Benny there, doing that, got the armband

FOR proof of Tipperary’s resurgence this summer, look no further than captain Benny Dunne.

Player and team alike haven’t so much undergone an improvement as a complete transformation since opening their championship campaign with a nervy and fortunate draw against Limerick six weeks ago.

In their three games to date, Dunne has gone from an under-performing wing-forward to a midfield lynchpin.

The change is symptomatic. Ken Hogan has used 27 players but finally seems to have got his various instruments playing the one tune.

“I was under a bit of pressure after the two Limerick games didn’t go so well for me,” said Benny. “I was substituted in both of them and maybe I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to play well. I kind of sat back the week before the Clare game and took it easy and tried to get the head right for it.

“The Clare game worked out a bit better for me but it’s all about getting the right start. You work your way into the game. I got off to a good start in the Clare game, got into the rhythm of the game a lot quicker than I did against Limerick. I needed that Clare game. It couldn’t come fast enough after the Limerick games.”

A young team searching for a sense of its own identity and worth this past few seasons, Dunne’s story is typical of the theme. Since joining the senior panel in 2002, he has started in every line of the pitch, from corner back through to corner-forward.

He managed 2-2 in the Munster final against Waterford in his first year but, as a 24-year old still trying to find his niche in the inter-county game, was there a sense that the armband was one burden too many?

“I don’t let it bother me. It could bother you if you let it, but there’s huge experience throughout the team. I’m probably quieter than other captains but Ken and all the lads are great.

“It’s my first time being captain of a team and it’s a huge experience. I’d like to cap it with a win on Sunday and take home a trophy for Tipperary.”

If he does, it will be the first title he will have won with the blue and gold - an unbelievable statistic for a player from a ‘traditional county but, again, a sign of the ills troubling the county recently.

The fans have been slow to respond to the upturn in fortunes though, as if wary of being caught on the terracing on the day when the upward curve finally levels out or plummets downwards again.

Dunne has no qualms with that. Success swells support, he points out. Cork, he says, are the proof of that.

“You can’t blame the fans. They’ve not been behind us too much the last few years because we had a lot of below-par performances.

“Any of our genuine supporters will be there on Sunday and silverware brings back supporters. If we can win on Sunday that will have a knock-on effect. We have to give them something to cheer about.”