One rather large obstacle awaits Tipp
Eight days ago Kilkenny sliced through Cork and yesterday Tipperary had seven points to spare over Waterford to qualify for . . . what? The tortures of September?
Above everything, simplicity. Did the blue and gold show enough yesterday to suggest they can dislodge the Cats?
In the plus column you could cite the move of Noel McGrath to centre-forward. Many an innocent tree was felled in the last fortnight to serve as newsprint posing questions about Tipperary’s centre-forward, only for their manager, Liam Sheedy, to discover the answer right under his nose. Or top of the right, at any rate.
McGrath does not have the whirling blade of Larry Kiely or Donie O’Connell’s thirst for contact, but clean striking and awareness of your surroundings will serve a clever hurler in most situations, and thus it was with McGrath yesterday.
His direct opponent, Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, hit a lot of ball for Waterford but didn’t dominate as he had the Munster final and replay against Cork. In those games Cork sought ways to reduce his influence but yesterday he had to see to a defender’s first principle: to keep an eye on his man.
Was that the winning of the game? John O’Brien outscored McGrath from play, with six points, but the youngster from Loughmore-Castleiney linked up with his team-mates and established a bridgehead where Waterford would have felt impregnable; in the second half McGrath also took the sideline cut which resulted in Tipperary’s second goal. He excelled from start to finish.
Thus the new dispensation, where tactics play a large role, and moving a corner-forward 40 yards outfield can unhinge the opposition.
Tipp boss Liam Sheedy, though, laughed the laugh of the inter-county manager when asked about moving McGrath to the 40.
“It’s always a master stroke when it works out,” he said. “If you lose, it’s a disaster stroke. All you do is you let these guys out and you let them play . . . The thing about Croke Park is there’s a lot of open spaces out there. In fairness to them, I thought any time they got into open space they flourished.”
His opposite number wasn’t surprised by Sheedy’s tactical stroke.
“We knew Noel McGrath was going to be centre-forward today before the game started,” said Waterford boss Davy Fitzgerald. “We knew he was going to be there. But again, if we break our six inside, that means we’re going to be opened up. We didn’t want to do that. He was meant to be picked up by a certain player but it just didn’t happen that way. It’s very hard when you’re out in the heat of battle and things go at you. Maybe the things you want to happen don’t happen the way you want. Maybe lads aren’t as tuned in as they should be.
“They didn’t surprise us with anything. We knew Noel was going to be there. We knew he was going to go to midfield and try to get the short ball. We didn’t close down the middle the way we should have today. That’s my honest opinion. We didn’t make it into the dogfight there that we needed to make it.”
Back, then, to that insistent question about the history boys in black and amber. Can Tipperary deny them?
Tipp’s discipline will need to improve in defence to avoid conceding scoreable frees, but the graph of their performances is going upwards, at least. They’re also a year more experienced, as evidenced by the panel’s relaxed demeanour in Portlaoise yesterday, where they mingled freely with supporters on their way to Croke Park.
There are also cracks appearing in the Kilkenny façade. The disturbing report of Tommy Walsh’s injury circulated quickly in Croke Park yesterday evening, as did suggestions that cruciate ligament tear or not, Henry Shefflin might take the field in the All-Ireland final.
Shorn of two of the greatest players in the history of the game, is five titles in a row one step too far even for this team?
