A win is a win, whether by one point or five

MEMORIES of lost leads and late collapses loomed large for Tipp coach Michael Doyle at Croke Park yesterday, even though they ultimately cruised into the semi-final of the Guinness All-Ireland championship.

“I was thinking that type of situation might rear its ugly head again”, Doyle conceded, “but still, we won by five points. If we won by ten, we weren’t going to get anymore for it, they wouldn’t give us those for the next day against Kilkenny.

“We’re happy to win, but fellas did tire near the end, and that’s one thing we would be concerned about. We have three weeks now to have a look at different things, but we’re still winning, that’s the main thing.”

Tipp captain Brian O’Meara, whose goal before half-time kick-started the Tipperary rampage, said: “If we were offered a five-point win beforehand we’d have taken it, but it wasn’t over ’til the final whistle. They scored two goals near the end, we have a tendency to lapse a bit, and that’s worrying. We have an awful lot of work to do in the next three weeks, to get ready for Kilkenny.”

Not that there was ever any real worry that Tipperary were going to lose this one. True they conceded 2-1 in the final five minutes, but entering that stage they were ahead by 2-5, a huge comfort margin even in hurling. Prior to that their defence had been totally dominant, none more so than the half-back line, which also managed to contribute seven points. Afterwards, even as pivot Tommy Dunne was nursing a sore ankle, his two flankers, Eamonn Corcoran were in jesting mood. “Ah, not feeling too good now at all”, said man-of-the-match Kelly, “bad-hair day this morning!.”

Corcoran scoffed at that. “Did you see him there, running up and down the field, making a show of me?” But at mention of Kilkenny, semi-final opponents, the laughing stopped. “Oh now. Kilkenny will be hot favourites going into it, we’ve shown a lot of vulnerability in the last ten minutes in the last few games. Kilkenny are league champions, All-Ireland champions, but we have three weeks now to get things right. We were hoping we’d sorted out those last ten minutes but it didn’t work out. Offaly showed heart and spirit to come back, and that’s worrying. Still, we held out, and if we can do that in every match, hold out and win by a five points, we’ll be happy.”

So, after an abysmal start to their championship year, a demoralising loss to bitter rivals Clare in the first round in Munster, an All-Ireland semi-final appearance awaits Tipp.

However, keeper Brendan Cummins isn’t happy yet. “Clare gave us a lot of soul-searching. We didn’t have any training the following week, but the Monday after that we had a meeting, a lot of things came out, people were very honest, and thankfully we’re back on the road again. Tipperary people, however, won’t accept that we’re really back until we can put it up to Kilkenny. That will be the real test.”