Donal O'Grady: Galway-Tipperary pivoted on Cathal Barrett's red card
Galway's Jason Flynn celebrates his side's third goal scored by Aidan Harte at LIT Gaelic Grounds. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
In a radio advert for a one-man show on Tom Crean, the Antarctica explorer, Crean says: “Then I heard something that I never heard before or since when an officer called out, 'I made a mistake'."
We have all heard the mantra that referees don’t change their minds. However, referee Johnny Murphy proved that there is an exception to every rule. He was big enough to change his mind.
The All-Ireland quarter-final between Tipperary and Galway was delicately poised. Murphy awarded a free to Tipp against a mystified Shane Cooney, the Galway defender. However, he quickly cancelled it with a ‘throw- in’, admitting his mistake. It’s nice to see humanity coming to the fore during this lockdown.
This game threw up other questions. Why are fouls committed by defenders treated more seriously than similar infringements by attackers? Lack of space requires this to be held over for another day.
Tipp were two points down on 70 minutes when Seamie Callanan careered through the centre. Adrian Tuohey took him down. “What else would you do?” I hear you say and I agree. Tuohey took his yellow card, Tipp got a point and Galway survived.
Conceding a point from a free and taking a yellow card is infinitely more rewarding than giving up a goal. However, it is time for a rule change. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Having no ‘sin bin’ rule encourages players to stop important plays by deliberately impeding an opponent.
Wind-assisted and with the extra man Galway powered on in the final ten minutes of this energy-sapping contest, scoring 1-4 to Tipp’s 0-3. The Premier fought gallantly but once Galway got their noses in front they maintained their lead, just about, to the final whistle.
Ultimately, the sending-off was Tipp’s undoing — they were three points in front at that juncture. The extra man was a huge advantage to Galway down that final stretch. Padraig Mannion played as a free defender and distributed the ball well out of defence. Because Mannion was free at the back, other defenders had the licence to drive forward to aid the attack.
Harte’s goal on 66 minutes was a direct result. He had crept forward from his defensive position to Tipp’s 20m line while Tipp funnelled bodies back to pressurise the man on the ball on their 45m line. Galway’s Jason Flynn cleverly switched the point of attack to the centre from a congested area to the right of the goal. Flynn found the unmarked Adrian Tuohey and his pass set up Harte for the game-breaking score.
Harte hit a powerful strike from 20m low to Brian Hogan’s left, past his despairing dive. Advancing out another half metre and staying on his feet might have been a better option for the Tipp ‘keeper.
This was a match that ebbed and flowed with dominance alternating between the sides. Tipp led by four points after seven minutes. They had learned from last weekend’s joust with Cork and they were far more accurate with their early distribution, playing through the lines, directing good deliveries to their frontline, and isolating Seamie Callanan in front of the square.
Furthermore, they only struck one wide in that period. However, they failed to score for the next eight minutes as Galway sweeper David Burke became more influential — as did wing back Joseph Cooney. Galway probed continuously up the left. Although Galway got little value from long deliveries forward from their defence, moving short ball and running at Tipp’s defence paid much greater dividends.
This tactic took the Tipp extra defender, Pádraic Maher and later namesake Brendan, out of the play. And it led to goals for Cathal Mannion and Brian Concannon, who was denied another by a fine Brian Hogan save.
Then it was Tipp’s turn. They rotated their forwards and transitioned the ball from defence to attack with shorter passes and more purpose. In the ten minutes before half-time, Tipp controlled the middle third and worked the ball forward cleverly. Galway reverted to long balls into their attack which condensed the play to Tipp’s advantage. As a result, the Blue and Gold dominated, striking 1-5 in this ten-minute period to two by Galway. They led by four at half-time with Noel McGrath, ineffective last weekend, knocking over four points from various positions.
Tipp dominated the first five minutes of the second half, stretching their lead to six points. Galway’s option taking left something to be desired as they fired three poor wides from the left wing. However, for the next 20 minutes or so Galway outscored Tipp by O-10 to 0-4, tying up the game.
They pushed up for puckouts forcing Hogan to strike long into the wind and Galway got extra bodies around the breaking ball. They dominated the middle third and worked the ball forward up their right side with purpose. The work-rate of Conor Whelan and the other attackers forced the Tipp defence into conceding frees, unerringly converted by Joe Canning.
Cathal Mannion showed leadership and he was central to Galway's comeback. He roamed the middle third picking up loose ball, making himself available as an outlet from defence and linking the play effectively. He also struck over two valuable long-range points.
Half-time replacements, Adrian Tuohey and Jason Flynn, did well, bringing pace to Galway’s efforts while Tipp didn’t have the same impact off the bench.
The Tribe have reached a semi-final but their biggest challenge now, physically and mentally, will be facing a third game in two weeks.
