The Munster Championship is the gift that keeps on giving. The 2023 edition is due to eclipse 2019 for attendances and excitement with one round still to play.
From a Tipperary perspective, it will take a series of unfortunate events to not reach their primary goal of getting out of the province.
Four points from a possible six, it could easily have been two or six such is the narrow margins in these titanic contests. With one game left to play in the Munster Marathon, silverware is a realistic target should we triumph against the Davys downbeat Deise this Sunday.
Coming third is a disadvantage in the three years of the round robin format. Limerick did win the All-Ireland championship in 2018 from this position but Cork failed to progress past the quarter final in the other 2 years of the round robin when losing to beaten Leinster finalists Kilkenny on both occasions. If Tipperary beat Waterford, then they will likely have Dublin in a quarter-final or a semi-final. Lose and a quarter-final to either Galway or Kilkenny awaits.
Cahill and Bevans improvement
When Colm Bonnar was relieved of his duties, the Tipperary County board faced intense critique from several quarters. Elite sport is an uncompromising environment and tough decisions have got to be made on and off the pitch. The Tipperary County board took the bull by the horns and made the difficult decisions that are now reaping benefits.
Tipperary are fitter, stronger, and more organised than last year. Their hurling skills was never in doubt, but only when the fundamentals are in place can they prosper.
The supporters are back on board and the bandwagon are already planning for weekends in Dublin in mid-summer, not that Cahill will allow that to filter through to this group.
After the draw in Cork, most observers concluded it was a point lost rather than gained. On this occasion, it felt somewhat similar, but on second viewing a draw was the fair result with Tipperary dominating the first period and Limerick the latter.
A point gained.
One stat peddled in the media was Tipperary generally outscored Limerick in John Kiely’s tenure during the first half (+0-22) but were obliterated during the second half (-0-69). What is most pleasing was that Tipperary didn’t succumb to the green tidal wave launched at us in the third quarter. Tipperary continued to work like dogs, force turnovers and punish Limerick.
We were also assisted by uncharacteristic Limerick inaccuracy, often from poor shot selection and execution. It must also be noted that the intense pressure by Tipperary defenders who managed a huge 8 hooks and blocks across the 70 minutes, a massive total in modern hurling.
First Half
It was a familiar position for Tipperary at half time, leading by 0-15 to 0-12, a half where the premier domination should have meant a greater gap.
Like Waterford and Clare, Tipperary targeted Gaeroid Hegarty and Cian Lynch with some tight man marking. More importantly, Dan McCormack won the contests with Hegarty from the dropping ball.
Tipp played most the half either 3 inside or 2 with the third being allowed to join the battle ground that is the middle third. Barry Nash was once again stifled from the majority of the puckout barring the few occasions he stepped into the number 3 slot.
Tipperary managed to recover the ball from Limerick on 20 occasions with 9 such turnovers around the middle. This has been and once again was the template for most of Tipperary’s scores. Tipperary scored 0-9 off such scenarios in the first half. Cathal Barrett’s perfectly timed shoulder to win a sideline ball being a signal to Tipperary supporters of what was to come.
Limerick, who pride themselves on recovering the ball only achieved 14, 8 around the middle third. Limerick and Paul Kinnerk have revolutionised the way in which teams look at these opportunities to transition from defence to offence and score points from distance in space.
The optics of Tipperary’s turnovers are much more appealing with some gorgeous striking and less throwball that has become synonymous with Limerick.
Key Moment of first half
Tipperary’s dominance should have been more had it have not been for one Sean Stack penalising Bonnar Maher’s legal handpass. What is ironic about this is that it came after Limerick had not shown a clear and obvious separation of the ball on 20 occasions prior to this.
Tipperary led 0-10 to 0-7 when Jake Morris pointed, the next 3 minutes produced some of the worst refereeing seen in Championship 2023.
- 21:17 Jake Morris points for Tipperary to lead 0-10 to 0-7
- 21:20: Nicky Quaid immediately hits the ground. This is the oldest trick in the book, often known as the Quaid eye contact lens stoppage. On this occasion, Quaid was reminiscing on the good old Covid days and waited for a drink of water.
- 22:51 Puckout is taken after stoppage of 1 minute and 30 seconds.
- 22:57 Tipperary win the long puckout and Conor Stakelum launches an attack.
- 23:03 Bonner Maher wins the ball and Sean Stack amazingly calls for a throw with Jake Morris and Noel McGrath bearing in on goal.
- 23:45 To add insult to injury, Cian Lynch wins the resultant free and gives the clearest throw known to man which Aaron Gillane points.
Refereeing is a thankless job, but other than the Barry Nash red card, it felt like Tipperary were struggling to get the 50-50 calls, something that seems to be a constant theme in our duals with the Treaty.
The throwing of the ball is totally farcical at this point. Stack allowed Limerick to throw the ball willingly all day yet ended up penalising Tipperary on 3 vital occasions. Will O’Donoghue had a great game on Sunday but had Stack enforced the handpass rule then the Na Piarsaigh man could have been called for throws in double figures. The current rule is unenforceable but the complete lack of consistency in the interpretation of it is even more frustrating.
The news that Conor O’Donovan’s rule change will be trialled in next years Freshers hurling league is welcome, but why not trial it straight away in a some of the County leagues currently taking place across the country.
Hurling is a brilliant game, but it can be even better with more contests for the ball and more actual striking rather than Hurling. This scribe has already expanded on this: https://wordpress.com/post/hurlerontheditch267913442.wordpress.com/2754
The HOTD would not agree with the other proposal that each puckout must travel outside the 45. Short puckouts can be a brilliant part of the game when the full back line legally strikes or moves the ball forward. Barry Nash’s striking has been a catalyst to so many Limerick scores and Tipperary are attempting to do something similar by placing Ronan Maher in the 3 pocket. The only negative of short puckouts is inside backs taking 6-12 steps to break a tackle or throwing off the ball in similar scenarios. Hopefully this is not another case of the GAA solving one problem only to conjure up another rule that no one asked for.
Impressive start for Shelly
Rhys Shelly has been on the name on the lips of this scribe for many years. The reason has been his back-handed swing which like Nickie Quaid is suited to the modern game with an ability to disguise short, medium, and long puckouts. Secondly, his ball trajectory is flat and fast but critically has great control when cutting across the ball and generating backspin. This is a catchable ball.
The puckout was always a weakness of Brian Hogan in recent years and limited Tipperary restarts to either loopy short puckouts to the full back line or long hanging strikes to the opposition half back line.
In fairness to Barry Hogan, his short and medium puckouts have also been imperious. In Hogan and Shelly, we have two goalies with puckout technique to match the likes of Nickie Quaid.
Shelly’s long range free taking has been on shown for his club in recent years, so it was no surprise he converted his first effort, surprisingly, he only attempted one more.
Puckouts in numbers
As noted, Tipperary have focused on turnovers. Despite Shelly showing off his accuracy there is still room for improvement on puckout retention and generating shots directly from our own phases. In total we only retained 16/39 restarts (41%) compared to Limerick’s 17/29 (58%). Tipperary only scored 0-4 off their own puckout whilst Limerick got 0-9. Throughout a 70-minute game of top-level hurling, these points can often be score’s that are less punishing than the pressure to consistently recover possession. It must also be remembered, that Limerick still have one of the best presses in the game despite the struggles of some of their key players individually.
Morrissey masterclass
Limerick outscored Tipperary in both halves off their own puckout with Tom Morrissey given another performance for the ages. The Ahane man is a phenomenal player. In the first half of the game whilst Limerick struggled, Morrissey won 3 puckouts when his team needed him most. He finished with 0-4 from play and a couple of assists.
The HOTD has been very quick to point out some of Limericks “incidents” in recent years, but Morrissey never gets involved, his only fault being his inability to give a legal handpass. The Man of the match always draws debate, this scribe would have gone for Morrissey or Tipperary’s Bryan O’Mara.
Second Half
As expected, the Limerick green wave emerged for the second half. Within 3 minutes, the Tipperary lead had been evaporated. “Here we go again” many Tipperary supporters muttered.
The phrase “Make sure it goes dead” is one echoed in every top-level GAA team. On 39 minutes, there was an unusual 4 phase play where Tipperary (twice) and Limerick (once) did not manage this fundamental. It ended in a Limerick shot and score by Seamus Flanagan on the fourth phase.
Game management
On 40:18, Tipperary attempted to manage to game as Bryan O’Mara tried his best Quaid impression and managed to waste 30 seconds of time before Shelly got the ball in play again. This was at the point when Limerick had taken the lead. The next score would be vital.
Many would have wondered if Patrick “Bonnar” Maher would return in 2023 after a mixed couple of years with the blue & gold. Lorrha/Dorrha’s county intermediate championship win must have been a huge boost where he played a central role. Cahill has definitely adopted a horses for courses strategy with Maher being deployed to curtail Barry Nash and the Limerick transition. His most vital play being his turnover on Dan Morrissey in the 42nd minute and resultant free converted by Gaeroid O’Connor who was faultless on dead balls (9/9). It was another example of the warrior Bonnar is.
Tipperary took the lead when Mark Kehoe squared to Noel McGrath who was much more involved in the second half. The Tipperary scores were nearly all coming from turnovers unlike Limerick who had a greater variety of sources.
An example of Limericks aerial dominance was their taking apart of the Tipperary puckout. It was not until the 55th minute before Tipperary won a long restart whilst Kyle Hayes and Declan Hannon began to dominate long Tipperary clearances from short puckouts and open play.
Bryan O’Mara and to a lesser extent Ronan Maher’s brilliant stick passing was critical as Tipperary eventually begun to play it through the line’s bypassing Limerick’s half back line. O’Mara had 8 possessions in the second half with 6 retentions of the ball around the congested middle third being essential to Tipperary turning the Limerick tide. Rhys Shelly’s ability to find O’Mara and Maher under intense pressure on display for the whole world to see.
Even when this was happening, Tipperary struggled to retain the ball in the full forward line (4/14) but critically the forward unit pressurised the Limerick clearances who had similar struggles retaining the ball inside (3/10). The modern game is all about keeping the ball when you have it but more significantly punishing the opponent when they give it away.
Accuracy
The team with the most shots generally win but on this occasion, Limerick spurned several chances to win this game. The pressure Tipperary put on the shots must also be commended.
Tipperary are renowned for their wrist work and a conversion rate of 73% is not unusual but Limerick’s 58% is below their average. Its another sign that all is not right in this Limerick machine. Cian Lynch and Gaeroid Hegarty are having their struggles, both missed routine opportunities to get their name on the scoresheet and ease some pressure they may be placing on themselves such is their high standards.
Pic below: GAA Statsman twitter @gaa_statsman
The big decision for John Kiely will be to stick or twist in the Cork game. Cathal O’Neill took his opportunity with five excellent points from six shots. O’Neill is the type of player who doesn’t seem as suited to Limericks system-based hurling but his skills are needed now more than ever.
Despite having some excellent underage teams in recent years there has been little change to the Limerick first 15. This is unlike the Kilkenny team of 2005-2015 that had constant rotation with young players filtering through yearly. For John Kiely, he is damned he is does and damned if doesn’t in a similar fashion to Liam Sheedy in 2019/20.
Bench boost
The final minutes were typically frantic with the ageless Graeme Mulcahy playing a pivotal role for Limerick. He scored 0-2 and assisted another 0-2. He should have had another point with the only other error being he could have slipped Peter Casey in for the winning goal but instead tipped over his second point.
Tipperary had a vital contribution by Conor Bowe in the second half. Kyle Hayes had a huge number of possessions in that period as Tipperary’s number 10 played deep and allowed Hayes to go forward. His short passing was accurate but didn’t penetrate the Tipperary backline as much as usual. When Tipperary did turnover the ball, Conor Bowe got 0-3 (0-2 from distance) off Hayes on that side of the field.
As Dan McCormack alluded to on the Sunday game, it was Bowe and John McGraths input that will have most pleased the Tipperary panel. McGrath scored the leveller, once again cold from the bench. Had he missed, Cahill would once again have been questioned about this policy when Noel McGrath and Seamus Callanan were on the pitch and well up to pace with the game.
Liam Cahill ban
Whilst concluding this piece, word has filtered through that Liam Cahill will receive a 4 week ban after his red card in the dying moments of last Sunday’s game. James Owens is also awarded the Limerick v Cork game, the mind boggles.
The final ten minutes saw several debatable decisions go against Tipperary in front of Cahill. The only outlier was Barry Nash’s second yellow which was on the harsh side. Stack was always going to give the final free to Tipperary, but the Premier were due one after:
- Third handpass against Tipperary in the 63rd minute.
- A clear sideline against Tipperary prior to that.
- A soft free awarded to Graeme Mulcahy in the 69th which Byrnes converted.
- A clear sideline against Tipperary in the 74th minute right in front of James Owens which was the final straw for the Ballingarry native.
The sideline official has very few duties, too few in this scribe’s opinion, but the main one is to give sideline’s to the correct team. Had Limerick managed to clear the ball long from their 75th minute sideline cut then they may have escaped with the win.
The Tipperary County board have got to appeal this ban. This is high stakes sport, and the top referees need to be able to judge correctly what direction sidelines are going. The frustration Liam Cahill must have felt after the Bonnar handpass must have been palpable without all the above being added into the equation.
Waterford await.
The task is straight forward. Win and a Munster final, lose by 5 or more and run the risk of a draw in the Gaelic Grounds between Limerick & Cork. That double could be got at massive odds but stranger scenarios have occurred across the sporting landscape.
What Waterford show up is likely to be the big question. Do they believe in Davy? Do they believe in his Moneyball like strategies to change the game as we know it? Do they just cut loose? Do they want an end to what many observers adjudge to be organised madness?
There is one matter that not up for question and that is Davy “would love it if we beat them.” His record is not good against the Premier but what better time to take a scalp than when his own inter county hurling is up in the air.
Davy is good for hurling, he provides hours upon hours of talking points for the boys on OTB AM to salivate over but that won’t cut the mustard for ambitious Counties looking to climb the already competitive hurling ladder.
Away from the Waterford-Davy sub-plot, the message to Tipperary is simple, keep it up.
Hurler on the ditch 