English far from happy as Antrim give Tipperary a fright

NO major celebrations in the Tipperary dressing room. Not yet, anyway.

Perhaps the most palpable emotion would have been relief. For despite Antrim's dogged spirit, Tipp seemed to find an extra gear in the final 20 minutes.

They got a fright, though. No doubt about that, and it was a vivid illustration that there is no place for complacency in the All Ireland series. Some might say it was the fright Tipperary needed.

"I thought the Waterford game was the wake up call we needed," Nicky English said afterwards. "But, the lads knuckled in and did well to get a result out of it. Now, we have a massive game against Kilkenny and on the quality of our performance out there, we have no chance."

However, there is more hurling in this Tipperary side. Despite having to claw their way back from a half time deficit, as the game neared its conclusion, they clipped over scores of sheer class.

"When the questions were asked in the second half, I thought the lads responded," the Tipp manager agreed. "It is not easy turning a game when things are going against you. At least, we had the heart and determination to take the game, but it is just the quality of our game we need to pick up."

Eugene O'Neill came off the bench with barely ten minutes left. The game was still delicately poised, although Tipp had stretched their lead to four points. Two minutes later, O'Neill reprised his super sub role with Tipperary's only goal.

English plays down the niche O'Neill seems to have carved for himself as a hit man from the bench. "I'm sure Eugene O'Neill wouldn't like people calling him a lucky charm sub or a super sub, because when you get that reputation, it is very hard to shake it off. Eugene did very well when he came on, and he has done very well any time, we have used him this year. He would be in strong contention for a starting place the next day." So, what happened that caused many Tipp fans to live on their nerves for the first 40 minutes? A decent opposition and complacency, perhaps. English isn't sure, but realises the jitters that wracked the normally composed Tipp defence must be wiped out.

"We set the game up for Antrim. We started brightly, but we always seemed to be second to the ball in many areas not long after that. I wasn't surprised by Antrim. We had seen the Ulster final, they were playing a very quick, aggressive style of hurling. And they came down here with nothing to lose, we knew that. When you play against a team like that, and when it starts to go wrong for you, then it is very difficult to get on top of them."

Still, they survived. And with Kilkenny looming, improving their performance is the next challenge.