All on the day, says confident Corbett

THE good news for Tipperary fans in the run-up to Sunday’s All-Ireland senior hurling quarter-final meeting with Galway is the return to training of stalwarts such as Eddie Enright and Seamus Butler, and the increasing fitness of the Ger ‘Redser’ O’Grady and John Carroll.

The one dark cloud, however, is the continued absence of flying corner-forward Lar Corbett, who would surely have thrived in the space offered by Croke Park.

Understandably, no-one feels more disappointment than the man himself. “No, it’s gone beyond that now. I’ve missed out on a few big games already, missed out on a Tipperary/Cork Munster final especially.

"The way things are working out, Tipp and Cork Munster finals aren’t going to come around as often as they used to, so that in itself was a major disappointment.

“Now I’m going to miss out another very important match.

“It’s the hamstring, ongoing now for a few years. I’m working on a programme, mostly on my own, that was given to me by Ger Hartman, in Limerick, and I couldn’t be in better hands. He reckons that if I stick to the programme it will come right, but time is running out for me now.

“I only hope the lads can keep it going, get a win this weekend.”

Having started very poorly against Cork in that Munster final, the match practically over at half-time, when they trailed by 11 points, 1-13 to 0-5, a revamped Tipp finished on a high, albeit beaten by five points.

Encouraging signs, the Tipp terrace fans defiantly chanting ‘Tipperary, Tipperary, are we, are we, are we’ even as Cork captain Sean Og Ó hAilpin went forward to accept the Munster cup.

It means that Tipp go into this game in good heart, a prospect that seemed unlikely at the beginning of the season.

“It’s going to be a tough game, and we realise that, but a lot of the lads proved in the Munster final that they’re well capable at this level.

“Redser is doing very well in training, he’s back, will do well if he gets a run on Sunday; Miceal Webster is also after proving himself, has really taken his chance this year, and fair play to him.

“The panel is looking really strong now, which probably surprises a few people. There wasn’t much expected of us at the start of the year, a lot of people were writing us off completely.

"I remember reading that we were rated around fifth in Munster, at one stage, so at least we’ve proved a lot of people wrong already. Croke Park though, it starts all over again. All the top teams are left, it’s a new championship, as Clare proved last week.”

Clare, well beaten by Tipperary in the Munster semi-final, written off by all and sundry, came back to trounce Wexford last week, in the first of the four All-Ireland quarter-finals to be played under the new system. An encouraging result for Corbett and Tipperary.

“Without a doubt. It’s all on the day in championship; you might beat a team one day, meet the same team in the All-Ireland final, and it could be a different story. It’s all on the day from now on, form goes out the window.

"We have a good recent record against Galway, beat them in Salthill in the League this year, but the day you rely on that is the day you could regret. It was two very different teams that day anyway, so you can’t rely on that. It’s all on the day now, and hopefully we’ll get it right.”