Tipperary stamp out any sign of revolution
Galway become Leinster champions at the expense of Kilkenny and the downtrodden masses of the hurling world look up in hope: perhaps the tumbrils can begin to roll and inaugurate a new, more equitable order. A little more égalité, even if the traditional lack of fraternité is maintained.
Until yesterday, and the response from the other member of the ancien régime in yesterday’s Munster final. Tipperary didn’t exactly play with Waterford like a half-interested cat torturing a mouse, but they had enough to spare. We were looking for Waterford to play the role of French revolutionaries storming the Bastille, but we ended up with Tipp’s closing scores being cheered like the final choruses of Les Miserables.
A lot of those late scores came from open spaces in the Waterford half, and in the approaches to yesterday space was the key word, the creation of emptiness on a field with 28 hurtling bodies.
God knows misguided geniuses from Bomber Harris to Robert Moses have created space in their own various ways, and we choose those destructive totems deliberately: the vast plains conjured up by Tipperary’s forward movement 12 months ago led directly to the seven-goal hammering endured by Waterford on that occasion.
But the space that existed 12 months ago in front of the Waterford goal was not on offer in the first half of yesterday’s game. Yes, one could argue that John O’Brien might have had three goals, rather than one, and yes, one or two short passes might have turned to gold if they’d gone to hand, but Waterford’s match-ups were immeasurably better than in 2011.
That changed in the second half. Tipperary’s second goal resulted from indecision, again, in the Waterford defence, and as they pushed out to try and cut the gap, Lar Corbett, Bonner Maher and Brian O’Meara surged down the centre at various times, only to be turned back each time.
There was the irony: frontal attacks were repulsed with interest by Waterford, but a couple of basic handling errors, one in each half, gave Tipperary the nourishment of goals.
Waterford had sight of goal themselves more than once, a development that Tipp boss Declan Ryan will hardly be pleased with. Though Tipperary have not conceded a goal in three games ofchampionship hurling, they keep coughing up chances.
Brendan Cummins needed to be competent rather than spectacular with each of those chances, and he duly obliged, but Tipperary are bound to meet a team eventually who will put more venom into those efforts on goal.
Waterford boss Michael Ryan was realistic afterwards, particularly in reference to those sniffs of goal.
“From our point of view we’ve got to regroup, learn the lessons, we’ve got to look back at the DVD and see. We missed a few chances and maybe we didn’t take the best options at times but that’s something we’ll learn from,” he said. “We had a lot of young guys out there. We’re not going to go away. We’re going to come back fitter and stronger and faster.”
He’s correct. Waterford are meshing a pragmatism in the heart of their defence with industry in midfield. They can look forward to the All-Ireland qualifier draw this morning in good heart.
Ryan’s opposite number and namesake had a different dynamic to address after the game.
Declan Ryan surfed that 21-point winning margin in last year’s provincial decider to disappointment in the big show in September.
He was in critical mode yesterday:
“We would have been very happy going in at half time level. I don’t think we played as well as we could have in the first half. The guys battled well and we were delighted to go in level at half time. We finished very strongly and that’s always pleasing.”
Tipp did, rattling over points as the clock wound down. Eoin Kelly came on and contributed, while Lar facilitated his colleagues at every turn. Padraic Maher did his usual Colossus of Rhodes impression, though with a far better delivery off his weaker side.
Next for Tipp? The old enemy, who are also the new enemy. That’s the trouble with revolutions, of course. Like the back door system itself, there’s always another appearance by the defeated.
