Tipperary Hurling Tipperary GAA Premierview

The Killinan End

3rd August 2006

“Good Night and Good Luck”

As the curtain came down prematurely on yet another Tipperary Senior Hurling championship campaign, the fates conspired to provide us with some surreal scenes. As the sickly sweet Special Olympics Anthem: “Never Have to say Goodbye” boomed out across Dublin 9 on the Croke Park tannoy, John Carroll crestfallen and toothless after being caught moments earlier in flagrante with Declan Pender, was being comforted on the pitch by a genuflecting John Leahy whilst over at the Canal End goalmouth, Barry Kelly and Tony Browne appeared to be engaging in the type of buddy-buddy banter all good American cop shows were built on. All they needed were two Styrofoam cups of coffee and a few doughnuts and you had Riggs and Murtaugh, or should that be Cagney and Lacey?

You just wanted to get out of there. It that was that sort of moment. Croke Park is like a graveyard after the final whistle and you’ve come out the wrong end of affairs. The great bowl seems to swallow you up, there’s always a few die-hards clinging to the memories, hanging back from the madding crowd and wishing the scoreboard to change. There’s numbness for a few moments and then the funereal procession of the vanquished, back to whatever parking space, train station, eatery or watering hole you return to.

Losing sucks, there’s no other way to describe it. What must it be like for the players, who’ve put in untold sacrifice to get there? You’d be fairly cold-hearted not to spare a thought for the players.
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I’ll say it again, once more with a bit of gusto. Losing sucks.

When it was over, finally all over, the fight and fire and tub thumping pride of the Tipp support after the Limerick game in May seemed a very long way away. The old adage about the only thing counting being the final game, proving to be a very wise old adage once more.

Once again, Tipperary have failed to make it to the last four in the All Ireland Series. 2003 being the last occasion we troubled the All Ireland Semi Final draw. The 2006 championship exit is at the same level as the 2005 version (albeit in circumstances that are marginally less acrimonious), in the final analysis that does not represent progress nor advancement, a state of affairs which is troubling.

Running the rule over Tipperary’s hurling year of 2006 will have to wait another day, there’s still the prospect of silverware in both Minor and Under 21 Championships looming, and the latter stages of the County Championships have yet to be completed.

However what one can say, without equivocation is that there is a great sense of disappointment that it’s all over for the seniors for another year. An All Ireland bid my have been beyond our expectations, but a competitive challenge for a final four finish wasn’t. Maybe the bookies, whom this column castigated back in May, were right with their 10/1 Munster Championship odds. Maybe our expectations were unrealistically high; maybe perhaps we were naive to have been seduced into thinking that the return of Babs meant normal service would soon resume. So many questions to ponder and plenty of longish evenings to do so.

The truth of it all is that once more Tipperary came up short and was found with its hands hanging whilst the serious championship contenders went about their business. There exists a quality gap, that Babs and co haven’t managed to bridge thus far, and doubts must come into one’s mind as to whether this current panel of Tipperary players can ever bridge that gap, without marked improvement in certain positions and more importantly some reinforcements to be drafted in for 2006/2007.

When the quarter final draw was made, I spoke with a former Tipperary manager who told me that he believed it was the worst possible draw for Tipp. Waterford would be greatly strengthened by the return to fitness and from suspension of Messrs McGrath, Mullane and Kelly respectively, plus the added incentive of revenge would add a further edge to Waterford’s challenge. It was to prove to be a prophetic analysis; one of the striking things about last Sunday week’s game was how dissimilar a game it was from the Munster Semi Final. In the first game Waterford were wasteful, at times at sixes and sevens and were primed for an ass whipping. At no stage in the All Ireland Quarter Final, did Waterford look like they were about to fade away. In marked contrast to the June game, there was no period of sustained Tipperary dominance, also every Tipp gauntlet was being matched in kind, a pattern best illustrated by the three unanswered Waterford points scored after Eoin Kelly’s conversion of a 21 yard free late in the first half.

And yet it all started so gaily, as John Carroll following through on a Francis Devanney hand pass, bullocked through for goal and finished to the net giving Clinton Hennessey no chance. It was to be a brief enough glimpse of Tipp dominance, the opening exchanges showed that this was going to be a struggle for Tipp, dead ball striking of the first order from Dave Bennett allied to sniping scores from Eoin McGrath and Dan Shanahan made it feel like we had one long hot and muggy day in the trenches to look forward to.

One passage of play involving the Boy Wonder told a thousand tales. Kelly through on goal is ankle tapped by Eoin Murphy, he manages to hold out for two more strides until Tom Feeney shoves the bas of his hurley into his face, possession is momentarily lost but Diarmiud Fitzgerald is primed for the follow up, his route to goal is denied as Eoin Murphy falls to the ground and lies on the sliothar, the ball is rucked away by the Waterford backs, until it falls to Tony Browne, who shimmies and side steps his way past two Tipp players and rockets the ball to safety.

That summed up a lot of how this game turned out. The aggression, the teamwork, the performance of marquee players and the rub of the green when it came to refereeing decisions, all rested in the Deise column. Kelly was to have his green flag moment not long afterwards with a 21 yard free planted to the net, Waterford’s response was one of attrition, having been gifted frees, none more stupid than the one conceded by a Tipp player for throwing the ball, Bennett was turning the screws. Shanahan had the measure of Moloney, in truth only Corcoran and Curran looked like delivering the type of all consuming defensive performance required to quieten an attack as good as the Deise one. Paul Kelly, though hurling a great amount of ball was shooting a bit to the Galway side, and those wides were to become crosses under which Tipp had to burden with before the day was out.

The sides went in at the break, 0-13 to 2-6 in favour of Waterford. It has been recorded subsequently that the mood in the Tipp dressing room was downcast at half time, it would seem that the players took this mood back out on to the field again in the second half. Tipp were shipping punches all over the field at this stage, Browne and McGrath were magnificent....actually scratch that, Browne and McGrath were so dominant that Tipp may as well have togged out thirteen players at the start of the game. And then came the jaw-warmer.

Dan Shanahan who had been picking balls out of the air all day as if he was placing fairy lights on the top of a Christmas tree, got his one moment to draw blood and draw it he did. Their lead from this point on never looked in danger. With no Redser or no Webster to turn to, Willie Ryan and Seamus Butler were sent out to battle like boy scouts in the Somme. At this point in time, I figure I wasn’t the only person in Croke Park looking at Babs going “Jaysus, it must have been one hell of a text message!”

Credit to Johnno, who chipped in a point, and Willie Ryan who did like wise and hovered around a bit intent on striking for a goal. John Carroll took matters then into his own hands and hauled us back to within striking distance of them. Just at the death, Paul Curran who looked to be clearly fouled, lost possession to. yes you’ve guessed it, to Dan Shanahan, who pointed it. It was that sort of day.

And yet we clung on to the last few crumbs, the Boy Wonder blazed a shot inches wide, Ken McGrath came back to defend the Waterford goalmouth amid heavy air strikes from Tipp, who battled to the end. But it was to avail.

Now that a few days have passed, the defeat can be sort of put into perspective. It was a bad blow and a suck-in to have to suffer, but we were beaten by a better team, and therein lies the rub. All the frailties and just about everything that we were worried about going up on Sunday week, came home to roost.

One final word goes to my Tipp man of the match and my Tipp hurler of the year: Eamon Corcoran. A legend and a class act and consistently the best performer in a Tipp jersey this year, himself and the marvellous Eoin Kelly once again leave us all in their debt.

At the start of the year there were those who criticised the style of Babs Keating and in particular his apportioning of responsibility in a post-defeat situation. The Kieran Shannon thesis; that effectively what we had as a manager was someone on a permanent ass covering mission who used his players as blame fodder to cushion his own ego. I still reject that thesis and dismiss it as both mean-spirited and inaccurate.

However out of the mouth of Babs we did hear a woebegone tone that seemed to suggest that blame lay else where. There were comments about the players not being fit enough which seemed to be a thinly veiled dig at Brian Murray, we had quotes painting the picture of a Tipp management petrified at the thoughts of what Waterford would do if they showed up with their game face.

Management must take responsibility for what falls within their jurisdiction, equally it must and ought to be fully absolved of those factors that it cannot control. Which brings our analysis of the Waterford defeat to a neat conclusion; in the areas that Babs had responsibility for, namely team selection and team preparation, can it be said that he graduates with honours. The senseless selection of Francis Devanney, and the backfiring experiment of Diarmuid Fitzgerald in the forwards are all things that didn’t help on Sunday week, however equally damaging to Tipp hurling, are the things that Babs cannot control; namely the fact (acknowledged publicly by the man himself) that he needs at least four more players, perhaps even as many as six.

As this column sees it, like Michael Doyle in 2003 and Ken Hogan in 2004 and 2005, the responsibility for failure has to be carried accross many shoulders.

But if its solutions you want, the issue is as simple as finding the half dozen extra hurlers that we didn’t have in 2006. Its simple to prescribe, but to deliver upon it is a hell of a lot more harder.

Which is why, next week is probably the most important week of the year for Tipp hurling. In four days, a Munster Under 21 Final and an All Ireland Semi Final in Minor remain to be decided. In many ways we need more from those four days than four decades worth of analysis of the Waterford game can produce.

Congrats to Drom on their historic win, not since Harkin and Butler were regular surnames on Drom line-outs have they seen such glory days. Its surely sweet to be around the Ragg these days.

Well if its sweet in the Ragg, its got to be lonely around the Hills of Killenaule, the chance to take Mullinahone to another day was lost on Sunday last. Both South teams will have a say in the destination of the Dan Breen yet.

GMB.



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The Killinan End

21st July 2006

“Judgment Day for Babs”

In more ways than one, next Sunday’s All Ireland Quarter Final represents a judgment day for Michael “Babs” Keating’s resumed management of the Tipperary Senior Hurling team.

Having brought us to this point by dint of a reasonably impressive Munster championship campaign, Babs can be satisfied with the way things have panned out, particularly if one casts their mind back to the National League campaign which at times looked shambolic. But as we said at the time; that was for small beer.

However, getting to this point really amounts to little more than arriving at base camp. The All Ireland Series in its current format is supposed to showcase the best eight hurling counties in Ireland, bar none. Given the shrinkage of contenders for Liam McCarthy since the mid 1990’s, getting your invite to hurling’s top eight means little more than Spud’s celebrated “foot in the door” comment during his speed-induced job interview in Trainspotting. If you’re not invited to this gig, its time to give up all hope.

Offaly are the only “blue-chip” entity not to get an invite, for a county that dominated it’s province in the 1980’s and lit the hurling galaxy up on many occasions throughout the 1990’s, that amounts to one hell of a fall from grace. Those are people with real problems.

The flip side on our current station in the hurling world is that it is wholly irrelevant what one has achieved in one’s provincial championship. For example, despite coming within an ace of a glorious Munster Final win over the reigning All Ireland Champions we are currently no better off than a side that have already been beaten twice in this year’s championship (Limerick). In fact it gets more perverse if you consider that despite having beaten both Waterford and Limerick already in the Championship this year, we start off this weekend on exactly the same basis as both those counties.

The above is worth dwelling on for a few moments, for it represents the realistic position. The Provincial Championships are largely worthless under the current regime, and for all the hoop-la about meat teas and Ring and Doyle slugging it out, our beloved Munster Final is facing an increasingly uncertain future unless the mandarins and the “comm-a-tee” men change things round.

The upshot is simple for Babs and Co; Sunday is knock-out, high stakes, winner takes all. Five minutes to go, the sweat beading across your brow, Dan Shanahan cutting through for goal and you’re suddenly four points down; there will be no back door, no get out of jail, no promise of a second chance to deaden the pain of having to endure away-days to “exotic” O’Moore Park, you won’t have to look forward to the sight of Nicky Brennan jangling his balls in a crystal bowl while the dude from Diageo calls out Tiobraid Arann.

On Sunday you fear the reaper.

Its been over twelve years since Babs has had to prepare a Tipp team for a straight knock out. That was against Clare and that was ugly. So Sunday presents a real test.

There is a secondary reason why Sunday represents a judgment day for Babs and Co. That secondary reason should be leading the Tipp team out onto the Croke Park sward on Sunday, but he’s not. Tipperary’s most high profile casualty of the SMS era; Redser O’Grady. Babs took the decision that Redser’s behaviour or more particularly the behaviour of his mobile phone was enough to merit his banishment from the captaincy, team, panel; the whole shebang. Micheal Webster was a collateral casualty and was felled by some flying shrapnel in the crossfire.

Whilst insubordination and indiscipline is intolerable at this level (which one is worth reminded of, remains an amateur level all the same), the decision to drop a popular and talismanic captain is a milestone decision that could yet prove to be a millstone around certain people’s necks. If seems even more bizarre when one considers that management had other options of censure open to them such as suspension and/or stripping of the captaincy, the latter would have been enough of a mortification for the censured party to carry.

The real irony in this entirely unnecessary interlude is the complete lack of perspective shown in assessing how great a breach of discipline Redsergate/Nokiagate/Textgate actually amounted to. One of the current Tipperary selectors has known some dark days. To his credit and as a statement of the great resilience of that’s man’s character he has managed to beat his demons and come through. I speak of course of Johnny Leahy. When on foreign soil and whilst a serving member of the then Tipperary Senior Hurling panel Johnny found himself involved in an incident that I’m sure he remains today ashamed of. The response from the then Tipp management is now the stuff of legend. Stories abound of how high powered delegations of prelates, clerics and cabinet ministers came to Johnny’s aid, and how no stone was left unturned in terms of support.

Marked difference to how Redser was dealt with summarily. In all of this, there is the underlying rule of what constitutes management’s prerogative, and one would have to respect Babs’s right to act as he saw fit. This after all is not a democracy and who says it should be. However this column still believes that management have punished Redser too harshly and the removal of the captaincy from him was a more commensurate measure.

The removal of Redser has occasioned the only change in Tipp’s starting line-up for Sunday. Into the cauldron comes Francis Devanney, who has the thankless task of filling the Number 11 jersey. Without prejudice to the foregoing, and whatever your views are on the foregoing, Devanney deserves nothing less than our fullest support on Sunday, its not his fault that his selection arose in such troubled circumstances. That said, there’s more then the hint of recklessness in catapulting someone from leftfield like Devanney into the team for Sunday at the expense of the likes of Ken Dunne and perhaps even Seamus Butler. The rest of the Tipp team has picked itself on form. At time of writing Waterford have yet to name their starting fifteen, there is speculation that Paul Flynn is a doubtful starter and there is talk of postponed surgery and what not. The smoke screen is alive and kicking.

The last time these sides faced off was during the June Bank Holiday Weekend in the Pairc. Tipp cruised home to an eight point victory with the Boy Wonder in master class form. Waterford were wasteful in the first half in front of goal and really only enjoyed a ten minute period of mid second half dominance. It is somewhat sobering that that ten minute of so spell of Waterford dominance all but reined in Tipp. It took a splendid cameo from Lar Corbett to put the matter beyond all reasonable doubt and Tipp prevailed. Justin McCarthy didn’t seem that arsed in his post match interviews after the game, Waterford gave off the impression of an aging gunslinger buying time until the cylinders were reloaded for the next big gunfight. Ken McGrath and John Mullane (upon whom so much of Waterford’s hopes are rested) have recuperated and look to be as close to peak form as makes no difference. McGrath has cropped up in midfield and a steady debate in Blaahland rages on where best to select him. The petulant but brilliant Eoin Kelly, that scowling young genius of this Waterford team is back from suspension. On his day he is a glorious hurler, and represents a great boost for Sunday.

The Kelly factor in the Tipp corner was a factor that Waterford couldn’t deal with in June. Have Cork shown the rest of the hurling world how to play the Boy Wonder in open play? Well two things here, Waterford haven’t a man marker of the calibre of Brian Murphy nor have they the luxury of sacrificing a Sean Og to play “deep” in front of Kelly. The battle to tame the Boy Wonder will be opened on other flanks one feels, with starvation of possession being the objective. One thing that Redser had a key role in was in supplying the ammo for the Boy Wonder, it’s a role that Francis Devanney has been handed a battlefield commission to carry out, doesn’t the timing suck on that score?

Brendan Cummins started his inter-county career against Waterford back in 1995, when Father Tom’s charges put 4-21 on the board. Video Nasties were to rain on that particular parade. There are no other survivors from that day still knocking about for us. In that same year Waterford put a coming Tipp side captained by Liam Cahill out of the Munster Minor Championship. John Carroll lined out at wing back, and if memory serves me right, Ken McGrath lined out at centre back. Revenge was to be had, twelve months later though.

A lot has happened since 1995, it has been an era of peaks and valleys for Tipperary Hurling. That Cummins is the sole constant in that period and sole survivor of the ensuing rollercoaster speaks volumes. He has assumed an elder statesman role in the camp and as a shot-stopper remains in the top three, a master of the art. Sunday will see a strange sort of return to where it all started for him.

The full back and centre back lines remain unchanged and are beginning to have the ring of certainty about them. Necessity has been the mother of invention here. Philly Maher’s fitness travails has necessitated Paul Curran’s reinvention. So far so good. Brian Corcoran was the first victim in an absorbing battle. Tipp need the type of harrying, hard working and disciplined performance that our backs gave in the Munster Final. The same type of performance will give Waterford real headaches on Sunday. At least we know that it is in our meter.

Who would have thought that Tom Kenny and Jerry O’Connor would be largely passengers in the Munster Final. It didn’t require Tipp to deliver the type of commanding midfield that one would have thought, it just required Shane McGrath to continue his “take no shit” approach to championship hurling. Described as the find of the year from a Tipperary perspective, the Ballinahinch man is having a dream debut season. Ken McGrath is a likely sparring partner for him on Sunday. The challenge for Shane is to go back to the well again and summon up another great performance, it’s that literal adherence to the idea of taking every game as it comes. That is the edge that separates a good club hurler from an intercounty man, and what you notice about Shane McGrath is that he seems to start every game as if it’s his last, it’s bust a gut every time. Its good to see a young fella with heart like that.

In attack the primary alteration has been mentioned above. John Carroll and John O’Brien go once more onto the breach on both wings. The Munster Final represented a modest return to form for John Carroll, the elusive Johnno could just about do anything on Sunday, we have seen some glimpses of brilliance from him. What price would one get for a few scores on the overlap with his club mate beside him on Sunday.

Its all about the Boy Wonder in the full forward line, he destroyed Waterford the last day, and with Lar starting along side him the pressure may be shared around a bit. It’s hard to see Waterford having an answer to Kelly and Corbett if they decide to run riot. How will the added burden of the captaincy affect Lar? If things open for Tipp in front of the Waterford goal you’d have to be confident of a few majors.

It really all starts from Sunday. The era of Hurling Nouveau has meant we have forgotten what the white heat of Championship knockout really is. For years we were used to seeing it Sunday after Sunday, and like voyeurs we tuned into other people’s misery and joy, weekend after weekend. No hurling team is washed up in May any more, the top eight have been handed an amnesty and with the certain gulf in class existing between the top eight and the rest, one can now hibernate until late July.

The truth of all is that in Hurling’s Top Eight like in life’s other arenas; the successful segregate themselves from the failures rather quickly. The chaff will be well sorted out and tossed away, in other words, by Sunday evening.

If Tipperary fail to beat Waterford on Sunday then they will have had no business in the last four in any case.

Welcome back to knock out hurling, the ultimate survival of the fittest.

Its Judgment Day on Sunday all right, all the decisions on and off the field this year will face the scrutiny of the Canal End scoreboard come a quarter to six in the evening, either way.

The Verdict: Too close to call, from this juncture.

GMB



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The Killinan End

2006 Munster Final Edition 23/06/06

“Who fears to speak of ’91?”

First off, apologies about the disappearance of this column for the Waterford game. Its not that the writer viewed the Deise challenge as beneath his penmanship, its just that this column had a Jeffrey Bernard moment and can recall little of the events of the June 2nd/3rd 2006 on a first hand basis, this is due to the over consumption of porter over the course of said weekend. Having spent too many championship weekends of late in Trappist denial, I took my date with Uncle Arthur with both hands. Like the dog in Trap Number 5, I savoured the first ten yards of freedom.

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose, or so the song says. Well it’s white of the eye time in the Guinness Munster SHC and Babs Keating’s Tipperary side have nothing left to lose. The consensus is silent but deafening all the same. Cork come to the Stadium for a coronation, ready to step over the croppy boys in blue and gold for a third successive year in a row and a fifth successive championship win over Tipp since 1992. That last particular statistic is most sobering. Five successive championship defeats since 1992, the day of Ger Fitzgerald, the day the Viking was tamed, the day the ball just wouldn’t go in for us.

In fact if we take a 1990-2006 survey, the analysis is worse. Played 8, Won 1, Lost 6, Drawn 1. That’s a 12.5% success rate. The sole victory was the day of days in 1991. The fact is that since the Donkey Derby Munster Final, we’ve come off second best to Cork too many times.

There’s been no real sustained level of dominance over Cork in championship hurling by Tipp since the Golden Era. For the generation that was reared and fattened on the memory of the Centenary Munster Final, a very healthy respect for Cork has been nurtured. Whatever transpires on Sunday it will be as the field doctor said to Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind: “This ain’t no garden party, Missy, this is War!”.

Even John Allen, normally as inscrutable as a Revenue official, is beginning to get all dew-eyed at the prospect of a coronation. “The only team that will beat Cork is Cork themselves”, he intoned after the Clare game. In an era of anodyne sound-bites, designated media evenings and dress down Fridays, the above quote is about as close as one gets to a “Donkeys” moment. But it does betray a hint of confidence if nothing else.

The bookmakers have installed Cork as firm favourites with the Killinan End’s investment tip of the week being Tipperary at 7/2 in Cashman’s of Cork. It seems that a lot of people are beginning to believe that this will be the year of the three in a row.

If this was to be any ordinary provincial decider like in some time forsaken place such as Clones or as the finale to some quality-forsaken competition such as the Leinster SHC, the pre-match analysis could be written on the back of an envelope. However what faces us Sunday, is the latest renewal of one of the last truly great traditions in Irish Sport. New-fangled championship formats come and go, as professional committee men fail repeatedly to re-create the magic of yesteryear. But the Munster Final remains.

Cork and Tipp in a Thurles Munster Final is the Filet Mignon Gratinée to a First Round Qualifier’s Egg and Chips. Hurling’s heartbeat will be found buried below Jimmy Purcell’s immaculate kept sward on Sunday. If you seek the uniqueness of Gaelic Games and what it means to this country, then you’d do a lot worse than rubbing shoulders with les paysans as they flock across Liberty Square on Sunday.

Some of the greatest memories we’ve ever known involved Munster Finals with Cork. The centurions from Two Mile Borris in 1900, the ’49 Final in Killarney with the extra time and the milk churns from Ballincurry, the “Reddan Final” of ’50, the seven great wins over Cork by Paddy Leahy’s Invincibles; 1957-1967. The Centenary Final; the Stadium newly re-modelled, Glasheen’s Minibus doing rounds of the Square, Seamus Power on the edge of the Town End square, Noel O’Dwyer’s jig of joy, four points up, the Mikey Doyle handpass, John Sheedy’s parry, Seanie O’Leary’s finish. 1987: Killarney, The Famine is finally over, the long years of waiting have passed, forget all the tears and heartbreak it’s time to start cheering at last. 1988: Big Dec, The Viking, the new Mackey Stand. 1990: “Cork Dentist drills Tipp”. 1991: The day of days, the comeback, Aidan’s goal, the pitch invasion to end all pitch invasions led by the man in the wheelchair. 2000: Early dawn for the young finches, Tommy Dunne’s missiles, Seanie McGrath’s points. 2004: Back to Killarney: John Carroll sickening The “Rock”. Cork win the war. 2005 the game of two halves, Paul Kelly’s gaisci.

You can’t invent the Cork/Tipp rivalry, you couldn’t script it or embellish it. It is a defining part of hurling. At times the rivalry has been skewed by a difference in standards, the idea of a gap again emerging in favour of Cork is an idea which is en vogue at the moment again.

At the start of this championship journey it is fair to say that there wasn’t much to really hope for. We faced into the Limerick game as 10/1 underdogs in the provincial race. The absolute limits of the most optimistic horizons was a day out in the Munster Final. That we’ve reached that horizon now is quite significant. It brings closure to the developmental phase which was needed to pick this Tipp team back up from it’s knees. Two good performances, now the door of the championship contenders room is ajar again. Sunday represents a whole new ball game; we win and take out Cork, we go into the All Ireland Quarter Final Series as the side the whole hurling nation is talking about as September Contenders, We lose by playing gallantly; we restore more pride and look a team that could reach an All Ireland Semi Final but go no farther (that it itself would be some progress); we become a last-four team. We lose badly; we face into the All Ireland Quarter Finals in bad shape and will be looking for a kind draw.

Sunday represents the next step for Babs too. Brought in to restore pride and wrap a reassuring bandage around fragile Tipp, the prospect of there being gold at the end of all this must be whetting his appetite. Babs Keating is by his nature one of life’s winners; he won’t be satisfied with ticking the boxes and handing over the reins after saying “now lads ye’re a Top Four team once more, my work is done”. The fact that we were a Damien Hayes personal foul away from being a Top Four team last year just shows you how much hurling has become a game of inches. It begs the question of what represents progress.

Progress is a Munster Title, Progress is the wild men of the Cork halfback line blown away, progress will the be the dancing feet of Eoin Kelly twinkle toeing his way to goal on Sunday.

That’s what real progress is, not taking part of a glorified donkey derby down in Ennis against a team that would struggle to beat a Cahill Cup selection. We have to take that next step on Sunday, forget about gallant defeats, losing sucks, winning is where it’s at.

Can we do it?

Well, the selection announced mid-week represents our best shot at the prize and is worth dwelling upon for a few moments.

The Lion of Borris loses his starting place in a re-jigged full back line involving a switch to full back for Paul Curran and the resumption of Paul Ormonde’s championship career. Ormonde was always one of the brave ones. A lionhearted defender from the class of 2001, often leading with the head when others would flinch from going in with the hurley. In the long hot summer of the 2001 Munster SHC (the last one this county won) Ormonde was majestic. When you think about how little came between the winning and the losing of that Munster Championship, you really get a sense of the worth of having guys like Paul Ormonde in your camp (by the same token Brian O’Meara would be a similar case in point). In that year’s one point victory over Clare, Ormonde hurled himself into an oil-rag, eclipsed only by Philly Maher’s tour de force on that day. In the Munster Final against Limerick he surpassed the Clare performance to give one of the individual performances of the year from a Tipp perspective.

Nicky had great meas on him, and so has Babs. The question of whether or not he could still have a part to play in the Tipp setup, could only be answered by reference to his academic commitments, the type of commitments that belie someone with a extraordinary sense of resolve.

He should fit seamlessly into the breach and with Declan Fanning motoring well and Paul Curran no stranger to the Number 3 jersey, the full back line looks like it could do a job, and they will be busy.

Centre back line sees the same triumvirate as the last day. Corcoran another lion of ’01 is having a fine year, O’Mahony too has done little yet, and Moloney also has the potential to have a big say in this game. Cork struggled to get scores from their half forward line the last time, the selection of Ben O’Connor in the corner may in all actualities see him starting on the forty. Cork’s ability to load on the points is one of their main trump cards and has been the hallmark of many of their recent successes. Tipp’s ability to restrict point scoring will face its sternest test on Sunday; however it remains a crucial sector in the overall winning of this Munster Final.

The last time Paul Kelly faced Cork in the Championship, he sealed an All Star. Niggling injury has kept him from those heights so far this year. However it has to be said that his selection is a boost, to be able to call on a player of his calibre is a real blessing. Ken Dunne has soldiered well here and has done the cause some service, but the prospect of Kelly the elder larging up on Sunday is too tantalizing to dismiss, he will be partnered by the industrious Shane McGrath who quite simply hasn’t put a foot wrong all year.

The half forward line is led by the team captain Ger “Redser” O’Grady; the former King of the Ball Alleys has the task of going toe to toe with Ronan Curran. Cork’s strongest line on the field, the line that hauled them from the brink against Clare last year, goes head to head with our most mercurial line. And yet, individually John Carroll, Redser and John O’Brien are as good as what we have to face Gardiner, Curran and O’hAilpin (sounds like a firm of Solicitors). This is where Cork store their Ark of the Covenant, if this line falls the Empire will come tumbling down.

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m glad it’s Redser thats going in search of the Ark. This guy has been dreaming about this day for over twenty years. Nobody is immortal in hurling any more, every dog has its day. Galway have twice shown the world and their mothers how to beat Kilkenny. If we start off on the premise that this Cork half back line is invincible, then we may give up now, save us all the hassle. Plough into them, drive into them, play the sort of game that John Carroll and Redser have been doing since they’ve been Under 8. I saw John Carroll in the 1996 Munster Minor Final; play almost the entire game with his head down, driving forward, he did the same against Galway in the 1999 All Ireland Under 21 Semi Final and in the 2000 All Ireland Quarter Final. Kicking ass and taking names. Its time for a bit of Roscrea country style bacon to sort out the men from the “possession based synergic defenders” (as some hand shandy artist described the Cork half back line).

I’ll say one thing, I don’t think we’ll lie down and play the croppy boys for the first half of this Munster Final.

Corbett for Webster; form dictated that one. The Boy Wonder enters this Munster Final to marvelous acclaim, whether its Brian Murphy or whoever, we’ll see a fascinating duel, Cork know they face quicksand in confronting Eoin Kelly, he has buried two counties already.

An impressive looking line out, a decent run of form, the Babs factor, the need for retribution and the fact that we have the best hurler in the game togging out for us. All positives Victory on Sunday is not as remote as the consensus suggests, we have nothing left to lose, the dignity that was stripped away in darker days from 2003 onwards has put paid to that.
Who fears to speak of ’91?

We were coming back after shipping a bad defeat to Cork the previous year. We never got the inside rail that year, and had to do everything the hard way. What 1991 proved, beyond all other things is that there is a fierce spirit busting underneath that blue and gold jersey if harnessed right. The type of spirit if harnessed right, that can triumph over adversity.

On Sunday, my money is on the old Babs magic to make a comeback.

The verdict: Tipperary by at least three.


GMB

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The Killinan End

May 16th 2006

“Cool Hand Babs smokes out Limerick”

Dragline (laughing): Nothin'. A handful of nothing'. (To the losing, card-playing convict) You stupid mullet-head. He [Luke] beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.

Luke: Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real Cool Hand.

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand. The winning line in Paul Newman’s Tour de Force about the durability of the human spirit. Over the past two weeks that line has repeatedly come into my mind to describe the state of affairs in Tipperary hurling or more particularly the state of our Senior Hurling Team and their chances in championship hurling. Last week, this column argued that perceived weakness was not such a bad thing to have and that assuming the ambush position was a good tactic.

Sometimes tactics are dictated to you, you’re handed the playbook in advance by conventional wisdom. The conventional wisdom was that Limerick were drunk on ambition and were about to swagger into Thurles in order to chastise Tipp. Again, this column queried the form book and the merit in taking stock of mickey-mouse victories in mickey-mouse competitions. Another factor was the man himself, Michael “Babs” Keating doesn’t do “peace by inches” however the man revels in shakedowns, and last Sunday was as much a day for hustlers as it was for Boy Wonders.

The pre-match press coverage installed Limerick as warm favorites, there were a few offering dissenting opinions most notably Tony Considine in Saturday’s paper but this was as much an opinion couched in nostalgia as in anything else.

On midday, Sunday morning I purchased a copy of the Sunday Tribune in Duggan’s in Friar Street. Money better spent across the road in Tom Dunne’s or up the road in Bowe’s as it turned out. Somebody called Kieran Shannon gave me my first “there’s only one fu*kin answer to that” moment of the day. More on than later, we have a hurling match to discuss, something that Mr. Shannon seemed incapable of doing last Sunday morning.

For those of us expecting the wild gladiatorial entry of the teams to the field, we were to be sorely disappointed. Any atmospheric buildup was entirely ruined by some representative of some Munster Council sub-committee prattling on about the launch of a Gaeltacht scholarship scheme. Time and a place, gentlemen, time and a place. What was required was somebody to requisition the turntables and fire on the 1812 Overture or falling that maybe Rock the Casbah from the Clash, not to be I’m afraid.

When the SAQ cones/markers were thrown down, many a cautious eye anxiously searched out Micheal Webster and his precious ankles. All came through the exercise, no fallers, no Devon Loch moments.

The opening exchanges were fast and furious. Colin Morrissey’s involvement in the game came to a very premature end due to injury. Out of a bad situation was fashioned a silver lining in the form of his replacement, one Ken Dunne who went on to have a big say in things.

After the first quarter, our inside line has been ransacked for two goals, both Philip Maher and Paul Curran will look back and cringe at both goal chances, there was precious little that Brendan Cummins could do to stop either shot, maybe we should have selected Kieran Shannon instead, he seemed to have all the answers re. goalkeeping earlier in the day.

The two goal blitz, shook us for a while, however there was an immediate response when Eoin Kelly pulled the trigger at the other end only to be denied by a brilliant stop from the Limerick keeper. The floodgates that threatened to open remained shackled. It fell chiefly to the half back line and in particular to Eamon Corcoran and to Hugh Moloney to take responsibility, and take it they did. The battle on the Limerick forty was being won by Tipp.

Redser O’ Grady was taking the battle directly to Limerick on the other forty, hooking, harrying and driving forward; his first half distribution to Eoin Kelly was almost flawless. The Boy Wonder kept Tipp in touch with some breathtaking scores, Mark Foley and TJ Ryan were both getting the ears hurled off them, he was here, he was there, he was everywhere, getting the ball, controlling possession, striking off the right and off the left, one outrageous balancing act braved the cudgels after he couldn’t play the ball into the hand any longer, result a point. He even had the ball in the Limerick net after Redser made the hard yards but was adjudged to have fouled the ball. Even John O’Brien found the posts in a half hour when he provided hope that one of the great imponderables of my youth may yet be solved. John Carroll added a score, even though at times he was finding the going tough and the task of winning aerial ball even tougher, maybe he should have called into that great wing forward, Kieran Shannon for a few pointers beforehand.

At midfield, it was turning into a wash-out for Limerick, brave young Shane McGrath announcing his entry to championship hurling in the style of the great Joe Hayes.

After being taken for two goals, we went in at the break, honours even, 2-5 to 0-11. This was the psychological boon that wrecked Limerick in my view. How soul destroying it must have been for them to have seen that scoreboard at half time. And it could have been worse for them, Tipp could have been out of sight at halftime. The Irish Wild Bird Conservatory haven’t made any statement on the matter, but the crow and jackdaw population behind the Killinan End wall had to have taken a dip. Such was our dominance that we could carry all those wides and still be well back in the game.

The second half saw Limerick attempt surgery at midfield and in attack, Ken Dunne was taking his second chance at the big time with both hands however and wasn’t in a mood to be charitable. Two early second half points set things up nicely. At this point you still wouldn’t have called it, but Tipp dominance was spreading across the field. The full back line had tightened up and Declan Fanning was giving an exhibition at corner back, Eamon Corcoran and Hugh Moloney were harrying and hounding their opposite numbers. It was still business as usual for the Boy Wonder with the only worry perhaps was Stephen Lucey slowly beginning to edge it over the hard working Conor O’Mahony, but here too as well as everywhere else Tipp were well in the game and when Redser O’Grady finally got on the score sheet, the hint of a winning feeling was in the air.

The sideline calls for the final assault showed the sure hand of Babs. Diarmuid Fitzgerald operating in a kind of a Wyatt Earp jurisdiction with liberty to roam from half backline to midfield was cleaning up. John Carroll was replaced by Darragh Egan who was greeted by Brian Geary in a warm and sporting manner by the Limerick man breaking his hurley off Darragh’s midriff. John O’Brien was hauled ashore after rendering great service and was replaced by Seamie Butler, although we searched in vain there was no sign of Kieran Shannon getting ready to tog out and enter the fray.

The shakedown in the dying minutes demanded a Limerick goal, and demanded Tipp to hold their nerve. Limerick were starting to get ratty and the niggly stuff was coming into view, their goal did come, albeit in a clearly illegal manner with Begley in the square. It would have been rough justice for Tipp and would possibly have seen us all in Limerick next weekend.

All great orchestral performances require a finale of some sort, who else to provide it in our case but the Boy Wonder himself, a mighty point from the Old Stand sideline was his sign-off piece. It was truly a great day to be Eoin Kelly; he delivered the type of all consuming master class that is rare in any sport these days. It was indeed a throw back to the days when a Ring or a Doyle performance would be the talk of the country for years afterwards and would have spurred the balladmakers into work. We live in privileged times, privileged to be alive to see Eoin Kelly, the most outstanding hurler in the game today, and we are blessed that he wears the Blue and Gold.

So on opening day in the Munster Championship. Limerick are gone and Tipp march on. It was a real day of affirmation for Tipp; heavily criticized they all showed up and showed up both as hurlers and as men. It was the type of day which could have gone badly wrong and we could be all having the sort of unhelpful mob dialogue and finger pointing that we get so good at in Tipp when things go wrong for us. Confidence will be built up after Sunday and this must be maintained.

The task now is to go away and dream it up all over again for Waterford, a county that have rained on our big day for too long and need to be badly put back in their box.

And as for Kieran Shannon, well Sir you let yourself down on Sunday. You tried to have Babs for breakfast, but he repeated on you. The selective use of his Sunday Times quotes was uncharitable and mean-spirited. At for the post Galway comments, I never saw in print at the time, Babs using expletives in remarks about his players on that date. I don’t think a Raymond Smith would have reached back to stir that one up. If your attempt was to stoke up an Offaly 1998 situation on the morning of our first championship game of the day, then Sir you are every bit, the two ends of a gobshite that your writing suggests that you are. Our boys gave you your answer on Sunday. Good day to you, Sir.

We won’t finish things up by wasting time on a jinnet; the big show is in Clonmel Sportsfield next Sunday. Both South Semi Finals are to be played, in an exact rematch of the 2005 doubleheader. Champions Killenaule face the coming power that is Carrick Swan as loving neighbours Ballingarry and Mullinahone lock horns once more. A great day’s worth of hurling in the offing.

GMB





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The Killinan End

May 12th 2006

“Lying in Ambush”


There won’t be much in the way of memories, treasured from the 2006 National Hurling League campaign from a Tipp perspective. One mildly comic moment however sticks out for this reader. It happened midway through the shambles that was our first half performance against Kilkenny in the semi-final. An infamous smart alec from the Slieveardagh area who would be particularly well known to South Tipperary readers delivered the following advice to the Tipp linemen, something along the lines of there being better hurlers amongst “the auld ones in the County Home in Cashel.”

It was that sort of League. Hardly worth dwelling upon. Hardly worth the macho talk that it has inspired from our opponent’s on Sunday, either. Put it this way, getting to a League Final won’t be worth a tinker’s curse to Brian Geary if he’s getting the schooling of his short and hitherto non-descript hurling career from the Redser on Sunday.

League Champions crowned in April are but an afterthought by the end of May. The competition is now nothing but a mere bauble, with a structure so contrived that only a GAA committee man could love.

The form served to the punters by Babs Keating’s Tipp was far from vintage. No-one likes to be beaten by Kilkenny, in fact one should go out of one’s way to avoid defeats to the bastards. Getting two on the bounce was hard to digest, but if you are prepared to take the long view on these things and take the pride factor out of it, its small beer really.

At the moment, I am wearing my optimistic hat and would argue that if we are to come through on Sunday against a side that have had such an impressive run of form this year so far (even if they count Waterford Crystal games, when no one else does), then Babs will have been playing poker all year. I like to think that somewhere between the curses and the groans and the advices re the County Home, Babs was wearing his poker face during the League with a doff of the cap to Paul Newman perhaps who once famously advised that “sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand”.

At the moment we are 10/1 outsiders for the Munster Championship, possibly a ten year low at that price. The bookies are offering money on for a Limerick win on Sunday. The conventional wisdom points to a Limerick win and one can just imagine what gems the Fourth Estate are about to impart on Sunday morning. We’ll hear plenty of soft talk about Tipp being “far from the finished article”, some hushed entreaties about “the problems in our half forward line” and heavy dollops of sympathy for the “burden on E oin Kelly’s shoulders”. We could almost write their articles for them already, well as John O’Mahony famously said in the splendid “Year ‘til Sunday” ; “There’s only one fuc*ing answer to that !”

So if we are to do it on Sunday, it will be an outrageous piece of poker play from Babs Keating and suddenly as it happens; the whole bombing out of things in the League won’t amount to a hill of beans.

For this is to be Limerick’s day according to the illuminati who know just about everything about everything. Certainly they were worthy opponents the last time. Over 160 minutes of hurling, only one point separated us from them. The qualifier fixture in 2004 was decided by a similarly razor thin margin.

Since then two important things have happened to Limerick, two things which are prompting people to start talking them up again. Firstly, and I’m not sure who is wholly responsible for this; Limerick is now a united camp and to borrow a phrase from another organisation who spent most of the 1990’s at each others throats: “The Family at war is now at peace.” The vexed questions around dual players and dressing room discipline seem to have been put to bed.

Secondly, a badly needed injection of steel and resolve has been infused. Again it’s hard to pin point when exactly this happened but happened it has. Somewhere along the line, Joe McKenna has convinced the most outrageously under-achieving group of All Ireland Under 21 medallists ever assembled, that it was worth something to wear the Limerick jersey. The rescue of Mark Keane from becoming hurling’s equivalent of Norm from Cheers is a case in point, and a welcome one to for the game of hurling.

Limerick did have (and maybe still have) two major injury doubts for Sunday, the totemic Mark Foley and Mark Keane. What remains is the bones of a solid enough outfit. They are blessed with a defensive genius (Reale) two brothers who don’t how not to mind when to give up (TJ and Donie Ryan), and the ugly duckling full forward who might yet become this year’s Micheal Webster (Brian Begley). What comes in between is solid if not earth-shaking stuff. On a first round day with things unsettled and no real sense of supremacy on either side, Limerick come to the table as genuine contenders with strong claims.

Babs Keating has named his first Tipperary championship starting fifteen in twelve years. It isn’t a full deck with injuries to our All star midfielder, last year’s captain and to two of our corner forward options restricting things.

The full back line sees the much travelled and largely unappreciated Declan Fanning named at right corner back in a position which may see him interchange with the listed centre back in the course of Sunday’s game. Its a big day for Declan, there’s been quite a bit of criticism (some unjustified) levelled at his door of late. Parochialism aside, I would say that he is selected on merit, and as someone who has seen him come back from adversity on more than one occasion before I would have no doubt that he will do the business on Sunday.

The Lion of Borris and Paul Curran make up the rest of the full back line. Both have points to prove to the stattos that view form as some sort of religious faith. One would have reservations about Philly’s state of fitness in the League and there is some anxiousness about whether he’d do a tour of the pitch if his opposite number gets wanderlust. I don’t know if Begley is that type of opponent and I’m not sure if Limerick will want to crowd their forty, they seem like a team that likes to play the corner options, so we could have a stand up and at ‘em type contest between the Lion and Begley. I fancy our man in such a scenario.

Paul Curran needs to delve back into 2005 and find some commanding form for Sunday, some of that would be welcome.

The half back line as selected has an unfamiliar championship feel. Conor O’Mahony is the latest to wear Mick Roche and Tony Wall’s jersey. I would fancy him to take out Stephen Lucey and if as I suspect he will trade places with Declan Fanning, then I see us possessing a clear advantage here. Big day for Eamon Corcoran, how quick people forget the iron-like performances and bravery of the past, I really really hope he answers a few hurlers on the ditch on Sunday. There’s few braver then him.

And so to the Nenagh man, who seduced us all one balmy night against Cork in one of the great Munster Under 21 Final wins. As selected he faces the earnest Donie Ryan. Hugh has a big step out to take on Sunday, but I have a winning feeling about this guy and I think its nailed on for our half back line to make a real statement on Sunday.

Big day for Ballinahinch on Sunday with the midfield pairing of Morrissey and their debutante McGrath. Kelly is a grievous loss, for long range scores if for nothing else. I want to see a bit of the fire of Killarney 2004 in Colin Morrissey on Sunday that somehow convinced him that he was fit to clean off the entire Cork subs bench, management team, waterboy, the linesman and Frank Murphy’s wig all in one fell swoop.

There won’t a dry eye in parts of the Stadium when the Tipp captain leads his men out on Sunday. Its been a long road for a guy who has manfully played the hand he was dealt to get him here. The Redser O’Grady story can be replicated in many codes and in many lands, the classic story of the “lad done good”. He represents Thurles Sarsfields but every club in the county from Shannon Rovers to Skeheenarinka feels a part of the Redser story. He represents us all, he is the Everyman in this team. Every attempt won’t be guided missiles, a fair few might dent the roof of the Social Centre and endanger a few crows in Killinan, but he’ll give it 110%, a finer captain we haven’t got.

Flanked by another great cult hero. John Carroll, the Beast of Roscrea, permanently on the run from the AI man with his agricultural gait, it’s a brave blowhard that would bet against Johnny having a big say in the proceedings on Sunday. All I have to say about the sublime John O’Brien is that I don’t want to be wrestling with an ageing bladder, a waning libido and a hankering for bottled stout, stuck as a old man in a bar wondering about the three great imponderables of my life as a young man

(1) How did The Stunning not make it;

(2) What happened really in Saipan;

(3) Why didn’t John O’Brien fulfil his talent.

There’s only one of the above that can be changed, and that’s down to the Fortwilliam man.

The last line of attack will comprise of Diarmuid Fitzgerald, Micheal Webster and the Boy Wonder. Three men with a lot to offer, the Fitzgerald selection has raised eyebrows but it may prove a masterstroke. The aesthetes will frown on this sort of jiggery pokery. A back and a forward; ne’er the twain shall meet. Ah, but the boy can play, I would counter, the boy has hands, has balls and has the hurling to upset things. Not ideal, but far from a crisis.

Webster hopefully will resume his service of 2005 on Sunday. The Boy Wonder is as always our master card, a contest with Reale will be the battle of the day.

This is Limerick’s hour, they come to Thurles drunk on hype. There will never be a better opportunity to beat Tipperary in Thurles in the careers of many of their players on Sunday. This is their hour.

Lying in ambush are the team that the bookies have rivalling Kerry for the Munster SHC. Its high stakes poker.

A Tipperary victory on Sunday will provide Limerick hurling with the type of setback that has Dooleyesque dimensions.

Laying in ambush is a place we like to be.

The verdict: Redser O’Grady to lead Tipperary to a win on Sunday


GMB





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The Killinan End

February 17th 2006

“Second Coming”

In the Vatican they have a serious hankering for the ceremonial in everything they do. When a Pope dies, the period between when his death is formally pronounced and the election of a successor at the next Conclave is known as a Seda Vacante. This period, an inter-regnum if you like is always commemorated by the issue of special coins and stamps from the Vatican.

As I stood in St Peter’s Square on the morning the forces of Cork and Clare met in the first of this year’s All Ireland Hurling Semi Finals, the thought struck as to how Donie Shanahan would look on one side of a specially minted Seda Vacante coin for Tipperary Hurling 2005, he certainly would have the ruddy countenance of a well-upholstered seventeenth century Cardinal, but would there be a need to for a Thurles minting of such a coin?

That question was answered for us with the news that the County Board on the recommendation of the County Board Executive had decided not to extend Ken Hogan’s term as Senior Hurling Team Manager. The meeting was held in camera, but there were unconfirmed reports in the following morning papers that the decision of the Board was unanimous. That development brought an uneasy closure to the events that had transpired since the fateful decision to name the Tipperary Senior Hurling selection for the equally fateful game against Galway on the Saturday evening before the Quarter Final.

The intervening events deserve at least a passing treatment, for the sake of completeness if nothing else. The immediate aftermath of the Galway defeat was a low time for morale. Hurtful ideas, thoughts and comments abounded. Once again this column offers it’s rebuke to those uncharitable so and sos who leapt to the crucifixion of Tommy Dunne after the Galway game. I think you’ll find his balance sheet for the cause since the All Ireland Minor Final of 1991 deserves a debt of continued gratitude on our part. Heaping responsibility on Tommy Dunne’s shoulders for failures of management is quite perverse.

Well that said the rumour mill continued; the key issue being the late arrival into the public domain of the Galway game’s teamsheet. To resolve this issue would have involved delving into the minutiae of the team’s internal setup, which quite possibly wouldn’t have solved anything. The official line was that last minute fitness checks on certain players necessitated the delay. Players and management met in Thurles for a de-briefing session. A shrewd move one would say on Ken Hogan’s part as it would have the effect of heading off any unilateral initiative from the players the likes of which did for Michael Doyle (incidentally the last Tipp manager to lead us to the last four).

What happens next took us all by surprise. The County Chairman seized the intitative and issued a statement the likes of which was certainly without precedent in the recent past. Donie Shanahan stated that rumours have been circulating throughout the
county over the past two weeks. These rumours have no basis of
foundation, are absolutely untrue and it seems their only purpose is to
damage the reputation of some of our players”.

Donie went on to ask Are the people that spread these rumours genuine Tipperary supporters? I wonder what their agenda is by making personalised allegations about
the role of certain players in the week prior to the Galway game. I am asking here tonight and appealing to those who are spreading these
unfounded rumours to stop and think of the damage, hurt and pain these
may be causing to the families of these players. All members of the panel and management made a huge effort during the
past eight months on behalf of the county to bring an All-Ireland to
Tipperary. It is most disappointing that some people should embrace such low
standards to cause damage and unrest to Tipperary hurling.”

This writer would argue that the above statement was self-defeating given that it was meant to address issues that weren’t in the public domain aka rumours. By the time Donie resumed his top-table seat it would have taken Pierre Salinger and the entire Kennedy Administration Press Office to deal with the fallout. Whilst I would query the judgment of the Chairman in issuing the above statement I would never say that it wasn’t motivated (at least partially) out of concern for players and their families. Though asking what the agendas are of people who can’t be identified and who may not even exist was a bit Gerry Collins/ “don’t busht up the party, Albert!” I have to say.

The sans-culottes were going to have their say in any event as Noel Dundon’s superb account of the rest of the meeting in that week’s Star testifies. First up was one of Donie’s predecessors: Paul O’Neill from Cappawhite who immediately went for the jugular and asked the $64,000 question: “Was there an issue with the captaincy?” after that superb piece of “don’t beat about the bushery” from Paul O’Neill the questioning continued in a similar vain.

And after that things were never going to be quite as simple as they are in Kansas. Ken Hogan gave a detailed interview the following week wherein he indicated his intention to stay and “finish the job”. The interview was fulsome and Ken seemed to be quite interested in staying put. It wasn’t quite a back me or sack me ultimatum more an expression of interest on Hogan’s part. A collusion course was inevitable and the Ken Hogan era was brought to an end.

Ken Hogan will be remembered by many for his service to the Blue and Gold which at this point in time stretches back to the 1980 All Ireland Minor Final when he starred in goal. As the goalkeeper in the Keating era of 1987-1993, Ken was an integral part of the side which won two All Irelands and Five Munster titles, an ever present representative who didn’t miss one championship game in the eight years he was a fixture on Babs team. So of the most memorable moments of his goalkeeping career involve Cork, crucial Munster Final saves in both 1987 and 1991 come to mind.

An early foray into management came when himself and John Kennedy acted as selectors to Fr. Tom Fogarty in the years 1995-1996. Those (particularly 1996) where nearly years for Tipp hurling but Ken Hogan was quietly developing a reputation as a physical trainer. He was called on to serve alongside Nicky English in 1999 as a selector with Jack Bergin and the triumvirate managed Tipperary to All Ireland honours in 2001.

With the demise of Michael Doyle’s twelve month reign in 2003, Ken Hogan was an early contender for the job and his appointment brought Jack Bergin and Colm Bonnar back to the Tipp setup. 2004 was a difficult start. An early Munster Championship exit at the hands of Waterford gave Tipp the dummy handpass route to the All Ireland Series. The second defeat of the year occurring in the final round of the qualifiers to Cork in Killarney.

2004 was a particularly bad year to be a Tipperary GAA follower, the combination of three unconnected but equally damaging events; the Cork defeat, the scutching handed down to our Under 21s by Kilkenny and the sad withdrawal of our county footballers all pockmarked a brutal year at the office. One could say that for all three of these events to happen in the one year ensured that there was to be no honeymoon period for Ken Hogan. Morale in the county hit new lows last year and have hardly recovered to any great degree since. By the time 2005 come round it was clear that only radical improvement in results would save Ken Hogan’s neck.

It’s still too early too now and too depressing to write a quasi-definitive review of the county’s senior hurling season for 2005. On the positive side of things one could say that whatever Ken Hogan had or didn’t have. Luck wasn’t one of them. But in the same way that Nicky English’s 2001 trip to the top at times seemed charmed, there were few enough breaks on offer for the 2005 journey.

Failure to deal with line-up and positional weaknesses to this writer was the big flaw that Ken Hogan brought to matters this year. At the end he just ran out of cards having spent an entire year trying to decide on his strongest hand. Then there was the charisma deficit that at times he seemed to labour with. Post match interviews became monotone and uninspiring, that’s not to go down the route of personal critique, I merely mention it as an aside or an view (admittedly from the ditch) that Ken never seemed to look like he was in control of the situation. You can be “proud of each and every one of the lads” ‘til the cows come home but there’s surely more to it than that. Where was the pulpit thumping bravado of Babs, or the clinical coolness of Nicky or even the nicotine stained passion of Michael Doyle. With Ken it just sounded so laissez faire.

In the end of the day he tried and he failed. Whether there was attempted piracy over his last team selection or not, he seemed unable to shake the rumour off. And it buried him in the finish.

We need now to draw a line under the two years of the Ken Hogan era and move on. Ken Hogan has contributed greatly to Tipperary Hurling throughout his life. That should be acknowledged, like his father Hubie before him did as a player and administrator. People ought to remember that and remember also that at the moment a kind word towards the man and his family wouldn’t go astray.

Ken Hogan distinguished himself in his service to his county, I’d wager that nobody wanted success more than himself. Things didn’t work out, the plays didn’t fall together, but no one has been murdered or maimed, the fact that once again a departing Tipperary Manager has to run the gauntlet of poison pen letters and crack calls is nothing short of a disgrace. This writer in the last analysis will remember a childhood hero in a tight-fitting yellow goalie’s jersey whilst standing in the Bearna Baoil for Tipperary hurling in our most successful period of inter-county success since the 1960’s. For that one great save in Thurles against Cork in 1987, he earned enough corn to keep him in harvest for ever. Would that his tormentors would show a bit of charity to a man who tried his best.

The succession race which followed Hogan’s departure was disjointed and sort of spluttered into life by degrees. As in 2002 and in 2003 the early speculation was telling. Nicky English was dubbed to be the preferred option, and the reported wooing of him sort of overshadowed what should have been a serious debate about the future of Tipp hurling. That said the Great One had been his time and filed his returns with interest, whilst speculation is perhaps idle at this juncture, one could say with fair hope towards accuracy that the same personal/travel/occupational commitments were still competing for his time and attention. Someone like Nicky English doesn’t walk away from Tipperary Hurling, he lives for Tipperary Hurling, but he’d manned the trenches once and that constitutes distinguished service in any one’s books.

Two other avenues were opening up. From the homegrown stable; names like Dinny Cahill and Paudie Butler were in circulation and deserved consideration. An increasingly vocal minority were espousing the “foreign” option of an outsider, shorthand to this writer for let’s hire Loughnane, well if one was to adopt that path we as well mortgage our pride to the highest bidder.

With Nicky not for turning, no domestic name electrifying the county, and the mere mention of a foreign import set to split the county in two, things didn’t look good. The process had become delayed.

There was to be however another twist in the tale. Maybe it was the fact that he had become a critic of the top table or maybe it was because to an increasing number of us 1987 is an eternity away, whatever the reason, the name of Michael “Babs” Keating didn’t jump off the pages at first glance. When the speculation came his way, quite rightly as the architect of the last real period of Tipperary Hurling dominance, the hearts started to flutter. Of course in his deadpan way, he denied all interest, dismissed all speculation and coyly stood hugging the edge of the ballroom like a prom-queen.

No smoke without fire was proven to be so, the rumour became a hope the hope became a belief and when Johnny Leahy’s name was linked as a possible selector the horizons of interesting Sundays in the Summer of 2006 came into view. When the announcement was finally confirmed I was beside myself with joy. If it achieves nothing else, not a hint of a cup even, the Keating-Leahy-Barry combination will invite two extended fingers to our sniggering neighbours (on every frontier) and invite them to spin on them. Pride will be restored under this regime and that is a most significant first step.

First things first, this is not 1986. We are not providing Westmeath and Antrim with National League headaches, the county is not (I hope!) still on the verge of bankruptcy over the Stadium after the 1984 All Ireland. We are not sending our senior hurlers to functions and public appearances looking like a bunch of engineering students during rag week. Babs was the great revolutionary of the modern Tipp GAA era, I don’t believe we require that same level of activity again. But it’s comforting to know we have it in reserve if required.

The crucial short-term policy considerations as this columnist sees it are as follows;

The restoration of authority by management
An early assessment on the positional capabilities of all members of an extended Tipp panel.
A settled championship fifteen by the closing stages of the National Hurling League
Pride restored

Next Sunday, sees the start of what many of us would hope to herald as the Second Coming.

I would settle personally for the achievement of the four above points by mid May, anything after that would be a bonus.

GMB