Limerick’s experience telling as promotion hopes dealt major blow

By James Hayden

Sport can be cruel and unforgiving. An impressive start to Tipperary’s Division 4 Allianz National Football League has been overshadowed by successive defeats to London and Limerick, defeats that have dealt a major blow to Tipp’s hopes of promotion.

Maybe it was premature to entertain the possibility of promotion after victories over Waterford and Longford, and a share of the spoils away to Carlow but such were the nature of Tipp’s early performances with a new-look side that supporters were entitled to moot the possibility of a promotion push.

Defeat to a very decent London side in round 4 served to hand Tipperary a very timely wake-up call as to the very competitive nature of life in the lowest tier of football in the country.

Limerick, however, provided Tipperary with a genuine reminder of the standard that has to be attained in order to make a sustained push for promotion to Division 3. Just three years ago, the Shannonsiders found themselves promoted to the giddy heights of Division 2 but in two successive seasons they suffered demotion on the double and found themselves back in Division 4.

In 2017, Tipperary also found themselves mixing it with the big boys in Division 2, promotion that was sealed by defeating of all sides, Armagh, the reigning All-Ireland champions. Fast forward two years and Tipp are back in Division 3 before defeat at the hands of Longford in March 2023 consigned the Premier County to life in Division 4.

The point is that sport by its nature can be cyclical and at present Tipperary are undoubtedly at the bottom of a learning curve and at the beginning of a new cycle, with a new look inexperienced side and a new manager at the helm.

Philly Ryan and his backroom team are under no illusions as to the challenge they face, and he is very upfront when admitting that Tipperary are very much a side in transition. Tipp are a side with young players, many of whom will need to garner the necessary experience of inter-county football not just this year but over the coming years in order to attain success.

A host of players made their senior debut this year for the blue and gold. Compare this with Limerick who have welcomed back seasoned campaigner and captain Iain Corbett. The Newcastlewest defender is back to full fitness this year and is a vital cog in the Shannonsiders machine, bringing a wealth of experience to a side that displayed an abundance of craft and guile on Saturday night.

If you take the two fortuitous enough goals out of Tipp’s final tally, the gulf in class between the sides was evident. Tipperary need the likes of Sean O’Connor and Luke Boland to bolster their young side and the loss of both men to injury served to seriously detract from Tipp’s potency.

Limerick have the necessary experience at present to push for promotion but for Tipperary it’s all about building for the future. Injuries have dogged the side in this year’s league campaign with a trip to table-toppers Wexford next up for Philly Ryan’s charges on Saturday 15th March.

No doubt, Tipperary will continue to work on their defensive structure for their remaining two games in the league. Limerick’s use of the give and go in attack caused untold problems, and at times looked flat-footed, hesitant and ponderous in defence as Limerick’s attackers knifed through at will. It’s these defensive frailties that will have to be worked on if we are to pick up further points in this league campaign.

To focus on the positives Tipp hit two less wides than Limerick, nine compared to eleven for the Shannonsiders and did cause problems for the Limerick defence with their aerial barrage. In the opening half in particular, Tipperary picked off some fine points with Sean O’Connor, Cian Smith and Michael Barlow finding their range and at times Tipp did cut a swathe through Limerick’s defence.

Undoubtedly Tipp will be sweating on the fitness of a number of players for the trip to Wexford and Philly Ryan will be also hoping to address Tipp’s defensive concerns over the coming fortnight.

The overarching concern for management however will be Tipperary’s lack of depth in their squad as they face into their final two games. While the possibility of an away victory over an unbeaten Wexford may prove a bridge too far, they will surely be hopeful of pulling off a victory in their final round clash against Wicklow on Sunday, 23rd March in Clonmel.