Woodlock wound for 70 minutes

AT THIS late stage in the season, just a few teams left in contention, there are stock questions with which you can ease your way into almost any player interview.

With Kilkenny, it’s the very obvious, the chase for four-in-a-row; with Limerick it’s the fact that after such a slow start they’ve still made it to the last four; with Tipperary, well, it’s all that dead air in every one of their big games so far.

It happened against Kilkenny in the league final, when Tipperary took a five-point lead into the break, extended that to eight within two minutes of the restart, yet lost in extra-time. Happened again then in the first round of the Munster championship, against Cork, happened again in the semi-final win over Clare, games that Tipperary still managed to win, but, pattern established, the stock question was in place.