I’ve walked in Liam Dunne’s shoes
Tongue hanging out, feet scalded, the shite being bate out of us by Tipp, I asked Pat O’Connor the referee what was left, knowing full well the misery was only going to continue.
‘Seventeen minutes, Anthony,’ said Pat. Holy Jesus, my heart sank. It sounded like an eternity. ‘Blow it up now, will ya.’ Misery. Absolute misery.
There’s no point coming out with bravado to yourself when you’re inside in that vortex, wave after wave of attack only make your head spin more. You say to yourself you’ll fight on. You do. You make a burst. You get the auld hook or block in. You try and lift the rest of the lads but, deep down, you know there’s no way out. I’ve been in that position as a player and manager on more than a few occasions, especially against Kilkenny, and it’s absolutely soul-destroying.
The commentary box in Nowlan Park juts out over the sideline like the nose of an airplane and I was looking directly down on Liam Dunne for most of the Leinster semi-final yesterday. I’ve walked in those same shoes. I’ve suffered that misery and humiliation, not knowing where to look or turn, and I felt so bad for him yesterday. It’s the longest time of your life to put down that dead-time, when you are all dead men walking.
Limerick’s 16-point defeat also looks horrendous in the context of their expectation levels but at least the conditions were different. Limerick showed real fight until the game just got away from them. That doesn’t make it any easier to take but it does make it easier to move forward. Limerick can still really look forward to the qualifiers. Wexford will just be hoping now they can get a home draw to try and get the train back on the tracks.
Yesterday’s derailment is even harder to rationalise for Dunne and his players, given how well they were reportedly going. I was talking to a shrewd observer during the week and he said he never saw Wexford’s touch in better shape. I’m sure they got the best of advice and psychological help they could but they still let the demons that Kilkenny create muscle their way into their mindset. Their touch was off. Short balls were dropped. That kind of stuff betrays everything you do in training, everything you believe about your preparation and set-up.
I know all about this stuff, and it’s purely psychological. Guys who can make the ball talk in training are suddenly paralysed by a fear that is bound up in a history and culture of oppression and failure that is so difficult to change. You try everything in your power to change that mindset. You think you are. Last year showed Wexford had turned a corner but then Kilkenny come around the other corner and blindside you and blow everything to smithereens.
There will be talk this week about the Jack Guiney situation but I’d back Liam Dunne 100% in that decision. The players were united on the whole situation and Liam had no choice. Jack is a talented player but you have to be fair to everyone else. In the long run, Wexford have to keep doing things the right way if they are ever really to change their mindset and culture.
The standout feature of yesterday anyway was the massive statement made by the big two. After the league, everyone wondered where Kilkenny really were at but you just have to give it again to Brian Cody. What else can you say about the man? There were a few eyebrows raised about Ger Aylward’s selection. He hardly saw any game-time over the last two years and then he comes out and hits 3-5 from play. How does Cody manage to instil that kind of confidence in these guys?
ou have to give huge credit too to Eamon O’Shea. There was a lot of talk over the last week about O’Shea’s failure to win a Munster championship match but he only lost two games, two right battles, to Limerick. They had their homework done on Limerick yesterday.
Limerick’s puck-out strategy worked very well against Clare but Tipp really attacked the Limerick puck-out, pushing up on it and repeatedly picking off Barry Hennessy.
Realistically for Limerick, the damage was done early. Defensive duties had to come first for Limerick’s defenders but they afforded way too much time and space to Seamus Callanan, ‘Bonner’ Maher and ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer in the first half.
For Callanan’s first goal, Richie McCarthy had a choice to make; go to ‘Bubbles’ and try and make an interception, or stay with Callanan. The right call was to stay with Callanan because ‘Bubbles’ hadn’t even picked the ball. Gavin O’Mahony and Seamus Hickey were cutting back in to put pressure on ‘Bubbles’. Richie then went halfway across and completely opened the door for both ‘Bubbles’ and Callanan.
Richie had won the first three balls but that goal sundered his confidence and he got caught desperate for Callanan’s second goal. You don’t recover against Callanan in that position. JJ Delaney did in last year’s replayed All-Ireland but there aren’t too many JJ’s around.
TJ Ryan and his selectors need to look at their defensive set-up but against a team like Tipp, who have so much class and firepower, it often is a game of cat and mouse. You defend tight and tough but you often have to take a step out and win a ball, create an overlap or go up the field yourself and have a shot at a point. What did Liam Doyle do right after half-time in the 1997 final? ‘Feck ye, I’m going up the field.’ Bang, the Banner fightback was on the road.
If you’re playing a sweeper, there can only be one sweeper. Everyone else has to step up. There have to be times you gamble, even if it means following your man and ending up on the opposition ’45. That might sound like defensive suicide in today’s game but if you turn over possession and bang it over the bar, and let a roar off into his ear as you tear back down the pitch, at least you have him thinking then.
It’s just a difficult equation to balance. You don’t want to tell a fella to abandon ship and go but you can’t have loose Tipp men around the pitch either because they’ll destroy you when they get within shooting distance.
The Munster teams will enter this morning’s draw in a much better frame of mind than the Leinster teams but one Leinster team — well you know what I mean — in right good shape are Galway. They made another huge statement on Saturday, especially Joe Canning. His and Galway’s confidence is up now and they’re in a good place. They’ll soon find out though, whether they’re headed for heaven or hell, when they run into the black and amber striped men.
