Back-up for Kelly crucial to Tipp success, says Dunne

THE key to Tipperary success in the Guinness Munster hurling final lies with their attack functioning effectively as a unit — and not being over-reliant on Eoin Kelly.

That’s the verdict of Thomas Dunne, the last player from the Premier county to lead his side to the Liam McCarthy Cup. Typically modest, he doesn’t mention his captaincy, saying simply: “It was great to have reached the pinnacle”. For now, he’s happy with the current side’s progress.

“The only way to measure how much progress you have made is to play against the best team in the country,” he said. “I think on Sunday evening people will be in a better position to see if Tipp are realistic contenders this year or not. That’s the way it should be, that’s what championship hurling is all about. But you’d have to be satisfied from a Tipperary person’s point of view. At this stage we’re in a Munster final and looking forward to it. I think six weeks ago that wasn’t on the cards.”

Dunne only came up against Cork in the championship three times, the first being the Munster final of 2000. Dunne remembers that meeting six years ago as “an unbelievable day,” elaborating: “We scored 3-12, myself and John Leahy missed penalties, we drove 15 or 16 wides and still only got beaten by two points.”

Dunne scored two of the goals.

Two years later, Cork hurling imploded after an inglorious qualifier loss to Galway and the subsequent players’ strike. Dunne agrees their turnaround since has been remarkable.

“You would have to say that they made phenomenal improvements,” he says. “Obviously, they learned an awful lot from getting beaten by Kilkenny (2003) and putting that right the following year. It was extraordinary to see that turnabout and how great a team they have become in that period of time — with more or less the same group of players.”

Dunne agrees that the Cork midfield duo of Tom Kenny and Jerry O’Connor represents a serious challenge for any team.

“Midfield play is very different now from when I used to play. With the exception of Colin Lynch and one or two other guys who covered huge amounts of ground, these lads have brought it to a new level altogether in terms of their ability to get around the pitch, get scores, collect ball from the backs and distribute it. For any team to beat Cork, you’re going to have counteract that in some shape or form. But that’s a lot easier said than done, because they are such wonderful athletes.”

Having seen Eoin Kelly mature into the exceptional talent he is today and played with him so often, Dunne doesn’t dispute the general high opinion of him, but he says that by no means is this a one-man team.

“I think it’s a little bit unfair on the rest of the Tipp team to be honest,” he says. “Eoin is an outstanding hurler and there’s no doubt he is the most influential player on the team at the moment on the basis of the number of scores he gets. But, particularly in the Limerick game, I thought the rest of the forwards were impressive and our half-forward line had a major impact on the game. Maybe the story was different in the Waterford game, but Eoin can’t do the damage unless he gets the supply. And it takes a lot of work to get good supply in there.”