QUESTION; WHERE ARE TIPP’S HARD MEN?

THE recent National Hurling League final, won by Kilkenny in Thurles, was very encouraging from a hurling point of view. This was Tipperary playing with a steel that I hadn’t seen in them for a long time, a team that stood up physically to a very strong Kilkenny side.

They didn’t win the game, but at least they competed, and competed strongly. I believe this has been Tipperary’s Achilles heel for many years, but perhaps that game signalled a new approach – a new ‘old’ approach, in Tipperary’s case.

Tipperary have won three All-Irelands in 37 years, which, when you consider Tipp’s standing in the game, is probably even worse than Limerick’s record. Consider also that one of those titles, 1989, was won against Antrim – hardly a major boast, and certainly not a boast you’d ever hear from any of the many Tipp hurling diehards. During that period they produced some outstanding hurlers. I’m thinking of the likes of Nickey English, Pat Fox, Michael Cleary, Tommy Dunne, but they only briefly produced the team of really hard men that you need to win All-Ireland titles. In the late 80’s/early 90’s they had Declan Ryan, Bobby Ryan, Cormac Bonner, Donie O’Connell, Joe Hayes, John Leahy, and that brought them success; in 2001, they still had John Leahy and Declan Ryan, John Carroll had come in, David Kennedy was there, Paul Ormonde, and all those guys could give it and take it, would go where it hurt, but didn’t mind dishing out a bit of pain either.