Dunne: minors must get time to develop
Sixteen years on, Dunne was back on decider day, not as a player but as a manager helping guide the Premier County to victory against Cork.
“There is no substitute for winning,” said Dunne. “It’s what all hurlers aspire to and I’m delighted that we have put back-to-back titles together. That’s not easy in the modern game.
“I knew coming up that it was going to be very difficult for us. Cork got the perfect start and there were quite a few anxious moments out there for us.
“Fortunately for us, Cork didn’t punish us too severely when they were on top and, once we settled and got a couple of scores, I felt we had the beating of them.
“In contrast to Cork, we were a bit more clinical in front of goal and that probably was the main difference between the teams.”
He added: “Our plan was to boss the game as soon as we could, but it took a while to warm to it. We made a couple of silly mistakes which went unpunished, but the goals we scored came at vital times and as we all know goals win matches.
“Defensively I thought we did very well. The lads were very tight and settled well after the shaky start, giving the Cork forwards very little chances of goals. Unlike Cork, we took every chance that came our way, but despite the final scoreline it was pretty even all over the pitch.”
Asked if he thought some of the team would go on to become seniors, Dunne said he expected a number of them would, but pleaded that they be given a chance to develop.
“They are all potential seniors, but they must be given time and I would hope they will get that.”
Down the corridor a dejected Cork coach Don Cronin put on a brave face, but conceded that they were beaten by a far better team and had few complaints.
“It was always going to be a difficult task. They had beaten us in the Munster final and had improved considerably on that form.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better start, and had we taken the goal chances it might have turned out different,” said Cronin. “To have any chance of winning an All-Ireland title, a team must take the chances when they are presented. Tipp didn’t waste too many of theirs.
“But I won’t fault the players. They played their hearts out, some more than others, and if they continue to improve, there is a bright future ahead for a number of them.
“I’ll give them credit. They continued to battle when the game was well gone from us, and had our second goal come five minutes earlier than it did, I’m not saying we’d have won the game, but we’ll never know how it would have panned out.
“That was a serious Tipperary team out there and I would like to congratulate them on their victory.”
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