Finally, we may get a game to get the crowd going

By Tony Considine

Saturday, March 06, 2010

PREVIEW: Tipperary v Kilkenny, NHL Division One
WHERE have all the hurling supporters gone? I was at the Gaelic Grounds on Saturday for what should have been a major attraction, the game against Cork, and yet there was a crowd of less than 3,000, on a fine night.

It was the same story in several other venues around the country since the league began with small turnouts for big fixtures – what’s wrong?

We can’t use bad ground as an excuse because the pitches are fine, as is the weather. Admittedly, I’d have a problem with the lights – I don’t think hurling is a floodlit game, but that’s just my own view. But that’s not the reason – I think it’s the product, the poor quality of the hurling, the poor value for money, and I blame the players for that.

The Limerick lads apart – for obvious reasons – I don’t think they’re taking this seriously at all. You see it after games, even games where the result has been very one-sided, players from opposite sides walking off together, smiling, chatting, like they were coming from a disco rather than a match in which one side had lost.

It should mean more than that.

And there are no characters, no-one who jumps out at you, gets the crowds going, gets the crowds coming to the game. The new helmet rule doesn’t help that, but there are very few characters there now – Tommy Walsh is an exception, a guy who can thrill, but where does Tommy go once the game is over? We never see him, we never hear from him, which is a pity, because he’s as much a character off the field as he is on it. But it’s all going a bit stale, the league especially.

Will this game tomorrow change that? Well, this is what I’m leading into – hopefully, yes.

These are two of the biggest rivals in hurling, and it’s good that they get the stage to themselves this weekend and is being played on what I see as the best time and day for hurling – mid-afternoon on Sunday. I believe we’ll get the crowd to match.

Tipperary have major concerns going into this one given the way they performed against Dublin. If Liam Sheedy were Aidan O’Brien, he would have been before the stewards within an hour, because with a few honourable exceptions – I’m thinking of Eoin Kelly, Noel McGrath, Padraic Maher – Tipp looked like a team who weren’t at the races. Has last year taken too much out of them? Losing the league final and the All-Ireland final, after two magnificent games against Kilkenny, was a huge body-blow – has it taken an effect, psychologically? It looked that way in Parnell Park.

It seemed to me that Tipperary are now trying to play the perfect game every time, especially against teams like Dublin, and when things don’t go to plan, they get frustrated, lose focus, rhythm and concentration. They have good players, very good players, but have they hit a wall? This year, everyone is expecting Tipperary to drive on again from last year – it doesn’t necessarily follow. You have to make that happen and that’s the challenge facing Liam Sheedy and his backroom team now.

They must start that winning habit again, because habit it is. The biggest short-term goal for Tipperary is the upcoming championship game against Cork – they don’t want to go into that game on a losing streak. So it starts here, and it’s a good opportunity for them also, given that Kilkenny, without the Ballyhale boys and a couple of other big guns, are still well short of full power. This has to be a game for Tipperary to target.

Kilkenny are in the better position; one win under the belt, that’s a plus, but the pressure is all on Tipperary here. With so many big names missing, Brian Cody can approach this in a more relaxed frame of mind. This isn’t to say there won’t be bite in the game – there will, and regardless of result, I don’t think we’re going to see too many of these lads walking off afterwards with arms around each other’s shoulders! Regardless of the occasion, there’s never any love lost between these two. So, I’m hopeful that this is where this year’s league turns a corner, starts to become serious. A winner? As I pointed out above, Tipp have more to lose; this is a great chance for them to get back on track. It could make their year, it could also break it – it’s that big a game. On that basis, I’m going for Tipp.

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