Cork the benchmark as Tipp bank on young blood
They only have to use Cork as a benchmark, to recall how Donal O’Grady’s team turned their season around after a powerful second-half display against them in the qualifier competition in Killarney and advanced to win the All-Ireland.
The team chosen for Tipp’s third-round Allianz League game against Wexford in Semple Stadium tomorrow is noteworthy for the number of new names included - at least ‘new’ to followers outside the county.
Thomas Dunne is one of the many absentees, being rested after an exhaustive season with Toomevara.
“We’re giving Tommy a break to re-charge the batteries and we’ll have a chat with him as the League develops,’’ explains selector Colm Bonnar.
The immediate priority for the management is to build up their attack. Longer-term, the challenge is to be raise their standard - or, as Bonnar puts it, ‘to get over the line and take victory.’
“Tipp have been unsettled from midfield up and we have cast our net far and wide to see if we can come up with a combination that will work,’’ he comments. “We have a good number of players in, such as Tadhg Slevin, Francis Devaney, Evan Sweeney and Michael Webster. And Paddy O’Brien is back after being injured last year.’’
Defenders Martin Maher, Declan Fanning, Diarmuid Fitzgerald and Paul Curran are also part of the set-up. What it amounts to is that - for this game - the real experience is confined to the Brendan Cummins, Philip Maher, David Kennedy and Eamonn Corcoran.
“When you have a young and inexperienced team, it doesn’t help when you are trying to develop a pattern of play, or to bring in new forwards. Everybody is under pressure - first of all to get on to the team and then to put in a couple of solid performances to keep them on it. It’s tough going for the players,’’ said Bonnar.
“When I was playing there was a very settled team. You could name twelve or thirteen of the team, bring in a few of younger lads to give them a shot and they’d motor into it. But when you’re bringing in big numbers, it does put more pressure on everybody to perform.’’
Last time out, Tipp beat Limerick without too much difficulty at the Gaelic Grounds. But that was against a backdrop of a troubled home camp.
“You sensed there was something happening in the background and they (the Limerick selectors) weren’t getting the best out the players. We thought there would be more bite in our game, especially when we are meeting them in the first round of the championship on the 15th of May,’’ added Bonnar.
On the matter of the championship, Bonnar accepts that people are questioning the merit of the Tipp team, but suggests they didn’t get credit for their display in Killarney last year against Cork.
“The public perception is that Cork ‘went through us’ in the second half, but up to three or four minutes before the end there were only two points in it - and they finished with a flurry of points. We had Cork under serious pressure and we had some very unusual missed chances by our players,’’ he says.
“Throughout last year’s championship we set out to be very competitive, to ‘go’ at teams until the last minute and be there with a chance of winning these games. That’s what happened against Waterford, we ‘went’ to the final whistle and were unlucky to get caught by a last-minute goal. With Limerick (in the qualifier) we were motoring away and we held on to it. Against Cork we hurled very well in the first half and solidly in the second half. It was just that Cork took their goals.
“We have to build on that. We were there in two or three games last year but we didn’t step over the line to actually take the victory.
“That’s the challenge we face.’’
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