Hot takes from round 1

Killinan End

Heading to Salthill in the days after the place had taken the father and mother of a battering from Mother Nature was always an interesting prospect. No need for a bucket and spade on this occasion. Nor much chance of a stroll along the prom while discussing the year’s prospects either. To pointlessly beat an old drum, you do wonder about the wisdom of playing serious hurling or indeed football in the month of January. All that said, it is fair to say to in the end conditions could have been far worse.

The potential outcome was as fraught and imponderable as the weather. Assessing a Tipp team coming off a poor championship campaign and a disastrous ending to the National League last year was a dilemma. There comes a point when talk of potential is irrelevant. This was a squad running on empty. A trip west to play Galway, often a stumbling block to our ambitions, and also likely to be getting a new-manager bounce, was perhaps not the opening fixture you’d have chosen. All things considered then there is much to praise in Tipp’s display while making allowances for the caveats Liam Cahill was at pains to mention. There are no guarantees. There will be setbacks. Reverses will happen and momentum will stall. Young inexperienced players will remain young and inexperienced for some time indeed.

Yet, all we would have hoped for in the opening fixture was a performance with effort and spirit, and all going well a win to keep the relegation wolf from the door. As things transpired, we got both in spades. Of course, Galway were poor, and they may have to search for signs of life for another while. So, it is hardly getting ahead of ourselves, or imagining inappropriate prospects for the year ahead to compliment the team on the manner in which they fought for every inch in Pearse Stadium. The younger players such as Sam O’Farrell, Darragh McCarthy, and Dylan Walsh – to name just a few – had a fruitful outing in a fairly hostile environment. Some of the more established players led the way for them too.

It was not without the ‘what about?’ issues of course. The two goals were not ones that will be looked back on with any satisfaction. While the Galway player made a three-course meal of his reaction to Alan Tynan’s prod of the hurley, it was the kind of action that could have left Tipp down a man. Aggression is good, indeed necessary, but you don’t want to use up your red card credit on a harmless reactionary flick of a hurley that will not go unpunished on other days. Nor indeed, do you want to create a scenario where referees’ attention are drawn to such niggly incidents when they review their week. The marginal calls can go against players who are seen as playing on-the-edge.

As things have gone over the past while we might have entered the League with the spectre of relegation hanging over us. The result in Galway eases that prospect somewhat. The visit of a Wexford team in some disarray because of departing players and on foot of a loss to Cork offers the prospect of garnering a couple of more points and easing concern over the trap-door. If that appears complacent about the threat of Wexford it is meant only in the context of the next two rounds where Limerick and Cork will be the opponents. Having four points on the board ahead of those games allows us to enter those with some abandon.

Our footballers got a hard-earned draw in Carlow on a weekend when the experimentation around the rules got its first public airing in a competitive situation. Early indications were positive with plenty of open pacey football in the games between Dublin v Mayo and Down v Roscommon. The two-point kick from outside the regular scoring area is remarkably attractive to teams as it’s worth almost a goal without half the stress and long odds associated. It will be fascinating to see how defences respond and indeed how attacks will look at the possibility. Dublin, for example, showed little interest in trying for two-pointers while Down and Galway had a go. Opinions will be fluid on those decisions you would assume.

The difficulty with assessing Dublin v Mayo in the context of more generalised findings is that these counties tend to play positive constructive football anyway. How lesser teams who do not have such attacking options react in the long run is another matter. What was notable – if hardly surprising – was the acknowledgement of David Gough, one of the nation’s foremost football referees, that much of this is simply unimplementable at club level where a referee will be on his own and cannot rely on a maybe partisan linesman to keep an eye on where players are on the pitch. Still, Godspeed to the new changes and let us hope the good signs continue.