’s it.”

With nineteen of the panel underage again next year, Cummins only has to look at Offaly who bounced back from losing last years final to go one step further and win a first ever All-Ireland in the grade, in front of a jubilant green, white, and gold support.

“Experiences like tonight, while they do hurt and are stinging and killing all of us frankly, they’re character-building for those men inside there,” Cummins said.

“No more than Offaly last year sitting in Thurles having been beaten by Cork, the gauntlet is thrown down to the group to see what they’re going to do next.

“There are a lot of them under-age again next year and we need a lot of development on them and let’s see.

He added: “Our term is up now, and the three years have been good. If you look at the development of players, this year it was nice to win something and to win a Munster championship was great.

“I’m absolutely blessed with the backroom team that I have. There’s not a huge amount of us but every one of them are doing the work of two or three.

“It’s been a fantastic experience, I must say, the last two or three years.

“I’ll sit down with the county for a review in a couple of months’ time. We’ll sit down, have a chat, and see what the world look like.

“The management game these days, it’s finicky in a lot of ways. We just have to sit down with the county board and see what the story is.”