Tipp boss wields axe as four dropped from squad

TIPPERARY senior hurling manager Declan Ryan has dropped four members of last year’s All-Irelandwinning squad. Defenders Conor O’Brien and Hugh Maloney have been let go, along with forward pair Paddy Fanning and Timmy Hammersley.

The quartet were informed after Saturday night’s League defeat to Dublin at Croke Park.

Three-time All-Ireland SHC medallist Ryan has decided to shake up his panel in preparation for Tipp’s League outing against Waterford on March 5, when the All-Ireland champions bid to collect their first points of the campaign.

The decision to drop O’Brien, 25, is one which will raise some eyebrows among Tipperary supporters. The Éire Óg Annacarty clubman, who made his championship debut against Cork in 2008, featured in five of the county’s six championship matches in 2010, four of those off the bench.

But O’Brien was taken off with over 20 minutes remaining against Kilkenny in the National League opener and was dropped for the visit to Dublin last weekend.

Maloney, who made his championship debut in 2005, played the full game against the Cats but did not feature either at GAA HQ.

Moneygall forward Paddy Fanning’s National League debut ended prematurely when he was replaced at half-time by Brian O’Meara on Saturday while Hammersley, a prolific scorer for Waterford IT in Fitzgibbon Cupcampaigns, has also made way after he was hauled off at half-time against Kilkenny.

Meanwhile, the county have suffered a massive blow with the news that Seamus Hennessy has been ruled out of action for up to three months after undergoing knee surgery to repair damaged cartilage last weekend.

Hennessy scored a late point against Kilkenny in last year’s All-Ireland final and was also a key member of Tipperary’s 2010 All-Ireland winning U21 team.