Tipp will have to upset form book in Munster

LADIES FOOTBALL: TG4 Munster Senior Championship Preview

By Thomas Conway

TIPPERARY v WATERFORD

Fethard Town Park

Sunday, 27th April

Throw-in @ 2.00pm

It’s difficult to know what might represent success for the Tipperary ladies footballers this championship season.

For the past couple of years they’ve been caught in what at times seems like an eternal relegation struggle. To the credit of the players and indeed former manager Peter Creedon, the team managed to successfully retain its senior status, avoiding a relegation play-off last season, which was progress. So once again in 2025 they’ll be competing in the top tier, but once again they’ll be one of the smaller fish.

As far as the Munster Championship is concerned, this now seems like Kerry’s playground. Last year, the Kingdom bridged a seven-year gap to unseat Cork and take provincial honours. They went on to become All-Ireland champions for the first time in 31 years. Chances are they will do the same again this season. But they are not the only big hitter in the province. Waterford and Cork are also big players in the ladies football world, and Tipperary selector Lar Roche openly acknowledges that his county is fourth in the pecking order.

“The reality is that Tipperary are fourth in Munster,” Roche admitted.

“You look at Kerry - All-Ireland champions, now Division 1 champions. Waterford - number three in Division 1, had some very impressive results during the league. Cork, I would say Cork are happy with their league campaign - they lost the final, but they’ve gone up to Division 1 for next year.

“And then you have us, and we’re going to be playing Division 2 again next year. So, we’re under no illusions as to where we are and what we have to do, but look, we have a strong panel, we’ve got very good buy-in from the players from the very start and we’ll be hoping the girls will come good in the championship.”

League campaign

Tipp’s league campaign was, well, mixed. There are two ways of looking at it - glass half full, glass half empty. On the one hand they lost their first three games (admittedly to stronger teams - Galway, Cork, and Monaghan), effectively dashing any hopes of promotion.

Their recovery was, however, impressive. They notched up three wins and ultimately finished third in Division 2, which wasn’t bad, considering their inauspicious start. Roche is honest and isn’t in the business of making excuses, but he does point out that Tipp were depleted by injuries in the early stages of the league. Once those players started to return and some of the newer recruits began to find their feet, their form picked up.

“The first couple of games, we had a lot of girls on the injury table,” he admitted.

“Eventually we got those girls back and we started to improve as we went along.

“It’s a whole new management team, we’ve a lot of new girls in as well, and they’re mixed in with some of the more experienced players, so it’s a good combination.

“We needed a bit of bedding in time during the league. We knew that would be the case and although obviously we were disappointed not to get promoted, the league went more or less as we expected.”

Lar Roche says that Tipp will approach the Munster championship “game by game”, that, he maintains, is the “best approach,” starting out at home to Waterford and Cork before travelling to Kerry. Their final placing in the table will determine the group they go into in the All-Ireland Championship.

For now, their sights are fixed on Waterford, a side under the stewardship of former Kerry goalkeeper Tomás Mac an tSaoir. Aged 35, the new Déise manager is regarded as an astute coach with an emerging team - Waterford finished third in Division 1 and came within three points of All-Ireland champions Kerry.

Mac an tSaoir respects Tipp. He acknowledged that his side will probably go into the fixture as slight favourites, but clearly regards the Premier as a dangerous foe, particularly in the surrounds of a home venue. Tipp defeated Waterford in the same fixture last year, but the reality is that they are now underdogs. A win would raise expectations across the county. It’s well within their grasp.