Brennan: Cats keen to keep Tipperary in check

By Brendan O’Brien

Saturday, March 06, 2010

FIRST things first. The forecast is excellent. Yes, it might be fairly nippy in Thurles tomorrow but the skies should be clear and the sun should shine, at last, on the meeting of Tipperary and Kilkenny.

A case of third time lucky then. Surely.

Aggravating though the postponements have been, the prolonged cold snap did at least guarantee a week of tribal banter in Eddie Brennan’s household. Another example, perhaps, of the gods and their wicked sense of humour.

The four-time All Star only returned to inter-county training earlier this week, having been out on an extended leave of absence from Brian Cody’s squad since getting married to Nenagh girl Olivia Ryan in December.

Brennan’s story is just one more subplot in a rivalry which is hardly short on them. After some years in the wilderness, it has exploded back into life after three memorable meetings during the 2009 season.

Two of them – the league and championship deciders – were epics while Kilkenny’s earlier 17-point humbling of their neighbours at Nowlan Park will only add to the spice to this encounter.

"There was ding-dong battles with two exceptional matches but that was last year," said Brennan. "It’s probably quietly important for Tipp to lay down a marker as to where they are at so they will probably be under a decent bit of pressure this year. They progressed and got to the All-Ireland final and I suppose there is only one thing left for them to do now."

The participants will protest otherwise but this is an important game. A win would be a small but significant psychological fillip to Tipp while Kilkenny will understand the need to suppress any sniff of revolution.

Particularly against their closest challengers.

The All-Ireland champions finally opened their Division One account with a comfortable defeat of a game but limited Offaly last weekend but Tipperary’s opening gambit in 2010 was a nine-points defeat in Parnell Park.

It was an eye-rubbing scoreline, even with Tipp’s lack of match practise and early-season training factored in, especially given Dublin’s own humiliation the week before in Waterford.

Brennan has been quick to grasp the lesson in all that.

"We’re probably going to feel the brunt of what happened last weekend in Dublin. We were probably surprised at the size of the win but I’m not shocked Dublin beat them either. Dublin got a bit of a land a week before.

"We have been saying for some time that this is a fine Dublin team. They have a very strong panel. To lose Ronan Fallon before the match, probably one of their best hurlers, and to slot a fella in and make no difference (was impressive). Looking at the fixtures, the one in Parnell Park is a very big ask. Any team that comes out of Parnell Park against that Dublin team with something is going to have earned it."

Brennan and Kilkenny will see for themselves when they make the trek to Donnycarney later in the campaign, one which will see them enter more than one dragon’s den before the spring is out.

"Looking at the group and at the (Dublin-Tipperary) result on Sunday, it’s going to be a very tough league so it’s vital to win your matches at home," he surmised. "We have to go to Thurles, Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Parnell Park.

"They are not easy matches so it was good to get the campaign off to a good start. Sunday will be another step up. Every match from here on will be a step up in pace as teams train more and get more matches under their belt."

The season may have taken time to kick into gear for them but Kilkenny now face an unenviable run of five matches in the space of the next four weeks with Cork, Dublin, Galway and Limerick all lining up for a shot at the champs.

It is a scheduled made all the more difficult by the absence, for now, of the Ballyhale Shamrocks contingent, not to mention men like Eoin Larkin and Derek Lyng who are currently concentrating on returning to full fitness.

If there is one game that Brennan is looking forward to more than any other then it is the trip to Páirc Uí Chaoimh to take on Denis Walsh’s Cork side tomorrow week.

There has rarely been much love lost between the counties in recent years and probably less so now after Donal Óg called the All-Ireland champions ‘Stepford Wives’ in his book last year.

Brennan made no mention of that remark in looking ahead. In fact, his anticipation for the game by the Lee seemed to owe its origins to nothing more than the desire to test himself against a full-on Rebel side.

Just like the old days.

"They are a team that is keeping very quiet and going about their business. They will have a big say this year in the championship. The challenge is when the chips are down and the odds are stacked against you and you’re playing against the best teams. That’s what it’s all about. You relish that every year."

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Saturday, March 06, 2010