Premier experience of Croker finale is key
1. EXPERIENCE
Exhibit A was the Midway Food Court just off the motorway to Dublin around half-ten on Sunday morning, where the Tipperary hurlers broke their journey to the All-Ireland semi-final.
They weren’t alone - the place was thronged with supporters in blue and gold, and the players mingled easily with them.
Liam Sheedy said after Sunday’s game experience was going to be a plus this season, and he was right. Tipperary now have an entire panel who’ve been to the big show, not the odd survivor like Eoin Kelly and Lar Corbett. Hence their ease with the fans.
2. IMPROVING TACTICS
Waterford manager Davy Fitzgerald admitted on Sunday that Tipp were better than the Déise - “tactically better”, he said.
Much of that tactical dividend revolved around Noel McGrath’s excellence at centre-forward. The young man from Loughmore scored five points and linked the play well, suppressing the influence of Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh, so impressive in the Munster SHC.
Centre-forward is notoriously the hardest place to fill on any team, from Junior B to inter-county, and McGrath’s deft industry looks a better bet than Seamus Callanan’s silken running, which might be better suited to the wing. McGrath is a year older and a year stronger than last year, and looks good for a central role.
3. THE RIGHT BALANCE
Liam Sheedy hasn’t carried out major surgery on his team since they lost to Cork back in May. Then again, he didn’t need to.
Pádraic Maher’s unhappy afternoon in Páirc Uí Chaoimh was spent on the edge of the square, but he looks fresher at left-half-back and gives Tipp a good physical presence under the dropping ball: his delivery is good up the left wing, also.
Paul Curran, his replacement on the edge of the square, has been brisk and efficient in front of Brendan Cummins, save for one slip against Galway; if he suffers against Kilkenny then Declan Fanning is another option.
Up front for Tipperary, Shane McGrath has been spared the brief experiment of life on the forty and is back to his best at midfield, while Noel McGrath is enjoying the freedom of the half-forward line - the place lately freed up by his namesake Shane.
Tweak by tweak, Tipperary have settled on a very promising alignment of their resources.
1. GOALS AGAINST
Three conceded against Cork, three leaked to Galway - even Waterford got a late green flag on Sunday.
Sheedy will not be happy with a route-one goal, even if it came near enough to garbage time in the All-Ireland semi-final; put another way, the Waterford goal came at about the same time in the game that Kilkenny put Tipp to the sword last September.
Nobody needs to tell Tipp that Kilkenny will come looking for goals early and often, and won’t be satisfied to just take their points.
It’s seven years now since DJ Carey told his teammates at half-time in an All-Ireland semi-final: “There’s goals there; we’ll bury them.”
Their opponents that day? Tipperary.
2. SHOWING YOUR HAND
The scenic route of the qualifiers has benefited Tipperary as they shuffled their pack and tried different players in different spots, but eventually the bright lights of Broadway beckon, and you have to put your aces on the table.
In that sense, did the move of Noel McGrath out the field come one game too soon? Everyone in Croke Park or watching at home saw the clip of Brian Cody in the stadium on Sunday, studying next month’s opponents intently.
Not only did he see Sheedy’s tactical masterstroke, he has three weeks to come up with a counter-strategy. Either way, Tipp have lost the element of surprise with that particular switch.
3. DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE, DISCIPLINE
It won’t worry Tipp supporters unduly that they conceded scoreable frees on Sunday, but it should concern them that many of those frees didn’t have to be conceded.
Waterford have not been set up this year to attack with abandon but were able kept in touch for three-quarters of the semi-final thanks to careless tackling in the Tipp half of the field, carelessness which was duly punished by Eoin Kelly.
Factor in Paddy Stapleton’s luck in staying on the field - he picked up a yellow card early on and might have seen another before the end - and it’s another focus for the Semple Stadium training sessions over the coming weeks.
Tipp can expect ferocious pressure from Kilkenny in September, and leaking easy frees would be fatal.
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