Intermediate inter county hurling, it can help bridge the gap to the big time.

Lockdown 3.0 really is boring season in the GAA world. Without any games, the most exciting aspect of January has been the various transfers which have been some of the most high profile in memory. It really is a tough start to county chairman Joe Kennedys tenure. The parish rule has been the bedrock of the GAA’s parochial roots and there is a huge risk that if leaks start emerging in the policy it will lead to a tsunami of transfers in the years ahead. In the case of the high profile transfer saga out West, Knockavilla Kickhams has offered its hand, whether the players in question will accept it and return to their native club will emerge in the coming week(s). Its a bit like having an argument with the better half, even when you believe your 100% right,sometimes the only solution is to wave the white flag and admit you were wrong.

The other high profile transfer involving Emmet Moloney seems to be the case of a player wanting to maximise his exposure to top level Football. Traditionally, a player may transfer to a club via the “gentleman’s agreement” if his own side did not enter a football team but this does not appear to be the case here. Drom were senior football as recently as 2018 and with some effort they could be a very competitive senior side once again. Clonmel Commercials would have ambitions of challenging for Munster club championships again in the future and a few outside recruits like Moloney could be a huge help when you come up against the likes of Dr.Crokes and Nemo Rangers.

Its all well and good having positive PR regarding Tipperary inter county football but it is no good if the numbers are not playing the game in the clubs on the ground. For example, County senior hurling champions Kiladangan have adopted an even more exaggerated policy of abstinence to the big ball with successive relegation’s back to Junior Football, last year they did not field in the intermediate championship as they returned to the junior ranks. It leaves inter county footballer Dan O’Meara with little or no football with his club, for a talented young forward it far from ideal. Of course, Kiladangan will feel it was justified following their Dan Breen cup win. Its an issue the HOTD may expand on in the coming weeks.

Other matters arising

Lockdown 3.0 has allowed the HOTD time to take stock in a number of various GAA matters that would have simply being grumbling in the background other wise. After looking into the poor standards of the young hurler of the year and also possibly rejuvenating the Railway cup competition in early March to give us some GAA to view. Today, the HOTD is focusing on a hybrid of the two but probably the most important and a revival of the All-Ireland intermediate club championship.

Cork won the final installment of the intermediate championship, beating Kilkenny in 2018.

The competition was referred to once again was when Tipperary corner-back Sean O’Brien retired at the end of last year. The Newport native benefited greatly from the competition as a stepping stone to inter county senior hurling, there were a number of others who benefited along the way with the competition being a shop-window for the counties best club players, especially those from smaller clubs. The current Limerick team had a number of players who played in the competition as highlighted by Limerick hurling follower Henry Martin when the topic was raised by the HOTD after O’Briens retirement. Limerick used that years addition as a development squad between the promising minor teams of 2013/14 who were still a bit off full on inter county hurling.

What happened the Intermediate inter county championship?

This is not the first time that there has been a gap in the running of this competition. Initially the All-Ireland junior hurling championship by the second teams of the strong counties, and the first teams of the weaker counties between 1912 and 1960. The intermediate championship was introduced in 1961 and played between 1961 and 1973 for the second teams of the stronger counties as a break-away from the original junior championship. The competition was revived in 1997 after a twenty three year absence. The final addition of the competition was played in 2018 with only two teams entering the championship as Cork beat Kilkenny in a straight all-Ireland final on a scoreline by 2-19 to 0-18. The 2017 addition was not much better with only three teams entering (Kilkenny, Cork and Wexford). The last proper renewal of the competition was played in 2016 when 8 teams entered as Kilkenny beat Clare in the all-Ireland final. From a Tipperary point of view we exited the championship to Limerick in the Munster semi final by 0-15 to 2-11.

The Match report and teams of that game are seen below and there were no mugs in participation. Both counties played a mixture of extended senior squad members and under 21s that day notice there were a good few future household names on both sides such as Mike Casey, Will O’Donoghue, Aaron Gillane, Pat Ryan, Seamus Flanagan (Limerick) and Brian Hogan, Willie Connors, Billy McCarthy (Tipperary). Mark McCarthy was an unused sub that day who also was part of a Tipperary panel in years gone by. I make it 15 players who went on to win All-Ireland medals including 8 players who have played a part in an All-Ireland final at some stage from that particular game.

Aaron Gillane is one of the many players to play intermediate hurling at inter county.

Match Report for 2016 Munster intermediate semi final.

Why has it gone?

With such quality games as above and a countless other examples of the benefits of the competition it may be then questioned why was the competition disbanded? The competition has had some hurdles with Tipperarys involvement in the competition probably best describing it.

Eligibility

Tipperary, Kilkenny and Cork used the championship initially for those from intermediate and junior clubs. I am not sure what were the origins of criteria for inclusion but at the same time the other competing counties decided to play players from senior clubs meaning it was basically a “B” team. Tipperary were fairly competitive for the vast majority of years but as the number of clubs at senior in Tipperary was around 32 or higher at that stage it left Tipperary with a serious handicap compared to other counties, Kilkenny with only 12 senior sides being a case in point. It was not a level playing field for all participants. If the competition was renewed I would simply propose that the competition be for players from all clubs who are not on the senior or under 20 panel.

Tipperary intermediate hurlers 1999, including a young Declan Browne (front, extreme right)

Add to that, Tipperary would have often fielded inter county footballers and under 21 players from eligible clubs, for example Declan Browne would have been central to the intermediate teams of the early 2000’s while also being one of the countries best footballers. As the years progressed and the levels of preparation and planning increased such players were made prioritise either senior football or under 21 hurling and were not released with the intermediate team suffering.

A change in heart

Obviously Tipperary were cut in a rut and being undone by the eligibility dilemma so they decided to allow players from senior clubs to play in the competition. This led to a change in the fortunes for the county in 2012 and 13 with Tipperary being crowned All-Ireland champions and once again they were seen to be positive competitions. The general mood around the competition had changed when Tipperary were well beaten by a star studded in 2015. In 2016 it was decided that there would be no intermediate management team with William Maher double jobbing as Under 21 manager while extended panel members of the senior quad were also used on that particular day. Although Limerick had success with this strategy it can probably be concluded that the lack of a separate management team and squad devalued the competition somewhat and it the end it was a nail in the coffin as Tipperary have not entered the competition since then.

There were other factors with one being the cost of preparing such teams not giving the necessary return in the eyes of many administrators. Costs of gear, meals,mileage, physios and other necessary expenditure all add up and many at the top table didn’t think they were getting bang for their buck especially when you double the costs with a junior football team also to be entered. The timing of the competition also meant that getting the best club players was sometimes difficult due to holidays, lack of commitment among some players or fellas heading to the USA for J1s and taking the Yankee GAA bucks on offer.

Why bring it back then?

The reasons for bringing the championship back are numerous. I have noted it before but I think with the split season being in play it is a perfect time to re-establish an inter county intermediate championship for the best club players and even some players who are let go from the county senior panel.

• Bridging the gap and ticking the box

As noted before the new Under 20 grades leaves a gap between that grade and inter county senior hurling. It is clear from the standard of the last couple of years that the extra year is significant and that under 20 is a step below the traditional under 21 championship. At that stage of a players career between 19 and 21 the players get stronger each year “exponentially” and it appears with modern day S&C methods that the traditional gap is after growing in the eyes of senior managements and S&C teams. It leaves the current situation where players of 21/22 years old being more or less being told to go off and strengthen up before being considered. The HOTD is always sceptical about these S&C guru’s benefit in picking the best squad of hurlers in the county, its a game of hurling at the end of the day, not a pull up competition. Anyway, it looks unlikely that this will change, but the reformed intermediate championship could provide a perfect link between the two grades akin to the success Limerick had in the middle of the last decade. Each county can use that template on a level playing field.

County boards will point out the costs involved in assembling such a panel but I would say this could be done on a wafer thin budget by a monthly meeting with some of the sports science students in Setanta college / LIT/ WIT etc used to track their progress as part of their studies. The intermediate championship itself could be knockout in nature and keep training to a minimum with teams meeting up once a week as an offset to their regular club training and leagues.

Aidan O’Mahoney is a well known S&C coach. Is there a need for these years of physical development or is it over stated?

With serious organisation and planning in the vast majority of club teams nowadays I don’t know how the gap between the best club players can be as far as muted. 90% of current S&C coaches in clubs are highly qualified in the area. For sports scientists who make a living out of such stats and technical terminology it could be an opportunity to also link up with the intermediate squad and make sure they are doing the everything to their very high standards, a bit of a box ticking exercise in other words. Then when we call in a 21-25 year old to the inter county squad the manager can rest in the comfort that they have been doing all the same squats, push ups and bicep curl programs as the current squad over the previous year or more.

• The Late Developer

This championship provided a platform to perform for a number of future inter county stars. As I said, Sean O’Brien being a prime example of a relatively late developer. This has been going on for a long time with the late Theo English being Tipperary’s most famous graduate of this path. English came from Marlifield which is outside the real mecca of Tipperary hurling in the North and Mid of the county which was (and still is) a handicap in trying to make the breakthrough. He didn’t play minor hurling with Tipperary with his big break coming after three years on the Tipperary junior hurling team(1951-1953) before eventually graduating to the Tipperary seniors in 1954 . The rest, as they say is history.

The late great Theo English’s R.I.P career was founded on 3 years with the Tipperary junior team.

Players all develop at different ages and the current under 20 structure means that if a 19 year old fails to make a squad at that age it can be difficult to make the transition barring he really burns it up on the club stage or his club reaches the knockout stages of the county championship. Paul and Alan Flynn are two Tipp panelists who developed late but were helped massively by playing in a Kiladangan team of a really high standard, not all good club players are as lucky.

In the current regime of inter county GAA it seems everything is done in a window of development squads from under 14 to county minor which is now in essence a glorified under 16 competition. Shane Brophy wrote a brilliant piece in last weeks Gaurdian on how the focus on one code at underage is in fact inhibiting both codes at adult level. Its vital that the structures are well planned out with overall player development and retention being the focus, not winning a Tony Forristal (under 14 inter county competition) with a Hurling only squad. It can also be argued that very little discussion is actually being put into how we can improve the players that are already playing adult hurling around the county, we have dozens of club players that other counties would kill to have yet there is no bridge in place between club and county senior hurling. The intermediate championship can be the tool to help the medium to late club hurler develop. If each county found only one hidden gem every five years, especially from a smaller club then the whole championship will be justified.

• The Honour

It must be remembered in all of this that there is a great honour in representing ones county. I have spoken to many ex hurlers of a very high standard who were delighted to play intermediate hurling at county level. Obviously they know it is not in the same league as playing senior but it is a still a source of pride to have represented their county. There are hundreds of very good hurlers currently plying their trade around the county (and other counties) who would jump at the chance of playing in this competition. What better way to reward an impressive club campaign than a call up to this squad and some of the potential doors it could open, but most vitally the honour that goes with wearing the jersey.

2008 Tipperary intermediate team

There is much discussion around participation levels of young adults in sport by all those involved in the GAA yet you have a perfectly suitable competition for semi-elite sportsmen being thrown to the scrap-heap. As a spectator, these games are thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Its grand to tip off to Nenagh or Kilmallock or Pairc Ui Rinn on a boiling warm summers evening as the sun is setting watching some pure hurling. As I have said before the under 21 championship was probably the most entertaining fare in previous years as it had all the skills but was a sort of organised chaos where anything could happen, this competition is something similar. For players, for family members and for clubs it is a great source of pride to see men at the peak of their powers show their skills on that higher podium.

Any action at all will do in the next few months, but going forward it’s something to ponder.

The Railway Cup can be the saviour to this GAA drought.

Each weekend is a constant haze of walks, takeaway coffees and an odd soccer match such as Liverpool v Man United that strikes some interest to a passing soccer fan like the Hurler on the ditch. Life is tough at the moment and the lack of GAA to watch is certainly not helping. The continued restrictions announced on the 10th of February have not helped…

One of the main reasons why lockdown 2.0 was easier was the fact construction and schools remained open while for vast swathes of the population the inter county championships were also a very necessary distraction.Even though it lacked the excitement of other years due to a lack of attendees it was still a huge lift for the nation.

An empty Croke Park could be the perfect venue to host the Railway cup

It wasn’t all plain sailing

It must be remembered that there was some opposition to the running of the championships, mainly from those outside the GAA family, often from those who don’t understand or in some cases detest our organisation. In the end it ran off without incident. One of the GAAs trump cards back then was the knockout nature of the games after the final rounds of the league meaning that teams would exit the championship very quickly as the weeks went on. It’s all optics in this day and age the amount of “mixing” was limited because of the knockout nature and provincial structure.

The same thing cannot be said about the 2021 national leagues where you would have hundreds of inter county teams playing between both codes and genders. With the level 5+++ seemingly popular among those that matter in RTE and Twitter land it simply means that the GAA have had to push the league back another three weeks.

In fairness with schools and construction sites closed it doesn’t make sense to have thousands of players playing league games despite the fact inter county GAA is now not considered an “elite sport”.

A need to adapt to the current climate

It is time for the GAA to adapt and play some type of elite games to fill the thirst for action.It’s a long long time not to have any GAA to watch. There is a splurge of Premier League soccer while professional rugby is still in full swing yet the GAA stand idly by with no action to match their two main competitors. I would consider AIL 1A rugby to be elite sport akin to lower level inter county GAA yet pro rugby has moved on with its provincial games leaving its little brother behind, it may be time for the GAA to follow suit. A light bulb moment in the daily musings of the HOTD questioned why can’t the GAA have a limited amount of Ireland’s best GAA players in some type of exhibition game… it expanded on to why not divide them by location… and then it concluded with why not put them into four provinces and resurrect the Railway cup.

From a logistical point of view it makes perfect sense and also gives GAA fans some kind of entertainment.Here’s some of the simple numbers what I would be proposing for 4 weeks of GAA:

• -2 codes
• -4 provincial teams
• -squads of 24
• -4 on management team

With a quick calculation on the back of my fag box that would account for 224 players and coaches needed to provide what could be a real highlight for hundreds of thousands of people. Obviously the strictest protocols on testing could be maintained very easily with only 224 tests a week a minuscule number in the current scheme of things and with numbers of the wane it should be no problem to get the players these tests by public or private means. All of the above could be doubled to allow for Ladies Football and Camogie also run their own competitions.

This idea seems so simple and so worthwhile that it’s one all in the GAA should row in behind. It was often said that the only person that attended provincial rugby games was a blind man and his dog but how the tables have turned. Irish rugby has been brilliant to build up the provincial rugby game down through the years while all stakeholders in the GAA have let the Railway cup slip gradually since its peak in the 60s until it was cancelled altogether in recent times. This is a shame for a competition with a massive history that stretches back as far as 1905 when the Railway shield was first played. Some suggested that with the All Ireland club finals not on Patricks day the finals of the Railway cup would be a worthy substitute but that has fallen on deaf ears from the vast majority who have no appetite for the Railway cup, a shame in my view. It must be noted the efforts of M. Donnelly who spent years supporting the competition on recent decades.

The glory days of the Railway cup drew massive crowds.

The Red Tape behind the scenes

I am not privy to the consternation that may have to take part in GAA HQ for this to happen but extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. I presume that they are already meeting almost daily to discuss fixture plans so this revised competition should plug that gap very nicely and most importantly bring in some much needed revenue to the GAA coffers through advertising. The main bonus of this is our actual games being played again and all the positives that comes with it.

There would be no other issues with fixtures overlaps so it would allow each province pick their best squads. Players would be ecstatic to play any game but imagine such an opportunity to pit yourself against the best in such a format in these times. You may even have a few Mayo players come out of retirement when they hear there is no pre-season training should the Connacht football management call upon them!

You could fill the otherwise forgotten month with a schedule something like this:

• Week 1: Hurling semi finals
• Week 2: Football semi finals
• Week 3/4: Hurling and Football finals

Im sure the sponsors and the television company’s would lap the whole concept up.

Team Selections:

What better time to get it back? Imagine the debate in picking squads, teams and formations and the talking points that alone would have on a week to week basis. It would be remiss of the HOTD not to pick his Munster team and squad for the upcoming games, this would cause some debate in WhatsApp groups up and down the country when this tournament goes ahead.

The Munster squad for the 2012 Railway cup. Never an easy team to pick.

The Hurler on the ditches Munster selection would look something along this. Tadgh de Burca is out with injury at the moment while the returning Richie English would be the two names unlucky to miss out, otherwise it is:

• 1. Nickie Quaid
• 2. Sean Finn
• 3. Dan Morrissey
• 4. Cathal Barrett
• 5. Ronan Maher
• 6. Paudie Maher
• 7. Kyle Hayes
• 8. Cian Lynch
• 9. Tony Kelly
• 10. Tom Morrissey
• 11. Austin Gleeson
• 12. Gaeroid Hegarty
• 13. Patrick Horgan
• 14. Seamus Callanan
• 15. Aaron Gillane
• 16. Ger Collins
• 17. Diarmuid Byrnes
• 18. Jamie Barron
• 19. Callum Lyons
• 20. Mark Coleman
• 21. Will o Donoghue
• 22. Stephen Bennett
• 23. Shane Kingston
• 24. Jason Forde

Management team: John Kiely, Paul Kinnerk (including tactics board), Liam Sheedy and Liam Cahill.

I would be very confident that the Leinster hurling brigade would not be able to muster anything to stay competitive with that 15. The battle between Davy and Cody in who will get the role as manager may be the biggest plot in the weaker provinces selection committee.

Brendan Maher captained Munster to success in 2016, the last running of the competition.

The Football railway cup would strike much more debate also. Martin Brehany would have lists and lists of possible selections in the Irish Independent. It may be the first championship game some of these Dublin players could actually lose. I’ll leave the football experts to expand on team selections.

Aidan O’Shea raising the Railway cup. I’ll leave the slags out.

In Conclusion, I cannot see the negatives in this (until someone points it out on twitter).

To the GAA hierarchy, Make it happen. We need it.

If you agree, join a positive Twitter mob. Like and RT this post.

Will I create a hashtag while I’m at it, may as well go all in, get #Railwaycup #GAA trending.

GAA journalists need to realise there’s life after inter county…

One of the beautiful sayings about the GAA is “you start with your club and that’s where you will end.”

Anyone who knows anything about the GAA knows that the run of the mill inter county player will begin his journey as a 6 year old down in his local pitch and will finish it roughly 36 years later dragging his club through the mud one last time. In a lot of cases these inter county players will give another 36 years to the organisation via coaching or volunteering. It really is what makes our organisation great and with the demise of the pub, the death of Catholic Church and the irrelevance of the traditional FF/FG parish pump politics it is one of the few bits of identity we have left as a nation.

Lar Corbett in action for Thurles Sarfields

Inter county retirements and the Media

It has been said in certain media circles that there is an awful lot of inter county retirements at the end of this particular year, in truth it is roughly the same as other years, it’s just the current off season was roughly a month or six weeks whereas in a “normal year” most inter county player retirements would be divided out over four months.

In addition to that, a normal year has a constant schedule of games every weekend that would grain greater prominence, such as the provincial club championships to the Harty cup to the Fitzgibbon cup. It looks like we will now have at least another two months without any action so the inter county retirements have been a nice distraction. I like the way the media generally try and get one high profile retirement a day so the daily GAA content can be spread throughout the week, we need some kind of distraction after all. This is what life has become.

Inter county retirements, whats the big deal?

There has been some talk surrounding when the whole Inter county retirement statement came into vogue. It’s down to a number of factors, but the impact Twitter, Instagram and other social media channels has had on society being top of the list. The current Limerick team will probably retire to a Tik Tok towards the end of this current decade. A player can now send out a few words via notes on his phone, get the county PRO to edit it and send it off. It is good click bait for the various county board social media platforms and websites with thousands of likes, retweets and comments from some of his competitors. At this stage the county board probably has a collection of them ghost written and all the retiring player has to do is insert the relevant information (club name, parents name, partners name, employees name, dogs name, cats name, goldfish name). After putting in a full decades of service its nice for the player to get some individual compliments to finish off his/her inter county career. There are the added bonuses of a few interviews in the various newspapers and podcasts reflecting back on their career. If they make enough of an impression in these various media pieces then they may be recruited in the following year for the various articles, podcasts and even an odd TV appearance.

Joe Brolly wrote a funny piece on the whole issue of the inter county retirement and as expected he did not hold back. At the back of it all I wonder is Joe secretly worried whether some of the newly retired players may take his place in the column inches of the Sunday independent or his pundit seat with Eir Sport, I for one would be very interested in some of the musings from someone like Seamus O’Shea talk about the kickout press or defensive formations rather than to keep hear Brolly’s repeated attacks on Mayo, his exaggerated admiration of the Dublin footballers or just plainly sticking it to Mickey Harte. His most recent article of Dublin footballer Michael Darragh McCauley contained another litany of hardly believable tales based around the player such as him doing 10km runs before the all-Ireland and not knowing who Sean Cavangh was, the story of the football boots was brilliantly exposed by “UnOfficial GAA” on twitter, it will be interesting to hear Brolly’s response next week. Articles like this although entertaining can eventually shoot you in the foot. There is only so much GAA media gigs to go around and Joe is enjoying his slice of the pie.

They always miss one Question

When the player retires, he is often invited onto a variety of GAA podcasts and will get an odd newspaper interview. I love the way we get to see behind the player, especially in podcasts where the word coun is not a crutch. The GAA hour with Colm Parkinson tops the podcast ratings each week with such interviews being a central pillar to the show as well as other musings around the world of GAA.

On last weeks Monday edition it was clear that Shane Enright’s post lockdown frustrations were central for his reason in calling it a day with the Kerry senior footballers. Most would know of Enright’s career as a man marker in the Football game and it was the great to get an insight into the comparison between Andy Moran and Conor McManus , for example, while an 18 year old David Clifford bouncing a ball over his head in training was another cool insight to get.

On Thursday, you could not be but impressed by newly retired Kilkenny hurler Paul Murphy. His initial fears as a 20 year old of matching the likes of Jackie Tyrell or Michael Kavanagh subsided after Tipperary beat the Cats in the 2010 all Ireland final when he stood in Hill 16 with a few pints on board. Twelve months later after a tough winter of work he was central to Kilkenny’s aerial dominance in Kilkenny’s win over the Premier. What I found most interesting was when Murphy admitted that he struggled to adapt to the modern methods of corner back distribution, he was at his best as a catch and strike corner back but in recent seasons he was highlighted by many for his failure to retain possession which frustrated some Kilkenny supporters who saw Murphy as the definition of Cody’s stone age tactics. Other issues such as his career in the army and his relationship with Cody were touched on, Murphy sidestepped the PM O’Sullivan article on Cody by saying a lot but not saying anything of real depth that any established politician would be delighted with. Unlike Enright, he was not surprised with his omission from the starting line-up as he admitted to having a poor club season for Danesfort who were eventually relegated after a number of seasons hanging on in Kilkenny’s top flight.At the same time the other corner backs Ciaran Wallace, Tommy Walsh and Conor Delaney were flying it in the Kilkenny championship.

In both interviews both players made a number of glaring references to their clubs yet Parkinson failed to pursue the matter further. Murphy and Enright were hinting for Parkinson to ask them about the 2021 club season, instead Parkinson was asking “What are you going to do now that you retire?”

After a decorated club career I would of thought that the Port Laois man would be the first to know that a GAA career does not simply end once you call it a day with the county. I recognise that the Laois club are operating at the top level of club Football but its hardly going to be the case for Murphy or Enright to take up golf and fishing full time now that their inter county career has concluded. It was clear that both players expect to be as good with their club in the coming years.

99% of people that listen to GAA podcasts are die-hard followers and want to learn about the finer details of the player, in particular their club career and also what they hope to achieve in the future with their club. Personally I don’t listen to generic sports podcasts like Off the Ball because you know the questions before they are even asked, when listening to specialist GAA podcasts you’d love to get an insight into their club career. I On inspection (5 minute google search), Tarbert were beaten in the semi final of the highly competitive Kerry junior football championship last year, a great question may be:

–“Shane, I see your club reached the junior semi final last year, I am sure you’ll want to go a step further next year?“

He could also enquire…

–“Are you still going to play with his division next year in Kerry senior championship?”.

Shane Enright (Tarbert) marking Paddy Curtin R.I.P (Moyvane) in the North Kerry Championship some years back. Enright will be hoping to add a 2nd North Kerry medal to his 2010 win.

Paul Murphys interview was actually worse as Murphy mentioned his poor club form, the fact his club missed out on for him for so long at this peak, his club getting relegated and that his club have a new management to battle for the Kilkenny intermediate championship in 2021 yet at no stage were any of those points expanded on.

Some questions that would have really interested the HOTD would have been:

–“So Paul, I saw your club got relegated in 2020, that must have been tough for the club and not made it easy to retain your place on the Kilkenny squad”

–“I see Henry Shefflin is over your neighbours in Thomastown so you’d want to be training hard for the next few months!…. Do you see Henry as a potential KK manager?”

Paul Murphy in action for Danesfort. After being relegated last year he will be determined to win the highly compettive Kilkenny Intermediate championship in the coming year.

Whats the problem?

One of the fears many in the GAA have with the split season is that there is a the lack of exposure of Hurling to the arm-chair sports fan. The 2020 season proved that the club action can be very entertaining for the casual sports fan and in the case of the county finals and provincial club season, be every bit as good as the inter county fare. At the same time, there seems to be little or no inquisition into the club scene when such interviews with the likes of Murphy and Enright allow for such expansion but most importantly promotion of the club game.

The divide between provincial and club rugby has been touched on recently in some recent media articles with the lack of promotion of the AIL and links between professional and their “clubs” is harming rugby at all levels in this country (not that I am too worried mind you). Thankfully this problem will never persist to the same degree in our game but at the same time we have the potential to really educate the casual sports fan on our club game with an odd reference to their club. Professional soccer in England could provide a template on how to link the different outfits. They always question young English players on their aspirations to get into the national squad.

There has been so many examples where players have finished their inter county careers only to have their best days in their club jerseys thereafter. Brendan Cummins touched on it brilliantly in his podcast with Brian Carroll that winning the Tipperary junior A championship was on a par with winning the 2010 All Ireland. One of the best Laochra Gaol episodes I have seen was Kevin Cassidy that centred on his relationship with Jim McGuinness but also his greatest day on a Football pitch when he led Gaoth Dobhair to the Ulster club foootball championship.

I see much talk about the 20×20 campaign for women’s sports to be highlighted around much GAA media, yet at the same time we have sports events with thousands in attendance each weekend dotted in and around the country in club championships, club leagues and divisional club championships being treated as some sort of underground fight club by our national GAA media.

Lets start asking the Question. Lets keep spreading the gospel of the club championships.

The Hurler on the ditches good, bad and every thing in between of 2020..

2020, the year we will look back on and probably leave behind with glee looking forward. Life as normality was stopped due to the global pandemic of coronavirus. I remember the weekend the virus landed to Ireland and fearing that some kind of an apocalypse would ensue. What followed was a series of levels, restrictions etc that hopefully we will never see again. After the initial hysteria, most balanced observers would have realised it was not as bad as first feared.Anyway history will tell the story of 2020 with a similar guise to the HOTD but that’s not what you are reading this for.

Let’s get the ball rolling, hurling in 2020 was great in that it happened at all. The best thing that happened was the unanimous success of the split season. Imagine that playing club hurling in the summer would be a good thing! Thankfully this platform will be kept in some guise going forward.

Another bonus was the streaming services provided by the clubs, it also led to the HOTD being able to take in about ten hours club hurling a week on the couch compared to a max of 3/4 in old regime. I suppose given the popularity of this page it allowed the HOTD to remain anonymous.

On the other hand, the fact crowds were unable to go to games in their droves was a disappointment to many. I suppose the supporters of Kiladangan, Mullinahone and Gortnahoe who couldn’t fit into 50,000 capacity semple stadium would be at the top of the list after they won county honours. It was one of the countless cases of common sense lacking in 2020.

From a Tipperary point of view, it was the club wearing the same colours that won the day. Bryan McLoughneys goal was the GAA moment of the year and one of the ultimate Roy of the rovers moment in hurling history. It was unanimously chosen as Tg4s Cuil Na mbliana. A moment the Puckaun club will never forget.

Tipperary Footballers

Not usually the forte of the Hurler on the ditch but it was impossible not join the bandwagon in 2020. The Munster championship win v Cork was one of the greatest days in Tipperary GAA history but from a Footballing point of view a day when they eventually broke the provincial barrier after many years of effort and near misses.

With O’Riordan back and Michael Quillivans travels cut short it was if all the stars alligned and after Mark Keane sent Kerry packing we knew we were in with a right shot. An excellent performance in the Munster final meant Conor Sweeney raised the cup. It was a great day to be a Tipperary person.

Inter county domination by Limerick

From an inter county point of view, it was a strange year. An All Ireland that was necessary for the entire country but not necessarily a proper All Ireland. Limerick were the best team and got their due reward, but even Limerick people will count it but nowhere near in the same joy and pleasure that accompanied their 2018 title. The inter county game is not as simple as the plain pure robust hurling on the club scene and it can only at a peak when you have the colour, the pints, the parade and the festivity.

They are great team with some great players but also have a exceptional game plan centred on stats based hurling. The thing about hurling is it is a beautiful game so no matter what style you play it will be admired to a degree. The sense I get from the vast majority, including limerick people is that they are not winning with a style that really brings out Hurlings beauty. I remember seeing the great Kilkenny team of the 2000s winning matches with huge physicality but by god did they have a bit of style and panache about them. The task for others will be how to topple them?

I hear my good friend Anthony Daly saying he’d rather see limerick win 10 in a row rather than the golden triangle get back to the top. I find that kind of talk stupid to be honest, you’d swear Frank Murphy, Ned Quinn and Tim Floyd have some secret illuminati formed that keeps hurling within the threshold of the big 3.

Tipp seniors.

The championship as a whole was forgettable, so was this season for Tipperary. Tipp clearly box terribly v Limerick and were clattered down in the rain in Cork. They played ok in the qualifier v the rebels especially in the final quarter where they dug in.

Against Galway, I believe they would have won had Barrett not got unduly sent off. Galway would be most peoples number 2 and we are still as good as them. We are not far off it, but then again given our given the strong club structure we have, we should never be too far off it. In Tipp we want to win, especially when we have a good few players that are exceptional in this current crop. I have a few notions on how we can topple JPs army, this article is about looking back though so we will leave it for another day.

Underage losses by narrow margins

Beaten in two Munster finals by extra time in the minor to Limerick and a few points to cork at under 17 level. First and foremost without sounding like a broken record it is impossible to place the same emphasis on these age groups compared to the old structures so I find it hard to concerned by bad results or excited by good results. The real tests for many of these players is harty cup hurling at u-19 but also playing Freshers and Fitzgibbon cup hurling at third level.

The minors were really unlucky with injuries, Jamie Duncan’s absence as a man marker on Adam English stands out but they suffered injuries to Jason O’Dwyer and Robert Doyle also.

Another Clonoulty man Stephen Ferncombe scored a point which was disallowed to win it, it was deemed to be a sideline. It looked dodgy.

The under 20s didn’t look to have much of a game plan if I am being honest. Eoghan Connolly kept the whole defensive structure sound by his individual brilliance. Our puckout strategy looked non existent while our offloading which made us such a potent forward force in the last two years was our worst part of our game, yet as happens with Tipp underage teams we have nice hurlers and stay in games. Andy ormonde was very good in the Munster final but still missed two guilt edged chances to bring home the bacon. It’s small margins. The standard was poor, but once again I am comparing it to under 21 which is a year older and a different gear completely. Connolly and Ormonde should see grass for the seniors in 2020. Conor Bowe and Gaeroid O’Connor are probably the two others I would have ear marked but like their club performance in the loss of the county intermediate final, you’d wonder have they done enough. It’s up to senior Sheedy after all.

The Hurler on the Ditch end of year awards

Best Club:

Kiladangan

I touched on it previously but the greatest moment in Tipp club hurling history was a fitting way to crown off this remarkable journey. Led by Darragh Egan, their have been countless others who have backbones this success. It is a simple enough formula of hard work at all levels and facets of the club. There is nothing stopping any other club copying this template but it’s the man hours that takes matching. They also have a decent pick which is a help but I see other clubs with Stone Age set structures compared to kiladangan. The next goal now must be how many can they win?

Best game

This years county final was the best game of the year in all sport’s. The best county final ever.

Best club moment/score

Ditto McLoughneys goal

Best club player Dan Breen

John Meagher

An exceptional club season was rewarded with a call up to the Tipperary senior hurlers. Bravely, he left the comfort of the full back position on the footballers to fight for his place with the hurlers. With twenty minutes to go he was sent in to a sinking ship v Limerick in Pairc ui Caoimh but never saw a 26 for the rest of the year. It’s unusual that a player goes from being a used substitute to off the 26 in the Slavs of a week or two.

The Tipperary footballers went on to win the Munster championship. This reward may be some minute form of well done on a brilliant club campaign.

Best club player Seamus O’Riann

Michael Dunne (Mullinahone)

In a very tight poll, I am going to go against the poll and side with Michael Dunne who was one of the highest scorers in the division but also scored some crucial scores while knockout games were in the melting pot. He may want to thank his team mate and fellow nominee Eoin Fennelly who stifled Colin Floyd of Newport in the semi final. Colin Fogarty had a brilliant year also for lorrha.

Best player intermediate.

Keane Hayes

The young Gortnahoe player has been scoring heavy over the last few years and led a potent attack that also included former county underage players Kevin Slattery and Ronan Teehan to county glory.

Best moment county

Such is the year, there are not many hurling moments with football dominating. Sweeneys point v Limerick was probably the best single football moment of the year such was its significance in salvaging a draw v a determined Limerick. What happened afterwards can be rooted from that left footed kick.

Best referee

Fergal Horgan continued to perform on the inter county scene reffing his second all Ireland but Michael Kennedy of Newcastle gets my nod for his performances throughout the club season.

Best underage set up

The durlas Og/Thurles Sars underage train keeps rolling with dominant wins at minor, 16 and 12. The complete sweep was broken by JK Brackens at under 14 level. You have to admire the organisation and agility that the Thurles side have and see how much they are ahead at underage level but as always the question is, would a second club on a near even keel be even better for the hurling mad town. The whole point of Durlas Og was to produce hurlers to be distributed among the clubs in Thurles, not a Sars academy. The simple solution of course would be Thurles Gaels but I’m not sure they are getting the supports they need with a number of transfers to Og also halting their progress. This needs proper planning from the top down with the overall goal being 2 senior sides in the town in my opinion akin to Newbridge who have Sarsfields and Moorefield.

This will to never happen in Thurles unfortunately.

Other underage set ups that continue to be doing great work around the county and there are two common variables. 1. Simple hard work and 2. Numbers decide how many you can get though.

Even small clubs will produce hurlers if the work is put in especially in clubs where they have a hurling heritage.

Best young club player

Not many of our younger players really set pulses racing in this years county championship compared to JD Devaney in 2019, in fairness all of these young players have been hampered by the covid as they all need to be training to develop at the rate necessary to light up adult hurling. Andy Ormonde was very good for JK Brackens in their three group games and gets the nod.

Best social media accounts

-West Tipperary GAA continue to be miles ahead although the mid and north have acceptable accounts. Francis Coughlan (arravale rovers), John O’Shea (Clonoulty) and Michael McCarthy (Cappawhite) are some of the main men involved out west. South Tipperary still don’t have a PRO appointment made while they don’t have a Twitter account. The actual Tipp gaa account has been brutal but to be fair it has improved since Johnathan Cullen was elected. He narrowly beat Michael McCarthy in what many saw as a win for the establishment at the recent county convention. That’s democracy I suppose, now it’s time for him to bring the role to a new level. The HOTD may even get an odd RT or two!

⁃ Shane Brophy is miles ahead from a newspaper point of view although he blocked the hurler on the ditch after he lost the cool in the run up to his wedding. Now happily married, it would be great if we could reconcile one day. I am currently enjoying his biography of Len Gaynor.

Best/Worst change in structure

The change in age group from 18/21 to 17/19/21 will prove to be a failure in time. From what I have heard about the same structure change in Kilkenny and Waterford it has been a disaster and will be an even greater challenge for us with dual commitments and a greater number of clubs. It has already been muted that the 19 championship will be played mid week without county players during the summer. The only good thing is for fixture makers who now have a clear definition between underage and adult hurling.

The whole notion of player burnout is one that the HOTD discussed with a good pal a few weeks back.

Back when the world was sound a talented 17 year old county minor would have a schedule of

• Tuesday: training
• Wednesday: minor club game
• Friday: training
• Saturday: minor county game
• Sunday: Senior club game

The current 17 year old would have:

• Monday: recovery session, pool and stretching.
• Tuesday: training
• Wednesday: Gym session (not allowed play club minor game in a lot of cases)
• Thursday: Pilates and flexibility session
• Friday: Skills session and video analysis
• Sunday: Minor county game

I think there is too much emphasis on the whole issue of player burnout. Obviously there are a handful of players that it may effect but coaches should know now that with proper communication it should allow the player do what he wants to actually do, play the game. Get rid of all the Gimmocks. Call me old school if you wish.

Best Tipp senior 2020:

Seamus Callanan

Best Tipp 20:

Eoghan Connolly

Best Tipp minor:

Peter McGarry

Best stats man:

Sean O’Donnell of Limerick

Worst club performance:

Always have to single out the relegated clubs but Ballingarry getting relegated for the first time since 1976 would top the list, especially after winning their first game.

Lot of teams will feel they underperformed as usual but if I had to single out a couple I would say Cappawhite (intermediate) and Ballina (senior B) as two clubs who have had good underage sides in recent years but not quite toting it up.

Team on an upward curve under the radar.

Last year i said Gortnahoe and they went on to win the intermediate championship. It’s probably not as easy to pick one in 2021 without an under 21 championship being started never mind concluded but I think that Cashel could be the most improved team in 2021 with the inclusion of Ryan O’Dwyer and the four Kickhams players then they could be serious contenders at that level. Obviously whether that is under the radar is open to interpretation. The January transfers meeting could be one of the most discussed in the history of Tipp GAA.

Regret of the year

Looking back on all my musings I would have to say I must apologise to the tipperary football community for my below the belt comments after the all Ireland semi final defeat to Mayo.

They were in total bonus territory and after giving their campaign plenty of coverage it did leave a sour taste in some people’s mouths.

I have always believed that we should focus on Hurling in this county but use our large pick to also teach players and clubs how to play Football.

This will increase participation in the big ball and also drive standards. Look at Upperchurch as an example, a club with little pedigree with football but began competing at the game and are now a solid dual senior club. I doubt they spend hours kicking football but still treat the sport with the respect it deserves.

It is scandalous the lack of clubs that enter teams especially in the north of the county.

Biggest concern for  hurling in the county: 

Its still a concern of the hurling in many areas of the South. Some of the areas of West Tipperary surrounding Tipperary town would also fall into this bracket. We are lucky in Tipperary to have a large playing pool of Hurlers but what it is worrying that although Hurling appears to go from strength to strength in many of the traditional strongholds that some clubs at the junior levels appear more far away than ever. I think we are missing out in getting the full potential county wide from the large pick we could potentially have.

The optics of having a senior management dominated by members nearly all from a five mile radius of Nenagh does nothing to inspire confidence that all areas of the county are on an even keel. I am not for one second saying that we need to go back to the old divisional representative on each management team but it is impossible for a north based management to have a full ear on the ground in a county the size of Tipperary. It is clear that a young hurler stationed in the south or parts of the west are at a disadvantage in the search of acclaim compared to a similar player in the north. It must be noted that the old club bias must come into question when you see the 26 for some of Tipperary seniors games.

HOTD Hopes for 2021:

I could start listing that Tipp win everything and that all my opinions on structures are followed through but in reality the HOTD just hopes from one thing in 2021. Normality to resume ASAP.

Normality to the HOTD is to go into the square in Thurles on a sweltering hot Munster championship day. Go into a packed pub in the square, eat a burger without need for sanitisation then head steadily up to the Stadium to watch the gladiators perform in front of a packed colosseum. Tipp winning is secondary, as people we need days in Thurles and Croke park back again.

A special focus on the young hurlers around the county who are losing out on so much on and off the pitch, there must be huge worry that many of these players will never get a shot at schools hurling or colleges hurling while many have missed their last year at under 21. Roscrea and Moycarkey are two clubs that would top that list after playing in the minor A county final of 2017.

Over to you HSE with the vaccine rollout, please don’t f*** this up.

Where to next for the HOTD

As noted earlier, this page has amazingly reached well over 5000 followers and continues to grow.

It’s a weird one therefore that the HOTD is second guessing what happens next?

Luckily time has been of plenty in 2020 making it another good year for the page but it doesn’t look like 2021 will allow for as much.

I also look around at other forms of paid media which are distinctly average and I think to myself why am I wasting my time giving a quality opinion when I see “journalism” of an atrocious standard fragmenting the airwaves and newspapers each week. Anyone that follows any of my tweets will know I have regularly acknowledged good content but for me there are lads like stealing a living with such sub-standard content.

The notion of a podcast is one where there is a serious gap in Tipperary hurling media at the moment. Tipp FM don’t currently have a one hour slot just focused on Tipperary hurling, with inputs from the TSDL, karate and table tennis all given as much time as the Hurling.

I listened to the premier view podcast on a couple of occasions but left it when I heard of a few of the boys leaving games at half time or not even watching there own club play. Some of the observations made on it were wildly off the mark.

The West Tipp podcast is a great idea but is very much focused on that division.

It’s possibly the avenue the HOTD may go down in time but it would leave the anonymity out of the hat. The real beauty of the page is the anonymous nature of it and to lose that easily would be foolish after all this time. At the moment it looks like the HOTD might step steadily out of the spotlight.

As always I am open to offers so DM or email hurlerontheditch90@gmail.com but I am beginning to think my work here is done.

Happy New Year to all.

Tipperary v Cork Munster under 20 final preview…

The final game of the calendar year for Tipperary takes place this Wednesday evening when our under 20s take on Cork in the Munster under 20 final.

Both counties have dominated the under 20/21 grade in the past three seasons and this is the fifth final between the counties since the Munster under 21 final in summer 2018.

Since that dominant win over Tipperary, Liam Cahill led Tipperary to a Munster and two all Ireland final wins over the rebels. The most comprehensive being last years all Ireland final in Limerick where a number of early goals laid the platform for an easy Tipperary win.

Eoghan Connolly of Cashel King Cormacs captains Tipperary as he goes for his third all Ireland on the trot, a feat not achieved since Pat Fox won three on the spin in the 1979 to 1981. He leads a defence that struggled for long periods against Waterford in the Munster semi final but it was his impetus in the second half that begun to turn the tide.

The fitness of Ray McCormack is huge for Tipperary as his hurling, power running and physicality were huge losses when he had to be substituted v Waterford. His replacement Keith Ryan really struggled as did Fintan Purcell against Waterford. Luckily he is named to start which is a huge bonus.

Kevin Maher has done the majority of his club adult hurling with Borrisileigh as a forward but he was very impressive facing the ball as a centre back for our lady’s templemore in the harty cup and steadied things up well v Waterford so I think he will probably start in the half back line. He did well when he moved back in the previous game.

The main worry for Tipperary was the dominance of Waterford’s Michael Kiely who ran amuck in that game. Kiely is a very good player but Cork have an equally dangerous player in Alan Connolly who was one of the standout players as Blackrock won the Cork senior hurling championship. The Tipperary full back in question is Conor Whelan whose lack of pace will once again be questioned v the lively Connolly.

Many would argue our two corner backs are better suited to the middle of the park but it seems we may be forward heavy at this grade. Shane Barrett is a lovely corner forward who impressed massively for Blarney this year and he must be watched.

Kevin McCarthy was one of the leading lights v Waterford and was one of the few Tipperary players that actually used the ball well. The Tipperary game plan seemed muddled v Waterford with some aimless deliveries particularly against the wind which is nearly always a factor at this time of the year. I would be hopeful that John Devanes side will be focused on improving this in the run up to this game.

If Kevin Maher reverts to the backs at any stage then Max Hackett is likely to be moved into midfield. His energy was huge when introduced in the semi final but most of all was his quality touch and finish that brought the game to extra time.

Up front JD Devaney will be putting pressure on all of the forwards on all of the starting forwards after doing well when introduced the last day out. His speed is frightening but he still has some deficiencies in his game that he needs to sort if he is going to make it at the top, striking being the top of the list, especially off his left. If he can get that sorted he could be anything. There were numerous moments of quality v Waterford but little sustained performances.

Personally I would question would Sean Ryan be of better use as a back given we seem to have a squad with lots of offensive options but maybe not as many at the back. Gaeroid O’Connor, Conor Bowe and Andrew Ormonde will all have aspirations of getting into a Tipperary senior squad in the next few weeks but they need to put full 60 minute displays if they are to cement that status but more importantly in the short term, a Tipperary win.

Devon Ryan is a year younger but as free taker he will be under pressure. He missed a number of straight forward efforts in the semi final and we need him at 95% in this game. Interestingly the Tipp half forward line will also need to keep their eyes on Corks quality wing back Daire Connery who will do serious damage on loose ball if not watched. Connery is a beautiful striker of the ball but not the most athletic, Tipp need to take him on and try to test him on the back foot. I think Bowe or O’Connor could be the men for the job.

This is a highly rated Cork team that won the under 17 championship in 2017. That grade is not a fair comparison as Tipp did not play their best team in that year. There is a strong overlap from Corks team with the same names such as Connery, Tommy O’Connell, the Roches and Colin O’Brien still to the fore. They enter the game as very slight favourites. Like Tipperary, they are battle hardened after coming through extra time in the semi final. Motivation will be high with the rebels recent record likely to be stuck on the dressing room wall. Both counties want this win but arguably Cork need it more than Tipperary.

It remains to be seen whether these Championships will be played into the new lockdown. It looks unlikely with hysteria levels at a high once again. In the meantime, the HOTD has his socially distanced table booked and is going to sit down and enjoy the last night of “level 3.” My views on that particular subject are well known but as I have said on numerous occasions it must be really frustrating for young athletes that the greatest days of their lives and possibly the greatest days of their sporting careers are up in the air. We were all young once, critically them years came and went in a flash, when they are gone, they are gone. Balance is important in life, but the balance isn’t there at the moment.

Verdict: Tipp AET and one more night to saviour following the blue and gold. Tweets might be limited during the game.

Limerick, Tipperary underage and Convention time…

The real deal

This is a great Limerick team. The stats back it up with two all Ireland’s, two Munsters and two leagues in the last three years. In 2020 they won every game they have played, the vast majority of them by a distance. The games keeps evolving and Limerick keep this pattern going with a game which bid a hybrid of possession based hurling akin to the Dublin footballers and physicality that the Munster rugby players would be proud of. The evolution of Seanie O’Donnell and the stats team have come into focus more and more. It’s clear Kinnerk, Kiely and O’Donnell have collaborated to this game plan which has all the numbers covered.

They have size, fitness and are very good hurlers. With the exception of Cian Lynch who provides an odd moment of magic you couldn’t say they are team that plays with style.

Gaeroid Hegarty best defines there team as a whole. An absolutely brilliant hurler who is worthy of the hurler of the year gong but does he excite me like Lynch or Austin Gleeson or countless other players out there. His athleticism is probably only matched by his team mate Kyle Hayes, it must be remembered Hegarty was an inter county football starter at midfield when only 19, his GPS stats have got to be some of the highest to ever be attained on a hurling field. The reason he finds himself in so much space is he basically breaks down his marker and crushes them on the scoreboard. To be fair to Hegarty he has had to work on his hurling since them days and there is no other player who has managed to improve as much as him, I’d say the nets in St.Patrick’s are never down such is the shooting practice he has done in the last few years.

I’m not going to give a report on the game but focus on the Tipperary point of view on how we can close the gap. It seems that we are miles off them when our paths collide. The winter hurling conditions are probably not a help to our top of weather forwards who want fast pitches with the ball bouncing. I have been thinking about what style we or any other county can place on Limerick and the truth is probably the emphasis on goal scoring that Tipperary will need, Waterford missed 5 guilt edged chances on Sunday. Tipperary would be hopeful of burying them. Other than that I think teams will need to concede the limerick puck out but then come up some type of strategy which I don’t think teams have devised currently.

Minors progress

It was an important win for the Tipperary minors last Saturday evening. They had a terrible year in 2019 with a young team but there is hopes for this crop that has a good few up to the age. The low scoring was due to both teams hitting a lot of poor wides.

Tipperary created a number of goal chances that were not converted also with Sean Kennealy in particular not passing the ball on one occasion. Jack Leamy played well in patches and is a physical specimen at this age group but the introduction of Kenny Lee was vital to this Tipperary win. He scored 1-1 by simply taking the direct route to goal, he possesses speed, balance and deft striking needed going down the straight.

After getting much criticism the Tipperary management will probably be the most relieved after this result.

Limerick beat a highly rated Cork in the semi final so we will be up against it in the final. Doon man Adam English the man to watch with 2-3 v the rebels.

Under 20s

Tipperary will hope to make it 2/2 v Waterford when they play them on Tuesday night. This is a team that is expected to go far and showed patches of their talent v Clare.

From a senior point of view, we need a goalkeeper. Aaron Browne started v Clare and is a very good shot stopper, he’s not the biggest and needs some work on his puckout. It seems the issue on the Browne’s club scene still remains unsolved fully which needs to be sorted for the players to fully prosper.

Rhys Shelly is a keeper I am keen to see more of because of his swing which is similar to Nicky Quaid. It’s one of the biggest parts of the game and having that solid swing is huge, there’s only so much practice you can do on your swing, if you have an awkward bobbly technique it’s a huge problem as we know.

Outside of that Eoghan Connolly is going for 3 All Ireland’s in a row and I see him as a long term full back for Tipperary such is his physicality and no prisoners approach.

Up front Conor Bowe and Andrew Ormonde are our two talented players while Gaeroid O’Connor is the modern day athlete that we probably don’t have enough of at the moment. There’s plenty of other talented players on display that I hope put their hands up. We need it.

County convention

The first virtual county convention takes place tomorrow night. The election of officers is the big news on the agenda with the role of PRO drawing the biggest competition. It’s probably the most important role in the current times and I would be delighted for either Michael McCarthy or Enda O’Sullivan to get the role.

The current presence on social media by Tipperary GAA is behind other counties and I think either of them have the capabilities to bring the role to a new level.

The motions regarding age groups is one that will draw the biggest interest. I just hope for the mullinahone motion to pass and the status quo remains. I presume the county board will have some kind of bye law ready to challenge their interpretation of the new age groups rule. From talking to other counties who have gone to odd age groups it has generally not been welcomed as a good thing.

I had a good conversation with a friend about the whole issue of player burnout etc and I think it’s an issue that is being totally over blown.

First and foremost there is only 1% of players that are effected by this, we should be more focused on increasing participation rates among the 99%. I think fixture makers want to get rid of their headaches but that doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.

Secondly the current underage grades are terrible. The old under 21 competition was a heavy weight competition, you could have 5 or 6 all stars play on a Wednesday night in front of 10,000 in Ennis or Thurles. The standard was 95% of that of senior hurling but lacked any of the structure leading to games that took on a life of their own. The under 20 championship is decent but nothing in comparison. The second best competition is now the Fitzgibbon cup by far and I am delighted that there is so many Tipp players involved should that go ahead.

The minor age group at under 18 was a total different prism. I remember the good old days of going to club senior games when the talking point would be if 17 year old player X is good enough to get a trial with next years county minors. Those days are gone replaced by a grade which is glorified under 16. I don’t place any of the same value in this age group as the old under 18 model. If it’s not broke…

I see that Tom Maher of the CCC made his usual dig at the divisional championships in his report. The more things change, the more things stay the same

The Hurler on the Ditch previews the All-Ireland final.

Limerick v Waterford

The biggest game of the year without the usual festivity goes ahead this Sunday as Limerick face Waterford. The rush for tickets and hotel rooms is gone but no doubt there will still be joyous celebrations for whoever wins this title. My own opinion on these celebrations are that people will celebrate so to any of the curtain twitchers can stay at home if they don’t want to get involved but don’t be taking videos “shaming” those who want to enjoy this momentous moment. For the winners, there will be two different feelings of satisfaction.

For Limerick, it will be a real sense of justification to win their second all-Ireland in three years which given their amount of wins and performances in that period is something they probably deserve. On the other hand, Waterford are where Limerick were in 2018 looking to break a long drought for Liam McCarthy.

Waterford are the only remaining long standing Hurling county that has failed to make the breakthrough, Dublin are only recently in the top tier so would hardly fall in that category. As the old adage goes, best strike while the iron is hot and it appears to be boiling below in the South East. Liam Cahills management style centred on hard work and tough love contrasts to Derek McGraths father figure style of coaching, it begs the question is this new found player-coach relationship lingo you hear many gurus lecturing what the players actually want. In fairness to Cahill, his old school fundamentals have been sub-sided with Mikey Bevans who has long been lauded as a top class coach around the club scene and also with Tipperary underage teams.

The direct running style that Bevans bought to Tipperary underage teams is also being carried through to Waterford. The idea is to keep challenging the defender by turning and going directly at the black spot. There is a clear desire to go in search of green flags and if that fails then recycle and take your score. I think Waterford will need at least two of these on Sunday if Liam McCarthy is to come home but its difficult to see that Limerick back line allowing it by any means necessary.

You can talk game plans and tactics until the cows go home but you need the personal to incorporate your coaching. I would argue that Tadgh De Burca is Waterfords best and most important players and his inclusion in the starting 15 has as expected led to an immediate improvement. He is a complete half back with fielding ability, mobility, aggressiveness and is a very good distributor of the ball whether going short, medium or long. Jamie Barron was below par in the previous two seasons but is back to his self with a huge number of possessions in all his games this year while the much hyped Austin Gleeson is beginning to deliver once again.

I think Gleeson has been the victim of his own excellence from his break through season, the Waterford hurling public look for maverick players like Gleeson to flourish but I feel there needs to be more of a appreciation of the basics. Even going back to his goal in the 2017 all Ireland semi final v Cork, it was one of the most over hyped goals in recent memory added to the fact he should have passed the ball to Brick Walsh who was on his own inside.This year Gleeson is back to a high standard of fitness and doing his job well shown by a high number of tackles and turnovers, the hurling will then follow for the Mt.Sion man. Add to that the much improved Stephen Bennett who looks to be finally stepping up as an elite forward and young Callum Lyons the players themselves are beginning to play well as individuals which tends to transfer over to better results.

I have heard much talk that both sides have similar styles, I agree in some facets but not in others. The idea of putting as many men to the breakdown is something that Limerick have brought to a new level and something Waterford tried to match in the Munster final. While Waterfords game is based on breaking the tackle, I would argue Limericks is about retaining posession on the outside before shooting when they work the ball to the optimum position. Limerick are brilliant at moving the ball out of the contact zone with quick stick passing and hand passing (throws a lot of the time).Limericks game is based on numbers with the main aim to get 40 shots off and hoping to get roughly 0-30 which will win 90% of games, especially with their defence which has been typically uncompromising.

In fairness to Limerick, the likes of Tom Morrissey and Gaeroid Hegarty have been excellent at converting these shots, it is an area that Waterford will pinpoint this weekend. The importance of retaining possession can be seen with Limericks use of the short sideline especially by Hegarty who loves to receive a “one-two” with his midfielders.

Their style is not very pretty on the eye and the way they tap over points is infuriating for the arm-chair fan who watches the game to see corner forwards rattle the top corner not tap it over from 25 yards like Adrian Breen did v Galway. Ciaran Carey seconded this notion on Shane Stapletons “Our Game” and believes that if they put the head down a few more times it could bring their game to another level. Then again this game plan and stats based hurling has brought them this far, as some Limerick man “Twinrocks” commented to one of my posts on twitter… “Im sure it was very entertaining for you when ye were hammering goals passed us in 09, great fun I’m sure. Ask any Limerick man which they would prefer?”

Burgess manager and Tipperary analyst Sean Flynn is quickly becoming one of the biggest Hurling pages in the country and he has done a number of class pieces on Limerick. Their emphasis and strength from puck-outs is startling. He basically concluded that Waterford might be as well off to go full Borris-Ileigh on it and puck it out long where they can compete on the ground with Limerick. Easier said than done obviously but there is nothing more sapping in hurling than conceding a score then conceding another one directly afterwards from a short or medium puckout that is intercepted.

Check it out once you have finished this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLvLwm0uARQ

Verdict:

Initially after the excitement of Waterfords semi final win I was thinking they had every chance. Presuming that Limericks talisman Aaron Gillane is fit I began thinking that this final could be similar to the 2005 final where the an established Cork overcame a Galway team that came through a pulsating semi final to Kilkenny. All the chances of Waterford winning are based upon either Waterford banging at least two goals or else player X,Y or Z having the games of their lives where if Limerick continue to play to their high standard they will win this game.

Limerick by 7.

All aboard the Football bandwagon…

All-Ireland semi finals and finals really are some of the best weekends of the year. Being from Tipperary we are lucky to be accustomed to these great days in the capital city. While it has been brilliant to watch the games on the tv, the hurler on the ditch has missed the whole occasion of championship GAA but it is exasperated this weekend as the blue and gold play in Croke Park.

It is a great chance to meet with Tipperary people from all over the county and many of those who have been relocated outside the premier county. I know many of my own friends located outside of the country that overlap their trips home on semi final and final weekends. It really is a sense of excitement that comes with tipping into the Palace, Chaplins, Bolands or any of the many Tipperary pubs in the capital the night before for a skip load of pints. The want to go to these great games brings us onto the upcoming announcement by the GAA regarding the 2021 championship fixture schedule.

Fixtures 2021.

On the issue of the fixtures, one of the many advantages of the GAA playing the inter county championship second would be the strong likelihood of packed stadiums and packed public venues enjoying the great games. The Hurler on the ditch like many other would agree on this strategy but it comes with a very cautious warning to county board and inter county managers that they must run the club championships independently to inter county like they did in 2020. It is a bit of a rat race when this happens as if some counties begin shorterning their championships and training with their counties it spreads throughout the other counties. Wexford and Waterford were the two counties that ran off their hurling championships in quick time to allow for maximal preparation time for their inter county hurling team, for Wexford they looked overcooked but Waterford are in an all-Ireland. Hopefully county boards will not use Waterford as a reference point in 2021. To summarise my views for 2021: Club first is ok as long as the players play club, inter county managers, leave the clubs alone.

Mayo, Mayo, Mayo…. Almost as good as Tipp, Tipp, Tipp….

Anyway looking at this weekends game on a Football only basis. Tipp enter as 3/1 outsiders v Mayo. Much has been made about the 4 semi finalists being the same as those in 1920, the final in that year was Tipperary v Dublin so maybe it is the case that this will continue…

Mayo represent a totally different proposition to Clare, Limerick and Cork. I listened to the “Ah Ref” podcast this week and it was explained well that this Mayo team has some very exciting young players like Oisin McGlaughlin and Tommy Conroy but it is still a very experienced side that has won its fair share of semi finals. Even though some of the personal has changed the fast running style of Football and high intensity defence is still the strength of this Mayo side. The Mayo fans seem very confident ahead of this semi final which I found quiet surprising given their history of generally finding a way to lose. Even in the Connacht final they were seven points better than Galway but were lucky to win it in the end.

The most recent meeting of the sides was the 2017 qualifier in Thurles that Mayo won convincingly but the more high profile one would have been the 2016 semi final where Tipperary were beaten but it was a controversial Robbie Kiely red card that was a big moment in the game.

Against Cork, Tipperary were able to set up their defensive structure as Cork laboured up the field. We won the turnovers and broke with pace. Our shooting was of a high standard from Conor Sweeney and Michael Quinlivan. It is likely that Mayo will attack and penetrate our defence more through Lee Keegan,Paddy Durcan and Oisin Mullen. Mayo also have the option of going route one to Aidan O’Shea which is a strategy Cork refused to investigate as they went lateral.

Tipperary were very disciplined in defence v Cork and will need to be the same this weekend as Cillian O’Connor will punish. On the whole issue of scores from set-plays Tipperary used the mark well with Conor Sweeney so will want to repeat this again on Sunday.

One area where Tipperary must dominate is the mid-field battle. Steven O’Brien, Liam Casey and Colin O’Riordan will fancy their chances of beating anyone in this sector. Tipperary are likely to kick long from Evan Comerfords booming kickouts while up front they will want to avoid Mayo getting the short ones away and forcing the likes of Conor Loftus and Stephen Coen compete in the air. It is from these kickouts and accurate kick passes from the likes of O’Riordan that Tipp will likely base their attack on. If Jack Kennedy is fit he should provide a major boost as a second half substitute such is his fitness and Football to boot. The modern game in Hurling and Football is a 20 man game which requires some more composure from our subs when introduced this weekend.

In one of the most unusual years, it seems irregular the pairing of these semi finalists. This is a chance of a generation for Tipperary football as despite all the talks of Football growing our standards at underage have dropped considerably with dual players not allowed at minor level. It is something that Liam Cahill brought in but it has led to 17 year olds being forced to miss months of inter county football coaching to try and make a minor Hurling squad. I agree that we are lucky in Tipperary to have a large player pool but I dont think forcing 16 year olds to give up Football with Tipperary is warranted in our efforts to win Liam McCarthy cups. Anyway that issue is probably for another day but this years success for the Tipperary footballers may leave future minor managers in a limbo when one of their star hurlers decides to go to the footballers.

Verdict:

I said before the Munster final if we play with positivity we have every chance and hopefully the boys do the same again this weekend. Tipp by 3 and a rematch of 1920 with the Dubs, hon Tipp.

Footballers steal the show…

Should I write two articles? One on the historic nature of the Tipperary senior footballers win v Cork on the historic 100th year anniversary of Tipperary Bloody Sunday and another one bemoaning our loss v Galway. We’ll keep my opinion piece to one .

Hurler on the ditch…

Let’s be clear about this with Tipp hurling, and all our panelist’s will agree, first is last. The game was lost on Barrett’s second yellow. First and foremost his first yellow was one of them non contact flicks that is deemed a yellow. I would love to know the human beings that deems such a challenge a yellow card in these referee meetings, it is quiet baffling. His second yellow was an occasion where he was entitled to challenge for the ball yet was given a harmless yellow, of course our neighbours in Kilkenny only delighted in our loss. As I have said in previous tweets, the only county that appears to treat us with respect and fairness is Cork. Maybe we come across as cocky etc but it’s annoying the anti Tipp bias I see and hear regularly.

The game itself, it was of a high standard but not a classic. Callanans first goal was just another highlight of his skill, Concannons finish also made by Whelans patience. The big scores coming down the straight were on the open side in the Gaelic grounds, the side we were out numbered.

I suppose the big score was Hartes goal, many expect Hogan to save such a shot. I don’t. Low balls are the biggest weakness of his game. The goalkeeper position is a astronomical problem for Tipp hurling. They clearly don’t trust Barry Hogan and Darragh Mooney. The best club keepers around are Mooney and Declan Dwyer of Clonoulty, obviously Dwyer is 38 and finishing up with Clonoulty but Mooney has never been considered fully in recent years. Paul Maher was let go off the panel instead of Mooney without much of a look in, he has a very solid swing, is composed and a decent shot stopper, maybe lacks the presence that Brian Hogan has between the sticks.

Looking at our younger keepers, Barry hogan is number 2 at the moment and has a good puckout game but some doubts remain does he have the shot stopping ability of Mooney for example.

Aaron Browne is a brilliant shot stopper at the moment but his puck outs need work as they tend to loop. Rhys Shelley and Eoin Collins are the opposite to Browne with Shelley in particular having a really solid swing similar to a Nickie Quaid. One things for sure, it’s a problem area and will need big improvements from Hogan or a young contender to be moulded into the position.

Back to the action, we were in a decent position at half time thanks to our two goals by Callanan and Bonner. Henry Shefflin highlighted Callanans brilliant use of his left hand side to shield the oncoming block, an emphatic finish as usual. Callanan got another brilliant point in the second half after a Ronan Maher free from his own 45, a few points on that move:

A: Tipp hit a number of possessions down the throat of Callanan and Daithi Burke during the game which was poor. In tight games like Saturday these can tip the scale. Callanan is more or less unplayable when the ball is played outside him at angle, Daithi Burke the same when it’s struck down on top of him. We gave Burke the chance to dominate.

B: Teams should use frees from their own 45 like Ronan Maher did, how many times are those frees launched into a crowd on the 13/21 which is then cleared by defences. Think of how much time teams spend on puckouts from the end line yet have no plan for set plays from a more advanced position.

Both the Galway and Tipperary second goals were similar as Conor Whelan and Jake Morris let the ball past them before the ball ending up in the net in the next phase. For any young corner forwards it is a sign of how the ball can bring you closer to goal rather than attacking the ball and being pushed away from the target.

When the HOTD previewed Tipp this year he stressed that if Tipp were going to win an All Ireland that Jake Morris would have to play well, on the whole he was only been average giving his talent. I am in no doubt that he will go on to be a great player for Tipperary but unfortunately he didn’t fully arrive this year.

Cathal Mannion was a thorn in the Tipp side again with 1-3. His first goal was a rocket of a shot that beat Brian Hogan on his near post, it was a pile driver so I wouldn’t be critical in this case but Niall O’Mearas defending was non existent in that possession. Mannion went on to get freedom of the field for large periods despite O’Meara also getting on the ball. O’Meara spends much of his time with Kilruane playing as a ball player at 6 but with Tipperary he will have to brush up on his defensive duties to solidify a spot on the wing. Seamus Kennedys loss is noted.

Barry Heffernan is a player who has made a career out of marking and also good distribution of the ball in the half back line. His big moment was his point in the second half point when a goal was on. Similarly Dan McCormack was probably the wrong man in the right place when he blazed over going down the straight, on further inspection John McGrath was on his own for a tap in goal similar to when Dessie Hutchinson assisted Jack Fagan for Waterford’s third goal at the weekend should he have squared it. They were Tipps only sight of goal in the second half but when looking back on the game Tipp may also pinpoint Noel McGrath’s first point when he tapped over from 23 yards out. Tipp have become so good at getting these goals but we didn’t cash in fully v Galway.

The key score was Galways third goal from Aidan Harte as Tipp got caught on the overlap where Barrett would have been stationed. I have great time for Paddy Cadell but he was dispossessed coming out of defence when he tried an ambitious drop shot clearance. Jason Flynn moved the ball across the field where the overlap was on. Modern hurling doesn’t allow for half backs to gamble with such clearances as if intercepted the field is open, that’s what happened.

I couldn’t see how Aidan Harte was deemed the MOTM. Mannion on the whole was in with a shot but after another 0-14 Joe Canning would have been my pick. His sideline and frees stand out but think back to Jason Flynn’s second half point after a Canning flick that travelled 20 yards with four Tipp men hanging off him. Time and time again he is able to come up with big possessions going down the straight in big games.

One of the talking points of the championship is the cynical nature of giving away 21 yard frees. It’s as simple as this, it should be a penalty. The fact you can’t cross the 21 means these frees are very difficult to convert. With Jason Forde off the field Brian Hogan struck a good shot that was deflected over. I would have preferred to keep it away from the goalkeeper while some commentators say he should have bounced it. The old adage about leaving on the free taker sang true?

The decision to drop John McGrath after one bad game was one that raised a few eye brows. It’s the difficult decisions that Sheedy and co have to make, there’s no point in the HOTD criticising every selection but maybe he could have been sprung at HT. Inter county hurling is ruthless shown by David Burke getting the subs jacket at HT.

One of the most interesting things in the final few minutes was the ploy by Galway to put their final puckout out of play and concede the sideline to Tipperary. As possession becomes sacred in the modern game and stats men become more important I expect this to be used again and again as it slows down the clock but secondly it is difficult to retain possession from such a position. To add to that when the defending team wins the sideline the whole pitch is open for a counter attack. You see Limerick using the short sideline to keep the ball and I expect it will be used universally going forward when the numbers are evened out by the stats gurus. I’d estimate you can hold onto 80% of short sidelines compared to only 30% for the traditional delivery down the field.

When the game concluded it was clear it warranted frustration by Liam Sheedy. It’s hard to argue with his summary that we fought like champions til the end. On reflection it’s another year without an all Ireland and for the likes of Seamie, Paudie, Noel and Brendan the years are slipping with 3 all Ireland’s to their name but should they have more? Interestingly they have only lost to Kilkenny and Galway in all that time in knockout hurling. With the exception of 2012 all of them losses were narrow. We have not won enough.

The time to talk about next year is just around the corner but we will leave it for another day…

From an overall Tipperary perspective it was one of our greatest weekends with the footballers historic Munster final victory over Cork. It was noted before this game that Tipperary did not fear Cork in the same way it would have been with Kerry. All the stars aligned with Steven O’Brien back from injury, Brian Fox starting and Colin O’Riordan returning from Oz. In a normal year O’Riordan would have been in Australia while Michael Quinlivan would have been travelling. Was it faith?

It must be noted the men off the field especially those involved with the friends of Tipperary football who put so much work down through the years and without their vision this would have not been possible. There is a document somewhere from the friends of Tipp football that aims for Tipperary to win an all Ireland senior title by 2020. I have heard it referenced on a few occasions of how it wasn’t realistic and at the end 18/19 it looked to be the case. Could it also be faith?

On the game itself there was only one team in it and bar a disallowed goal it should have been even more comprehensive. Tipperary had a very solid defence and broke with serious pace through kick passing by the likes of O’Riordan and shooting from the deadly duo of Conor Sweeney and Michael Quinlivan.

It was a team effort and everyone played their part from 1-15. The intricacies of Football are not my forte so I’m not going to go into it too much but it was heartening to see our players kick the ball forward time and again. The same could not be said of Cork who went lateral.

A semi final awaits v Mayo. In 1920 we beat them, so why not again ?

A pity more could not have been there but especially those players on the extended panel. It is outrageous those 10 players cannot be stationed in the 50,000 capacity stadium. The Munster council in their yellow jackets could easily let these players in.

The impossible football dream lives on.

For our hurlers, the lame one in a row jokes continue.

Now for Galway

Such is the quick fire nature of this championship there’s little time to enjoy our victory over Cork last Saturday but it still was a really satisfactory win.

Going down the straight it looked as if we we could be heading out of the championship as Cork got the game back to level but to be fair to Tipp we really got stuck in and got the vital goals necessary to win the game, as the HOTD predicted in his pre game preview.

Paudies famous shoulder on Joe…

First half

We played with the wind in the first half and did the majority of the poor quality Hurling in terrible conditions. The problem was we didn’t make it count on the scoreboard as we hit a number of wides. Michael Breen was the pick of the Tipperary players in the first half picking up a few long range scores from distance, the impact of Bonner Maher and Dan McCormack was also plain to see as they both got through serious shifts in the middle third.At the back Niall O’Meara was solid as expected while Paudie Maher was a bit steadier but still some room to improve to his own momentous standards.

Still after all our hurling/ it was Patrick Horgans goal that was a big score in keeping Cork in touch. It came after a turnover in the middle third as Horgan beat the trap and shortened his swing well to finish to the net. Once again the positioning of Brian Hogan was questionable as he left the whole near side of the goals open. To be fair to him he did improve on his puckouts and gave a couple of pin point efforts in the first half. I suppose having Dan and Bonner as targets is a help. We did score two points before half time which were significant in having something to protect in the second half. The idea of taking players off on 33 minutes is something that gripes at the HOTD and although John McGrath had a poor showing he should be given until half time. Of course there may be a situation where a player has a mare or is on a yellow and needs to go after 20/25 but in them circumstances I don’t agree.

Second half

Although Cork will probably feel they had the share of the third quarter it was Jason Fordes goal that kept Tipperary in the lead going into the final quarter. It was brilliant from Forde to ask Spillane the question and although it was a struggle he got his shot away, he did it with power off his left to raise the green flag. From a Cork point of view they would have been shouting at the tv begging for Spillane to take Forde down, Anthony Nash may have been disappointed not to to stop a powerful shot that was straight at him.

Seamus Harnedy and Robbie O’Flynn got some good scores from distance to narrow the gap but Tipperary kept fighting. The kiladangan duo of Willie Connors and Paul Flynn had very productive second halves going down the straight, Connors assist for Jake Morris’s goal is a type of skill he has been threatening to show case at inter county level for a while now. If it was Cian Lynch that had done it there would have been montages. To be fair to Jake he finished perfectly and it like last years under 20 Munster final it shows that he only needs one chance to finish.Seamus Callahan won and scored from some vital possessions after a poor first half, Damien Cahalane was wrestling the Drom man all evening but eventually he got free. It’s a bad sign for Cork that they have to keep going back for the likes of Cahalane and McDonnell who have been getting cleaned for a half decade at this stage.

The defiance of the Tipp performance was best epitomised by Ronan Mahers shoulder and clearance in the second half. He was my man of the match from a Tipperary point of view who are still in the hunt.Cork, another year and another tight battle where they come second best. Horgan will be 33 next year but until they fully sort out that backline they are going nowhere. Has it improved this year? Maybe it has as Spillane at 3 is an improvement and they look to have settled with O’Mahoney at 5 eventually. Look they have huge numbers and have their house in order at underage but there still a long way off.

Galway

Not the draw the majority of Tipp fans would have wanted (or Galway for that matter). It has been the best rivalry of the last decade not to have an all Ireland final played between the sides. I suppose the 2010 quarter final is one that many Tipp fans will reference as they were hammered by Cork in Munster before seeing off Galway by a point in a pulsating quarter final.There was the Callanan 3-9 that ended in defeat and Joe Cannings winner that shows there have been some narrow losses in this rivalry.

Despite losing, you’d have to be impressed with Galway in a high quality Leinster final. At the end it was two goals in ninety seconds that were their undoing. Although Richie Hogans first goal was a moment of genius, young goalie Oisin Murphy will not be happy with his effort with Damien Hayes saying he pulled out of it. As well as conceding goals, they missed their own chances, one in particular by Jason Flynn who has all the raw materials to become a star forward but misses chances like that too regularly over the years.

Joe Cannings celebrates his late winner in 2017

They have serious size all over the park but I would say along with Tipperary have a huge amount of “wristy” hurlers who are easy on the eye. Brian Concannon has been the big addition up front offering another snippet of pace while Conor Whelan is many people’s pick as the best inside forward in the country despite having a slightly below par day v Kilkenny. Both must be watched.
Conor Cooney can mix the exceptional with the average and his form often coincides with Galway results. Joe Canning continues to perform to a high high standard, it’s an interesting stat that Joe, TJ Reid and Patrick Horgan all made their debuts within 21 days of each other. Horgan and Reid took a while to establish themselves as top notch forwards but Joe has been near the pinnacle since the beginning.

You’d rather see Galway leave David Burke on the sideline because he was remains one of the best overall midfielders in the game providing far more creativity and scoring power than Johny Coen for example.At the back Kilkenny punished some indecisive play in the Galway backline and Tipp will feel they have that capacity to score goals also.

Tipp likely to stay the same?Generally when Tipp have won games they have started the same 15 on the next occasion and it’s likely this will be the same on this occasion. John and Noel McGrath were both substituted but it’s rare they have had two quiet days so they will surely be included. Of the rest of the team, most done some good things in the victory v Cork. I was really encouraged by Paul Flynn when he came on and his ball winning ability (and finishing) inside may be something that Sheedy considers starting?

Improving shooting percentages will be the key for Tipperary as 18 wides will not suffice against Galway. The fact the game is to be played in Limerick has got to be an advantage to Tipp giving Galway have played all their games in Croke park. Croke park and Pairc Ui Caoimh have the sand based pitches that play faster than traditional grass based pitches in the likes of Limerick and Thurles.

Most of the Tipperary Galway games in recent years have been high scoring affairs. I feel the battle between our half forward line and their half back pond is one area of the pitch to zone into. Dan McCormack and Bonner Maher improved our presence in that area the last day. I feel there could be some room to profit if we can put the likes of Shane Cooney and Joseph Cooney on the back foot. If these players begin to get go forward ball then it will be difficult for Tipperary to get moving.

Verdict:

As is always the case, goals will be vital. Galways failure to score green flags has been a notable absence from their attack in 2020. Tipperary buried there shots in the last game and for this reason I give is the nod barely.

Browne and Bubbles gone from the squad:

Tipps preparations for this game have not been helped by the fact that John “Bubbles” O’Dwyer and Ger Browne have left the panel. It is understood that Bubbles was frustrated with his failure to make the match day 26 v Cork, especially after being introduced as a second half sub v Limerick. The question is how can a player go from number 17 to 27 in such a quick time (the same question could be asked of John Meagher). It has amounted to Bubbles leaving the panel.

Ger Browne has got no chance since inter county hurling returned, the situation regarding his proposed transfer to Cashel King Cormacs is an unnecessary distraction for Sheedy and the squad as a whole. It surely has not helped his selection hopes. Of the previous two under 20/21 winning sides he is probably one of the most talented players with pace that we are lacking in the squad.
In the case of both players you would be hopeful that this is not the end of their inter county careers as they still have lots to offer in the blue and gold. The timing is not helpful for the squad but from a supporters point of view I would have preferred the two players and indeed the management to bite their tongues in whatever way was best for the next month that gives Tipperary the optimal chance of bringing home Liam.

Clare v Waterford

The other quarter final see’s two squads coming into this game in confidence. Clare after a convincing win over Davy Fitzgeralds Wexford and Waterford mustering up a highly competitive display v Limerick. Of the 6 teams left in the championship these are the two who will be most pleased with reaching a semi final so the draw is a serious bonus for them. The obvious question on everyones lips is who will mark the irresistible Tony Kelly. One thing is for sure is that you need stamina and speed when trying to match up with the Ballyhae flyer, Conor Gleeson is recently back from injury and he could fit that profile. If Waterford can keep him to less than 0-5 from play then I think they will have slightly more scorers than the Banner.

Waterford by 4.

Tipperary Footballers head to Cork on Michael Hogans anniversary.

The biggest game of the weekend for many is Tipperarys Munster final v Cork in the football. Firstly from a historical point of view it is 100 years since the shooting of Grangemockler man Michael Hogan on Bloody Sunday. It is a pity that the huge amount of commemorations were not able to take place in 2020 due to Covid and its not doubt that this Munster final in the White and Green of the south club would have been a real climax.

Michael Hogan whose 100th anniversary is this weekend

There is a sneaking suspicion that is could be a Tipperary-Dublin final like the game 100 years ago, how fitting that would be.

From an actual Football point of view it is probably the best remaining chance that this Tipperary team will have to win a Munster championship. When you look at the minor team that beat Dublin they have probably underachieved on the whole for a variety of reasons such as players Hurling, loss of form and Colin O’Riordans absence. There are also more experienced players such as Conor Sweeney and Brian Fox who are over the 30 mark.

You would presume that Fox will start after his introduction the last day which changed the game. Tipperary were dominated at midfield v Limerick so will they start the returning O’Riordan and what is the fitness of Steven O’Brien.

You would be hopeful that Tipperary attempt to move the ball quickly up the field. In the first half against Limerick it was torturous to watch, an example of why the Hurler on the ditch prefers the small ball although some of Wexfords backwards play wasn’t much better this year.

Anyway I am not going to go into the intricacies of the game because I dont know enough to start talking about sweepers or kickout strategies. I just hope our lads go out and go for it.

Saw this piece that summed up the whole magnitude of the occasion in the Independent on Hogan:

“His last words were a prayer, as you know. When Fr Crotty reached Mick as he lay on the field, a nurse was bending over him and said to Mick, ‘They have murdered you but they cannot kill your soul’,”