Frailties exposed by Limerick show where Tipp have to focus on

A year which never got off the ground for the Tipperary senior footballers culminated with a flat performance against Limerick to bring the curtain down on Paul Kelly’s managerial reign. It was recurring issues, ultimately, which signalled the end.

By Stephen Barry

There was only one late goal conceded in Rathkeale, but Tipp could’ve been taken for far more as their defensive frailties resurfaced. The roll call of Limerick chances underlined their superior interplay. Cathal Downes flashed a shot wide in the fifteenth minute before Paul Maher couldn’t connect with Barry Coleman’s handpass across the square a minute later. In the brief Tipp attack in between, Kelly was agitated by his players’ lack of support running.

In the 20th minute, a clever pass evaded Danny Neville’s fingertips. Then, Coleman failed to cleanly pick the ball for a clear run on goal and Shane O’Connell scrambled back.

After Tipp took their first goal chance with another moment of Paudie Feehan brilliance, Evan Comerford had to pull off a double save from Maher and Neville. O’Connell (twice) and Conall Kennedy produced goal-saving blocks in the second half before Emmet Rigter finally converted one. It was an act of mercy that Neville chipped his final two points over rather than aim for the net.

Incidentally, we can’t list Shane O’Connell’s sequence of last-gasp heroics after his tenth minute introduction for the injured James Morris without wondering why he didn’t merit a championship start this year. He was switched straight onto Peter Nash, whose explosive bursts had Tipp in trouble. He outlasted the dangerman, who was the first player Limerick called ashore.

In an inexperienced team, the former captain’s presence could’ve raised the levels.

Feehan’s sensational goal underlined two things. One, he is a man around whom this Tipp rebuild should be centred. Two, Tipp never took the risks necessary to utilise the wind advantage.

The 33rd-minute strike was their first time pressing a Limerick kick-out, using Seán O’Connor’s free as the opportunity to do so. Feehan pinched the restart and worked his magic.

Limerick showed that killer instinct and intent in the opening three minutes of the second half. After their opening score, they pressed up and won the kick-outs for another pair. Comerford’s third kick-out drifted over the sideline owing to the lack of options.

In fairness to the keeper, he did get success ten minutes later when finding Stephen Quirke for a mark. The Moyle Rovers man moved it on quickly and it resulted in a fine Seán O’Connor point.

However, the direct ball which caused Wexford issues wasn’t as accurate or effective here. Sloppy short passing also coughed up cheap turnovers. Their attack has struggled to click, relying on defenders Feehan and Stephen Grogan for five of their seven Tailteann Cup goals.

Both of Tipp’s second-half goal chances came through Feehan. One ended in a handpassed Quirke point. The other was smashed off the crossbar. Had it been a foot lower, Tipp would’ve been level with a dozen minutes remaining. But it would’ve owed more to individual endeavours than anything approaching the methodical way Limerick picked apart their opponents.

Paul Kelly raised a pertinent point about the ground Tipp need to make up in strength and conditioning after being wiped out in the engine room.

No doubt, he recruited a shrewd operator across the border in Adrian O’Brien. His long-term work with the Limerick footballers and Clare hurlers was in evidence here. Tipp had too much road to make up, not enough time to do so, and the attrition took a toll on such a new-look panel. Losing O’Brien would be an error.

The hope Tipp football will take from Kelly’s tenure is that new blood has gained experience, however chastening it was.

Stephen Grogan’s first year of inter-county finished with the incredible achievement of playing every one of the 980 minutes across McGrath Cup, League, Munster, and Tailteann games.

Ballina’s Eoghan Power was a late-comer to the panel and while his first start wasn’t as effective as his substitute appearance against Wexford, he is always enthusiastic to get on the ball and try to unlock defences.

Of course, we can’t take 2024 in isolation. Waterford were the only team Tipp defeated in 2023, by ever-diminishing margins, as they went winless in Division 3. In 2022, Limerick knocked Tipp out of Munster by a similar margin before Carlow ended their Tailteann Cup. The trend is concerning.

Paul Kelly didn’t get to work with many of the players he might’ve wished. Michael O’Reilly, Kevin Fahey, Colman Kennedy, and Liam McGrath stepped away. Steven O’Brien, Conor Sweeney, Colm O’Shaughnessy, and Cathal Deely were latest to suffer the injury jinx.

No manager has the magic bullet for such a turnover of players on top of those lost in previous years. It can’t be said, either, that the role is any more attractive than it was during the protracted process of hiring Kelly. With few outside suitors, an internal appointment looks most pragmatic.