Advantage Tipp, says McMahon

Diarmuid O’Flynn

Defeat, heavy defeat at that, was Clare’s lot in their last serious outing, against Kilkenny in the NHL final.

Their opponents meanwhile have come through two extremely tough championship games with Limerick, winning the replay after extra time.

Despite the loss of Ger ‘Redser’ O’Grady and Phillip Maher, the Premier County would appear to have the upper hand, both psychologically and physically, a theory accepted by Clare captain Seanie McMahon.

“There’s no doubt the two games will stand to them. You could see it even on the second day, they were much improved from the drawn game. It’s certainly a major advantage to have had two hard championship matches.

They will probably improve again from that.”

One month on, has the hangover from that NHL final drubbing worn off? “It was very disappointing, but it was the League, and that is significant. While we did want to win ultimately, the championship is what we all look forward to. I’m not dismissing it, we do need to make up for that poor performance, but there is a huge difference between the competitions.

“If you try to play League hurling in the championship, you’ll get done. It’s good to have a good League campaign, but ultimately, the day we’ll be judged is June 5.”

While Tipp have been hit with the loss of those two important players, the news in Clare is all positive. Tony Griffin is back from his studies in Canada while Brian Lohan has recovered from his hamstring problems.

McMahon agrees that such news gives the team a lift.

“It does. Tony was away for most of the League, didn’t manage to get in a lot of hurling, but now that he’s back full-time, he’ll be back up to speed very quickly, which is a big plus.

“Brian is fine also, everyone seems to be in good shape, and hopefully that will last right up to the game, and we can do ourselves justice.”

Sunday is a hard game to call. Before the League final, Clare would have been favoured to defeat either Tipp or Limerick in championship mode.

The manner of that League final loss, coupled with Tipp’s much-improved replay display in their first-round win, swung the pendulum the other way. Now, with the news of the loss of Maher and O’Grady, the balance would appear to have tilted once more.

Yet McMahon’s stance has never varied.

“Tipp are very hard to beat, whatever stage of the championship you meet them, and the last game especially should show people that they are a good side. The thing about Tipperary is they always have good forwards, and I don’t think they’re any different this year. They have Tommy Dunne, Eoin Kelly, John Carroll and Lar Corbett. All are very dangerous players, all are capable of doing damage on any given day and all are able to turn a game.

“There’s a lot at stake this weekend, a place in the Munster final, which also gives you a place in the All-Ireland quarter-final. We’d like to think we’re one of the teams with a chance of winning the All-Ireland, but we were in the same situation last year, and we saw what happened.

“It went very badly for us, especially in our first game (heavy defeat by a rampant Waterford, who were themselves, co-incidentally, coming off a heavy League final defeat). Things are ticking along okay at the moment, but we won’t know ‘til after this game whether we’re capable of making a real run at the championship or not. Hopefully we will.”