Tipperary Hurling Tipperary GAA Premierview

The Killinan End

4th September 2009

“To see our flag unfurled”

When I think of the story it always reminds of the young buck that Saddam Hussein tried to put on his knee in that infamous propaganda film before the Gulf War.

I couldn’t have been more than 5 and we were in Callan. The age sticks out in my head as I remember being brought around those same years to all the Under 21 games as Mick Minogue’s Tipp were undisputed High Kings at the time. We were doing a bit of cuardaiocht and as we were about to make our goodbyes to our visitors, the man of the house reached into the cupboard for “something for the young lad”. Thinking, as you do, that I was about to cash in on a bar of chocolate of some sort, my anticipation was whetted. Our host, being the good Kilkenny man that he was, had other notions and proceeded to present me with a china mug emblazoned with the black and amber, the old GAA crest and with Kilkenny’s Roll of Honour added thereon as a motif. I had a Tipperary version of the same mug, and I remember there was even a red and white Roscrea version of it in circulation as well. Being reasonably well reared I took the “gift” graciously and exited to the braying guffaws of our Kilkenny hosts. We left Callan, and before we crossed the border at Ballintaggart, the Kilkenny mug had been pelted out the back window of our FIAT 127.

That’s my earliest memory of the men in stripes. Growing up along the border we knew were the enemy lay, but it fell to the older generation with fresh memories of Tipp hurling in the 50s and 60s to fully appreciate the Tipp/Kilkenny rivalry. Bitterness often gave vent to bardic verse. Following the hunt in Lismolin (a stone throw from the Kelly’s homestead) one Stephens Day, a man, who shall remain nameless, three proverbial sheets to the wind, regaled the audience with a recitation which had as its refrain:-

“We’ll take ‘em and we’ll bate ‘em and we’ll grab ‘em by the hasp,
For there’s nothing sure nor certain then to kill a f*cking wasp”

Now a Stephens Day hunt is the ultimate sociological melting pot, everyone from prince to pauper has their role to play. A crimson clad huntsman admonished our bard of Lismolin and wondered aloud why this man was preaching such violence towards an innocent insect. The huntsman was soon educated that the object of our bard’s scorn was the Kilkenny hurlers as opposed to actual wasps!

One of the great things about the build up to an All Ireland is the memory flow of sights, stories and sounds that you associate with the game itself. Like many of us there is a rich tributary flowing into my own memory of past Tipp and Kilkenny battles.

1991 was the last final and quite rightly it is the counterpoint to a lot of this year’s build-up. I recall in the build up to 1991 there was a big go on the sale of Tipperary Bart Simpson tee shirts with the speech bubble “Kilkenny are Cat”. 1991 was an idyllic championship run, never to be repeated by a Tipp team up to now. Those battles with Cork have passed rightly into folklore. I remember the media “bigging us up” for the 1991 Final. My focus was a little skewed in the run up, the same week Mike Powell and Carl Lewis were dukeing it out in the World Championship final of the long jump. Beamon’s record was smashed and all that was left that week or so we thought was for Declan Carr to give Kilkenny the high jump.

1991 was (I think!) DJ Carey’s first full championship. Kilkenny had an anaemic passage to the final, wobbling through Leinster and stumbling over Antrim in the semi final. In comparison with our turbo charged run through Munster and subsequently settling our account with Galway, the omens looked good throughout.

There were lots of little side plots to the ’91 Final. Ollie Walsh and Babs Keating locking horns again. Could Kilkenny get once last big day out of Heffernan and Fennelly (they certainly did the year after!). John Henderson’s last game in a Kilkenny shirt. Tipp needing to get this win in order to answer the surly (and pejorative) charges that the ’89 win was tainted with softness, that it wasn’t a real All Ireland win. Lots of focus on Johnny Leahy, could he transfer the form of Munster to the biggest stage.

’91 was also about brothers. It was very much the Bonnars Final. Colm, Conal and Cormac. The day Pearse Bonnar left Tir Chonaill and dropped anchor in Cashel of the Kings was a day of providence for Tipperary hurling. The Bonnars were a real spine of that Tipp team. They were different, dare I say cult heroes. Perma- tanned legs, Ice hockey helmet wearing and led by a Viking. Any daughter that brought Conal Bonnar home to Mammy would be met at the front door with a full teapot, a plate of Madeira cake, a filled out pre-marriage course application and a well stocked dowry. The brooding Colm wouldn’t have looked out of place togging for the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Detroit Red Wings. As for Cormac, well West Tipperary hadn’t thrown up a warrior like him since Sologheadbeg and 1919.

It has since been written that Colm Bonnar spent the eve of the 91 Final in his hotel room with a pen and paper in hand. Composing his thoughts, he carried out a form of examination of conscious and committed to paper all the little things that were nagging him about his game; the missed balls etc. He committing to giving it everything the following day once the ball had been thrown in and ended his note to self with the words.

“I’m going to win because I deserve to”.

Fortes fortuna adjuvant as a classicist might say.

A lot has been made of the infamous Michael Cleary free as a game changer. It’s a simplistic enough analysis which ignores two other factors in Tipp’s victory. Firstly it completely ignores the commanding performance that day one of Patrick Fox, Esq. He completely torched Liam Simpson rattling off five from play and also “assisting” as numerous frees came off him. The second factor is that Kilkenny emptied the proverbial tank at Tipp in the first half but were guilty of plenty of delinquent shooting in front of the posts. What Foxy was doing at the other end, the Tipp backs were matching in defence as we closed out Kilkenny in the second half defensively. John Power had a battle with the Cusack Stand wire, and the wire lived to tell the tale. Big Christy was quietened by young Conal after giving Bobby Ryan enough of it early on.

When we see a starting 15 for Sunday containing no West representative you wouldn’t have thought that possible in 1991 with a third of the starting 15 from the West.

When Declan Carr our unconventional and laconic captain collected the Liam McCarthy Cup for the 24th time the opinion writers had to concede that there was nothing “soft” about this All Ireland win.

Are there similarities with 1991 and 2009? Well, as was the case in 1991, one side is the clear favourite in 2009, this time it’s obviously Kilkenny. Favouritism did not seem to sit well on Tipp in 1991 and certainly the four point win was hard earned. This may give credence to the theory that regardless what the formbook says, a Tipp –Kilkenny All Ireland Final takes own its personality and is to some degree not responsive to form lines. High profile injuries abounded in 1991 and are present in 2009 as well. Babs gambled with Nicky and Cormac Bonnar the latter a doubt right up to the throw-in and it possibly stunted the overall performance but we got away with it. Will Kilkenny be as lucky if they decide to start Noel Hickey?

Liam Sheedy watched the 1991 Final as a spectator but he was an established part of the wider Tipp scene at this stage, featuring on All Ireland winning Tipp Junior and Under 21 teams. Three of his team-mates from the 1987 Tipp Minor Team, Mick Ryan, Conal Bonnar and John Leahy had graduated to senior ranks, Sheedy thus a contemporary of many of the ’91 winners. Tough, unassuming and dependable, all adjectives that one would have summed up Liam Sheedy with throughout the 90s, he put in a decent shift with Tipp but never featured in the top billing. A supporting actor at best.

There were other aspects to the Sheedy back story that were accurate signposts then his inter county playing career. His devotion to Portroe was legendary, a consummate clubman with an attention to detail that allied to his club loyalty marked him out for future leadership roles. Sheedy also had the strength of character to live with the shadow of John and 1984 and Seanie O’Leary and all that went that territory. A lot that has been written and spoken about John Sheedy and 1984 has cut a bit too close to the bone, Michael Doyle suffered a similar fate until his Killarney heroics redeemed the “sin” of his one wayward hand pass in’84. For John Sheedy there never has been anything to balm the recriminations. Liam Sheedy ploughed on until Len Gaynor handed him a chance in the most unlikely of places; St Tiernach’s Park, Clones for the All Ireland Quarter Final with Down. Duelling it out with Raymie Ryan, Sheedy held onto the No 5. jersey for the All Ireland Final of that year before migrating back to the full back line and remaining there until 1999/2000.

Sheedy was no sooner retired from inter county hurling and the Bainisteoir bib was on his back. The oft forgotten grade of inter county hurling, the Intermediates was his first beat. It ended in sweet success, sweet afton success to be precise! The least political correct named All Ireland trophy the Sweet Afton Cup (our bard of Lismolin would have approved!) was back amongst the homes of Tipperary and Sheedy the manager was off to a flyer.

Tipp Junior Managers generally up to that point, put in the graveyard shift in terms of county management. A thankless job, a bit of an after thought. Every so often success would buck the trend or real characters like the legendary Tommy “Senator” Murphy would provide a bit of colour to an otherwise dull grade.

Apprenticeship served, Sheedy began the next stage of his service with the County Minor team, here the searing and critical eye would be cast. To the great many you could do what you liked with the Intermediates but if you went down in flames with the Minors another Sheedy would be tarred and feathered by the unforgiving Tipp support.

The period since 1996 were barren in terms of Irish Press Cups coming to Tipp. In that context the 2006 All Ireland Minor victory was a massive gold star in Sheedy’s copybook. The achievement itself was massive, the manner of victory was even more impressive. Sheedy literally had to pick his charges up off the floor after a Munster Final defeat to Cork. The Semi Final win against Kilkenny was exquisite, topped only by the taming of Joe Canning’s Galway in the final.

Sheedy’s next move was to skilfully avoid being typecast as the “underage guy” and he shuffled off stage with the senior job vacant twelve months later as the rekindling of our romance with Babs went west.

Sheedy the manager of Tipperary Senior Hurling has been impressive. To gauge his effect you need only have to look at where we were, the shambles that was our exit in 2006. His support team has been wisely chosen. Anyone with a knowledge of the Galway city hurling scene knew the value of Professor Eamon O’Shea to any setup. A man in touch with youth, with the vital supply route of Fitzgibbon hurling and no shortage of grey matter, as his doctorate in economics shows. For every Martin Riggs there has to be a Roger Murtagh, Sheedy went for a comrade in arms in Mick Ryan another wise choice. Sheedy augmented his team with the impressive Cian O’Neill. Every All Ireland Tipp team since ’89 has had a first class athletics coach on board. Phil Conway, Dr. Liam Hennessey, Jim Kilty and now O’Neill.

Sheedy also won the battle of the dressing room early all. Babs, Hogan and Doyle all had reputed troubles on that score; there hasn’t been a murmur of dissent in the Sheedy regime, another positive.

Possibly the key ingredient in the Sheedy success story to date has been his ability to relate to the players of this generation, a skill honed as a Minor manager. One of the best strokes he pulled as Minor manager was to have the likes of Eoin Kelly and Eamon Corcoran as hurley carriers and waterboys to the Tipp minors. Paudie Butler in a very though provoking interview recently spoke of the challenge of a manager having to be able to relate to modern day players. Old school isn’t just passé, it’s totally Aimsir Caite. Where Babs struggled to relate (one remembers one woebegone interview where he lamented that hurlers of today have too much education!) to the new generation, Sheedy has embraced the challenge. Where Babs tried to his credit to blood new talent, Sheedy has gone one better and recast the whole team around young gunslingers like Paudie Maher, Seamus Callanan and Noel McGrath.

Under Sheedy Tipp have won a National League, won back to back Munster title and are back in an All Ireland final. Not a bad shift and one carried off with a positive public persona.

Brian Cody’s most tangible connection to a Tipp-Kilkenny final goes back a bit further in time to the 1971 decider. Brian Cody starred at centre back in the minor final of that year a feat which doubtless provided him with succour as the ten goal senior final reached its ultimate conclusion with victory for Tadhg O’Connor’s Tipp complete with Ballybacon’s own version of Zola Budd.

Brian Cody has been the hurling manager of this decade and at this stage is at least one foot in the door of the Pantheon inhabited by Johnny Leahy, Paddy Leahy, Tough Barry and Monsignor Tommy Maher.

What Cody has brought to the management of hurling can best summed by Malachy Clerkin’s delicious phrase “Magnificent Obsession”. Cody has become the ultimate hurling obsessive, a trait more accustomed perhaps to football with its Mick O’Dwyers, Kevin Heffernans, Eugene McGees, John O’Mahonys and Mickey Hartes.

Cody’s reach is also impressive in terms of reputation. During the Steve Staunton succession stakes, BBC’s Football Focus asked Eamon Dunphy about world class managers from Ireland, Dunphy name-checked Cody and Aidan O’Brien to a baffled BBC interviewer. Cody’s obsession for success has seeped down to his troops thus obviated the need to fret over something which bedevils managers in every form of organised sport; “hunger”.

Cody is also the great adapter. One example is his refusal to be shacked by the crap that is served up as opposition in the Leinster Championship, Cody had adapted to the point where All Irelands are won and lost not by reference to how you did in Leinster Finals but by how well you did in the killing fields of Nowlan Park training games. One suspects that someone in a corner of Nowlan Park is the words Arbeit Macht Frei daubed on the walls. Charlie Carter, Stephen Grehan and Brian McEvoy will also testify to the trapdoor that faces any of Cody’s charges once the Fuhrer is displeased.

Although he has never let the mask slip to let us know, you can also bet your purty ass that Cody will be supplying his troops with copious amounts of anti Tipp venom in the hours that wind down before throw-in.

Well they are f*cking wasps after all!

In terms of match ups. One could reasonably argue that we’ll have the edge between the sticks. Cummins may be in the winter of his career but he still has a superior shot stopping ability to PJ Ryan. The advantage isn’t terribly pronounced and is also offset a bit by Cummins really having to come up to the plate and deliver on puck out strategy on Sunday, an area which has proven controversial in the past.

We can only assume that Brennan – Power – Fogarty will start initially on the inside line. Paul Curran and Eddie Brennan (if it works out that way) could render Moneypoint obsolete. Slash hooks at dawn. Curran has excelled in the corner in the past but is facing a huge threat in Brennan. Brennan has the full package; speed, skill, bouldness and considerable upper body stamina. His scalp is worthy of Curran, for if he is spancilled in any way the Kilkenny goal threat has been holed below the waterline.

Paudie Maher may be facing Richie Power; he may be facing more Royal company but we’ll go with the Carrickshock man at the moment. Maher has been peerless to date and has delivered on his potential; Power matches Maher in potential but hasn’t delivered to the same degree. Where Maher excels is in the general mopping up function, a priceless commodity given the danger any spilled ball will create around the Tipp goal. I’m backing Paudie Maher for a massive game on Sunday and I think we have a real edge here.

The other corner it’s a case of squeaky bum time. Aidan Fogarty is a big game player and we know what he can do in an All Ireland Final. Whilst Paddy Stapleton has been flawless to date, this is a huge ask. Stapleton’s brief (like Curran) has to be to man-mark to dominate and blot out the opponent. I think though the Cats have an advantage here but it’s a tight call.

Assuming Comerford starts on the wing and Shefflin starts at centre forward. Declan Fanning may be detailed to mark Comerford as opposed to Larkin. I think the Killenaule man can do a job here for us; Shefflin on O’Mahony. Shefflin struggled in the League Final when it was shoved up to him by Maher. There is no real form guide though between the Newport man and Shefflin. We need O’Mahony to land the howitzers and to set up the zippy ball beloved of our runners in attack, so this is a crucial area for us to at least break even. Again a tough call either way but the head would have to go for Shefflin.

Brendan Maher on Eoin Larkin. A baptism of fire for the young Borris man against a former Hurler of the Year. Maher has shown that he can rely more on guile and stickwork then route one brutality. In facing Larkin this could be a beneficial tactic. I also expect that Brendan will be tutored to avoid the ducking head of the James Stephens man in an effort to win soft frees.

If Tipp come out on top in midfield if will be a red letter day for us. The form suggests Kilkenny have a clear advantage with a Cha/Rice/Lyng menu offering more in terms of sustained form then the Woodlock/McGrath/Dunne alternative. Oh to be inside Shane McGrath’s head at the moment. It’s all boiling up towards the hurling equivalent of the Shawshank Redemption. McGrath has his Andy Dufresne moment and finally shakes off the shackles. Advantage Kilkenny though for present purposes.

Festy and John Tennyson. Again only a hypothetical match up but surely an area where we can press home an advantage based on pace alone.

Callanan versus Hogan. Lots of side plots, Hogan anxious to seek revenge for Thurles. Callanan conscious that he needs to spend part of his shift down and dirty with the miners. If possibly won’t be a conventional “hip to hip” battle ala Heffernan and Bobby. In fact it definitely won’t, hurling isn’t as static any more, and moreover Callanan is fond of roving to the flanks in terms of taking and creating scores. I don’t see a definite advantage to either side in this matchup.

Tommy Walsh the Lee Harvey Oswald of championship hurling. Will he meet his Jack Ruby in the bould Johnno? Lots of sh*te has been written and spoken about Walsh, whose only sin is that he never considers a 33:66 ball as anything less then 75:25. If hurlers were to stop playing like Tommy Walsh years ago, we’d never have had a John Leahy. I think he will belt away on Sunday with plenty of sweeping clearances, the question really is whether Johnno can offset this by supplying the bullets for the inside line? On the balance of probabilities one would have to go with a slim advantage for Kilkenny here.

For Corbett versus Kavanagh read Fox versus Simpson 1991.

The Boy Wonder versus JJ Delaney the sainted Johnstown man. The obvious caveat here is that it could be Hickey that the Mullinahone man in facing. It’s a credit to JJ Delaney that he has made such a fist of the full back berth since taking it over in Hickey’s absence although you sense that he yearns for his old stop. It’s a credit to Eoin Kelly that he is able to tog out at all given the state of his back. Kelly possesses enough of a threat still to inspire fear in Kilkenny. Delaney will have to mind the house and they of itself may tell against him delivering Hollywood clearances. Honours even.

Noel McGrath versus Jackie Tyrell. I rate Tyrell hugely; I think he is on his day the best pound for pound corner back in the game. Noel McGrath has been phenomenal al year. His trump card has been his complete unflappability. If this matchup will be the Loughmore man’s biggest test all year it also will be Tyrell’s. Purely on the basis of experience Kilkenny have an edge here, but Noel McGrath has rendered almighty service to the colours all year, and his account is well settled. If we are to have a goal fest he will number among them.

Finally, but what of 2003?

Ask yourself one question. Are we better served with our starting six forwards on Sunday or with John Carroll, Paddy O’Brien and Conor Gleeson?

It’s beginning to get too late for sober talk. The giddiness is in the air and the blood is up. I’ve been getting well wishes from many other counties, places in the bowls of Mid Cork, Waterford and Galway, places where I thought a kind word towards Tipp would be rare as hen’s teeth. It has brought to mind the famous phrase of Thomas Davis, Young Irelander: - “Where Tipperary leads, Ireland follows”. Not to get carried away but it’s nice to be wished well.

To land Tipp’s 26th would be a massive, massive feat. There is nobody on this planet nicer to get one over on then Kilkenny.

Now is the time, to dash their moment in history and deny them four in a row.

About time we got to see our flag unfurl again.

Up Tipp!

GMB
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The Killinan End

15th August 2009

“Keep your Eyes on the Prize”.

Right now, pharmacist strike aside, the anti–depressants are being doled out in several counties.

In the dark rooms of Dublin football, the patient awaits Nurse Ratched with a bed pan in one hand and a Kerry jersey in the other. In the plains of sweet Mayo, the county which has suffered like no other, life is like one long Isla Grant album at the moment. In Waterford, after the shi*-talk subsides (in time for the Christmas with the help of God) the value of moral victories will be reappraised, and sweet nothings will in time be replaced by hard facts; whether you lose by 4 points or 34 points you’re still a loser.

To quote Michael Dukakis “Losing Sucks”.

However bad it would be for Tipp, were Limerick to conjure up a win on Sunday (and that would be plenty bad, perhaps even regime ending bad for Liam Sheedy), what makes things infinitely worse is the reality of losing out on the prize that’s on offer. A prize that to my mind has a once in a generation value, the prize of staging Brian Cody’s Waterloo, ending the Four in a Row, and sending Kilkenny hurling into a Nuclear Winter.

So when the going gets rough, when we’re in serious John Wayne toilet paper territory on Sunday next, when we are fighting what seems like a primeval battle against Limerick, when there is the residue of three separate blood types on the bas of Brian Geary’s hurley (and none of them Brian’s!), Tipperary have got to keep their eyes on the prize.

Tipp emerged from Thurles five weeks ago, enshrouded with the garlands of back to back Munster titles. Winning the Back to Back in Munster was no mean feat, no small milestone when one considers that it was 1988 when it was last done by a Tipperary side. When Liam Sheedy files his return at the end of this championship (come what may) he can with some justification point to the Back to Back in Munster as a considerable achievement.

The Munster Final win was also notable in that it was achieved with a fair dollop of panache on our part. At times the hurling was truly champagne stuff; there is more firepower in the Tipp attack these days then at any time arguably since the 1987-1993 era. The 24 carat stuff was concentrated in a 15 minute or so burst across the first half but it was the work of artists. Eoin Kelly, long the lone ploughman now has a meadow full of comrades in arms. Noel McGrath is simply sensational at the minute, what a debut senior championship for the Loughmore man. Corbett’s second wind of 2008 is continuing to test the weather vane in 2009. Johnno is finding a vein of consistency that eluded him in days of yore. Callanan of the Serie A goal celebrations disproves the theory that every attack needs at least one pit-pony. Callanan puts the ball in the net, he does it regardless of the opposition, he mightn’t have the look of a guy fond of making reeks of turf, but sure when did you see Picasso with a tin of emulsion and a paint roller in his hand. Patrick “Festy” Kerwick is the last piece of the jigsaw, plenty of speed and plenty of guile there. The Killenaule man won’t let anyone down.

At half time in Thurles all the talk was of a fade out. Wizened old hurling men huddled with Tipp Stars under their arses and guardedly spoke to watch out for Tipp taking the foot off the throttle. In truth there was no real abject fade out. We goaled again in the second half, and once Seamus Callanan signed off with his final rocket with ten minutes left on the clock, Waterford fumbled for a revival, they cut the deficit from ten to four, but truly we were never in Rosary Beads territory. Tipp did enough with 20 minutes of hurling; there is substantial comfort to be taken in that.

What is emerging is exciting. This is a Tipperary team that is coming in the front door. We’re also pis*ing off a few chinless wonders in the process. Your Loughnanes and your Mulcahys and your Finnertys may snigger from the comfort of their TV studios and say,

not enough big men,

no killer instinct and this latest nugget:-

“Not able to win dirty ball”

Well when Tony Browne nearly de-balled Seamus Callanan and the Drom man stayed the course and set Corbett up the fourth goal the last day, was that not dirty enough ball for ye. Or when Tipp forwards drove into Kilkenny in the opening stages of the League Final and Micheal Webster sent James Ryall into Bohernanave with a body check, were them yards not hard enough?

Dirty ball me eye!

If we choose to play with a bit of dash, surely that’s a Tipp prerogative? Culturally advanced Hurling from the county that has done so much for great culture;

North Tipperary gave the world The Pogues,

West Tipperary gave the world Creedance Clearwater Revival;

South Tipperary gave the world the Clancy Brothers and

Mid Tipperary gave the world…..er…Boy George.

Legends, one and all.

However. We are not without our little kinks, the inside back line has a few speed wobbles at times, the McGrath-Woodlock midfield hasn’t really hit full tilt yet and whilst having so much youth is another gold star in the copybook, it doesn’t come without the down side of a paucity of big match experience.

Is it heresy to think that Sheedy’09 is (even at this infant stage) a better pound for pound hurling team then the All Ireland Champions of 2001?

The day of reckoning to sort out the heretics from the true believers is fast approaching. Sunday’s All Ireland Semi Final is the proverbial banana skin. By any empirical analysis of the match-up, Tipperary would come out on top. Do the head to head amongst the starting fifteen on Sunday and you only get one real outcome. But there are two reasons why this is of little real benefit or comfort to Tipperary.

Firstly, as we are only too painfully know, anything can happen in a game of Hurling. There is no accounting for the human factor. We’ve been down this road before. During last week I spent a lazy evening skimming through my bloated email sent items folder. I came on an email I sent to a friend in the UK in July 2005 in advance of the Tipp/Galway game of that year. I cringe when I read back on the supreme confidence I held in store for that game. I mightn’t have bargained on Damien Hayes’s WWF tactics near the end or the need for Glasnost in the dressing room before the Tipp team went out, why need we concern ourselves with such trivialities when you have such boundless pre match confidence.

The second reason lies with the opposition on Sunday. Limerick are no ordinary opposition, that’s not to damn Limerick with false praise (on every line we have the superior personnel), but put them in front of a blue and gold jersey and the resulting chrysalis turns them into something greater than the sum of their parts.

Marquee comebacks? Well Limerick created the mould with their performance in the 1992 National League Final. The 1996 Munster Final was an example of more of the same on that score, an abiding memory of that game is the photo image of Nicky English, jersey collar drenched in blood, straining every sinew to grab a winner with the Nash brothers in hot pursuit.

In the run up to the 1997 Munster Semi Final, Joe Quaid gave an interview to RTE where he described Limerick as being “Tipperary’s hoodoo team”. We could have had few complaints with that description but it didn’t prevent the Killinan End (the real one) from expressing its opinion at the Limerick goalkeeper throughout that game. Following Tipp in the mid 1990s was a pleasurable expense in all but results. I had gone to school with a fair number of guys who had broken onto the team in the mid nineties, the 87-91 era was hero worship, this was about following the tribe. I cringe when I think back to the antics on the terrace that day in ’97, plenty of two fingered salutes we must have thought we were the Chelsea headhunters, it was surely never this way when we were summarily dismissing Limerick in the late 80s. It was a measure on how serious we now took Limerick that there was so much exultation in defeating them.

I think also of the 2001 Munster Final, a real bare knuckled fight. There’s a game that could have easily gone against us. Again with 2004 another nail biter the bare minimum to spare at the end. 2005 ended in a draw and we eked out a one point win in the Gaelic Grounds in the replay after extra time. The only convicing victory we have had over Limerick in recent years came in 2006 a game heralding the triumphant return of Michael “Babs” Keating.


Well, Good Friday wasn’t long coming after that particular Palm Sunday, in 2007 we came out the wrong side of the trilogy and that was that. Game over ball burst.

Liam Sheedy has tweaked his defence for Sunday’s battle. Conor O’Brien is an unfortunate young man to miss out, it’s a tight call, Paul Curran has excelled in the corner in previous battles whereas Conor has lacked just a little bit in the conviction stakes and is damned by a tint of vulnerability particularly on the turn. Paudie Maher’s selection at full back bears testament to the options we have in the half back line where he can be spared. It’s quite the feather in the young Thurles man’s cap that when his manager looks to bring more composure to the number three slot he hands the jersey to him. Sunday could be an interesting audition for him for a showdown with Shefflin in September.

The last line of the Limerick attack is a bit of a liquorice allsort selection. The mercurial Andrew Shaughnessy the promising newcomer David Breen and the towering Paudie McNamara, Tipp should have their measure. The other change to the Tipp defence sees All Ireland Minor winning captain Brendan Maher of Borris into the half backline.

The hope would be for a bit more sustained dominance from the Tipp midfield on Sunday particulary from James Woodlock. I was surprised that Justin didn’t select his old dog of war Mike O’Brien to start at midfield. Limited but teak tough and earnest O’Brien has rarely hurled a bad game against Tipp. It would have been hard to have dropped Gavin O’Mahony I suppose, whose form has been strong and has the added benefit of knowing his opposite marker inside out.

The Tipp Attack is as was selected in the Munster Final. With 4-14 on the board after an hour that day, its no surprise they all earn a reprise. Festy may be feeling the pressure to up the scoring input on Sunday, I have no doubt but this will come in time.

We have engaged in a genuflection exercise over the Tipp forwards earlier so perhaps we’ll look at the Limerick backs. Six exceptionally hardy defenders, if Limerick are to drag us to the wire on Sunday, their strongest suit is at 2 to 7. Whilst there is little pace on their flanks and up the middle of their defence, the tactic surely will be to turn our forty yard line in to the Battle of the Somme, starve our full forward line of supply and prevent Tipp’s smash and grab attacking game at source by timbering our half forward line out of it at every opportunity. To call that a game plan might be a stretch but you can be sure that Limerick will empty the tank on Sunday.

I expect we’ll have too much in attack for them but it’s a hope rather than an expectation.

This is shit or bust for Liam Sheedy, win on Sunday and he gets to send us into a titanic and historic All Ireland final battle; a game that will define his young team and our county’s place in the hurling pantheon,

lose and his project is in ribbons.

High stakes stuff.

Time to take refuge in Pete Seeger’s rendition of the old Negro spiritual and “Keep our Eyes on the Prize and Hold on!”.

GMB.


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The Killinan End

10th July 2009


“Heartbreak Ridge”

“My name's Gunnery Sergeant Highway and I've drunk more beer and banged more quiff and pissed more blood and stomped more ass that all of you numbnuts put together”

The older you get, the more you remember the bad days. When it comes to our opposition this Munster Final Sunday, there have been no shortage of bad days.

It wasn’t always this way. Waterford were once provincial makeweights with brief flirtations in the success stakes. Between the seismic shock of 1963 and Seamie Hannon’s services to dentistry against Nicky English in 1983, there wasn’t much to write about. Waterford’s quasi-emergence in the early 1980’s corresponding with Tipp barely beginning to claw our way back to glory. Swords didn’t cross too often.

Our potted history begins 20 years ago, on a balmy Munster Final day in Pairc Ui Chaoimh. After jesuitical machinations RTE convinced the Munster Council to grant live TV rights to the Munster Hurling Final. A decision which was hailed as revolutionary at the time but sadly taken 5 years too late.

The box office draw in mind was a Cork Tipp Munster Final. Waterford to their credit had other ideas. First up they took the scalp of Clare in the First Round and then knocked Charlie McCarthy’s Cork out after a high scoring replay with Pat Murphy being the three goal hero. I wonder how many of the chest-beating Deise horde that will descend on Bethlehem on Sunday, will even remember who Pat Murphy was?

The 1989 Munster Final wasn’t a classic; in fact it was one of the worst in living memory. Waterford seemed to think they were on a Coillte training course; such was their zeal for broken timber. Damien Byrne was sent off for tattooing Nicky English’s shoulder, a mullet haired white helmeted midfielder named Noel Crowley saw the line for similar acts. There was a Rudi Voeller/Frank Rijkaard moment in the second half when Declan Ryan had a mouthful of water spat into his face. Live TV had become a Video Nasty. My sole other memory is of Conor O’Donovan going off looking like a extra from Platoon and Nicky English being…well Nicky English, a magisterial performance with 0-13 to his credit.

The two sides met again in the 1995 Munster First Round. There are only two survivors from that clash that are still involved with their respective counties; Tony Browne and Brendan Cummins (who made his championship debut that day). This game is significant in that it was the first of the post Babs era, Father Tom Fogarty having been handed the managerial baton.

On the face of it looked business as usual. In front of a half empty Pairc ui Chaoimh, Tipp delivered a throw-back performance. All of the Keating era big guns were firing on full cylinders; Sheehy, Aidan Ryan, The Bonnars, Big Dec, Skippy, Leahy and the divine person from Lattin-Cullen himself. Pat Fox came off the bench and nailed 2-4 with a comeback show that would have put Elvis, Tony Bennett and Status Quo all to shame.

However, to quote Albert Reynolds “It’s the little things that trip you up”. As the game entered the final quarter a Paul Flynn effort at the Blackrock end went wide and was followed with a little bit of “how’s your mother for spuds”. The ensuing melee was to leave this fixture with a bitter aftertaste, inflaming media passions and ultimately damning Father Tom’s managerial career from the very beginning.

As has become the custom in such matters, the proverbial sh*t storm gathered speed. The Munster Council got involved, things took a turn for the perverse when the controversy effected Peter Queally’s (then player now selector) passing out ceremony at the Garda College in Templemore. The resulting star chamber saw six players suspended or censured. Mike Ryan (another of Sunday’s selectors) and Paul Delaney ultimately walked the plank and Tipp’s chances against Limerick in the upcoming Munster Semi Final were dealt a fatal blow. One last hurrah dashed.

Twelve months later we clashed again. The venue this time Walsh Park. Tipp had now gone into a second phase of post-Babs transition. Brian O’Meara, Liam Cahill and Paul Shelley providing fresh blood. A 17 year old Ken McGrath was a Deise debutant. The Ballingarry man, Cahill provided the critical score with a goal. Cahill was on his way to an All Star and Tipp ultimately to a Munster Final. Tipp ran out three point winners on a margin of 1-14 to 1-11.

That fairly pedestrian affair marked the end of a certain phase in the Tipp/Waterford rivalry. The arrival of Gerald McCarthy marked a renewed campaign for Waterford to achieve parity of asteem in Munster. When the sides next met, it was in the winner takes all setting of the 1998 Munster Semi Final. The venue was once more Cork.

Tipp were set up for a fall. All Ireland finalists the previous summer, we faced a team that had changed immeasurably since the 1995/96 series of games. Tipp were quick out of the blocks, but worryingly throughout the first half, goal chances were being squandered with near misses and balls hitting goal posts. A feature of the play that was to have dramatic consequences by the end of the game. Finally, Eugene “Stue” O’Neill the new pin up boy of the Tipp attack had one in the net before half time.

The five point half time lead was flittered away as Waterford tore us apart in the opening minutes of the second half. A Brian O’Meara goal nosed Tipp back in front but for Waterford to break free again, Paul Flynn the chief assassin. The Deise held on where once they would have folded. Bonny Kennedy, Declan Ryan and Liam Cahill all had goal chances. Brendan Landers goal was protected by a force field. Tipp bowed out and Waterford delivered a seismic blow.

If 1998 represented a defining change in the rivalry, the Quarter Final of 2000 was a case of the Empire strikes back. Nicky God had returned to torment Waterford and his young finches were brimming with eastern promise. But this was the day of John Leahy. We forget now how brilliant a force he once was, he tough an hombre he was, how gifted a hurler he was. Against Waterford in 2000 John Leahy was the heart of Tipperary. He settled a few scores with Messrs Hartley and Frampton and delivered his sign off piece to a marvellous Tipp career.



It has been said that Nicky English’s All Ireland winning team of 2001 was fashioned in the cauldron of white hot clashes in Pairc ui Chaoimh between 1999 and 2001. Character building battles against Clare, Waterford and Limerick sowed the seeds for our 25th All Ireland. How ironic that the same crumbling edifice was to witness the demise of Nicky English’s side.

When I think back to the very worst days following Tipp, and forgetting about travelling to sh*tholes like Enniscorthy in the early 80s for League games, the 2002 Munster Final and the 2003 All Ireland Semi Final are perennial chart-toppers.

Waterford’s victory in 2002 dealt Tipperary Hurling a hammer blow, and set in train a series of events which culminated in our 2007 demise at the hands of Wexford, the Annus Horribilus of modern Tipperary hurling. In 2002 we came unstuck on a day of days for Waterford. Tony Browne’s piece of cute goal poaching bore more than a passing resemblance to one Seanie O’Leary. To isolate that one score is to perhaps do Waterford a disservice. It was a top drawer performance that left us gasping and altered the balance of power between our two counties considerably.

Fast forward to 2004, beaten in the end by a late Paul O’Brien goal. A masterclass from Eoin Kelly, a goal from Colin Morrissey and at least three chances spurned to equalise it at the finish.

When the win finally came it was a tepid affair. The 2006 Munster Semi Final. Redser O’Grady captained the side to a nine point victory. The Boy Wonder whipped up another storm, Lar Corbett turned goal poacher.

After five successive trips Leeside to settle matters between us, the final two acts in the drama have been played out in Croke Park.

The 2006 All Ireland Quarter Final was the sting in the tail of our earlier Leeside victory. The win in Cork was mere giblet compared to the sirloin that was on offer had we kept our snouts in the Croke Park trough and beaten Waterford. This was a high octane affair and of all the battles that Tipp and Waterford have had over the past 20 years this was the one game that stands out as being a case of Tipp just not having enough goods to seal the deal. Waterford withstood everything Tipperary fired at them on the day. For every marquee Tipp score there was a sustained and brutal Waterford response. The game couldn’t have been more different then the earlier Munster Semi Final. Waterford marched on and not for the first time, they looked like they were destined for greater things, Tipp eyed up the X-Ray and began to think the heretical, that perhaps Babs may have feet of clay after all.

And so finally to last year and the most recent clash of Ormond and Decies. Well if it was flat racing, we had the type of start you wouldn’t see unless someone shot a horse in the starting stalls. The hand of Davy was all over the starting tactics, a definite attempt was made to soften Tipp up with some physicals whilst John Mullane then decided to burn Eamon Buckley and fire Waterford in front. Eoin McGrath was char-broiling Conor O’Brien in the other corner. A six point early lead ensued. Tipp got back into it but seemed to jack-knife early in the second half when economy in front of the posts deserted Tipp. The decision to tinker with the Munster Final winning formation will be debated forever and a day, on balance it didn’t help.

Tipp renew engagements with Waterford again on Sunday. The third Munster Final clash in 20 years. As we have seen both counties have been defined by this rivalry. For Waterford the totemic wins of ’98 and ’02 were key signposts signifying that Waterford were contenders once more. For Tipp, this rivalry has been more complex, it has marked the end of two All Ireland winning Tipperary teams and the emergence of a possible third. At times it has been hot and ugly but its fair to say the same bile that was there at times with the Clare rivalry, has been largely absent here. There is no real grievance with Waterford, they have beaten us on the merits in each of their wins, and largely have had the upper hand.

The lead in to Sunday masks the real Waterford. A worthless League clash in February is no form indicator. The jury is out on the Davy experiment, a high risk venture at the best of times. His imprint will be everywhere on Sunday, a Blue and Gold Jersey in his sight is as potent as a packet of Viagra between Tony Curtis and Hugh Hefner.

The physical edge that Waterford brought to bear in 2008 should also be negated. Guys like Paudie Maher and Noel McGrath ought to know not to expect Marquis of Queensbury on Sunday. More of the steel that was on show against Kilkenny in the League Final is in order as opposed to the patty fingered approach we saw at times against Clare.

The Tipp selection keeps faith with the personnel that to date have delivered.

Cummins picks himself for his tenth Munster Final appearance.

The full back line is augmented this year by the gutsy Paddy Stapleton who has been faultless to date. There are those who hanker for a reprise of the Fanning/Curran, Curran/Fanning combination in the full back line. Declan Fanning inhabits the Eamon Corcoran position these days, if himself and O’Mahony can bring their All Star form on Sunday, its going to hard to see where the Waterford attack will get scores. The half back line is polished off by the incredibly promising Padraig Maher who looks like he is in the middle of his eighth or ninth Munster SHC.

Our best possible midfield combination lines out on Sunday. Woodlock has tempered his hard running to avoid blind alleys and now presents a serious attacking threat. Shane McGrath is primed to deliver a big one on Sunday and quieten the mutterings of the nay-sayers.

In attack the key point is that we line out with six scoring forwards possessing more combined firepower then we have had in a long long while. If this Munster Final is left behind it won’t be in the forwards. Time to unleash hell.

Waterford have been our Heartbreak Ridge for too long. Here’s hoping that by 6pm on Sunday we’ll know whether Liam Sheedy is our Gunny Highway and whether he’ll have taken a handful of young fire pissers, exercised some personal initiative and kicked ass.

GMB