Tipp’s chase for perfection
TIPPERARY may be favourites for tomorrow’s All-Ireland SHC final, but Conor O’Mahony can remember a day in the spring of 2009 which showed them how far behind they were in the pecking order.
Kilkenny handed out a punishment beating in the NHL to the Premier county, and the men in blue and gold knew they had to pick it up.
O’Mahony recalled: “It showed how far we were off the template. Kilkenny were the benchmark but we sat down and realised that we needed to improve. We knew we weren’t that bad but it showed us the hard work we needed to put in to get up there. It was an eye-opener to see the standard Kilkenny had set and what we had to do to get up there.”
They got closer. In the league final the same year they took Brian Cody’s side to extra time.
“To have played them six weeks earlier and to get beaten by something like 20 points, and then to come on and take them to extra time ... it proved we weren’t that far off it. They beat us three times that year but we were getting closer. It gave us that bit of confidence, that the gap was closing for us and that with every game we were getting closer.”
Tipperary stood up to Kilkenny physically, but as O’Mahony says, you can’t just rely on strength.
“While you can go down the physical road you have to be able to hurl with them as well. There’s no good trying to leather into lads who’ve been there for years, who’ve seen it all. You have to match the physical side with the hurling, but that game, we were well up for it and so were they. We were unfortunate we didn’t get the result that day but it gave us confidence.”
Tipperary are confident this year: witness half-time against Dublin in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“We talked the week before the game that it was going to be no easy game and what we’d do if we were a few points down at half-time. We weren’t going to panic, we were going to keep the same structure and keep the same game plan. You’ve 35 minutes or your season is finished, so in the second half against Dublin it was a case of going for it and seeing what happened. And we got through.”
To face Kilkenny. O’Mahony’s not sure who’ll be marking. The way he sees it, that hardly matters.
“That kind of tactic is around for a few years, teams naming a player somewhere and he plays somewhere else. As a defender you have to study the six or seven players and luckily enough we’ve played them a few times, so you’d have come across them all at different times. They all bring something different to it – Henry, Eoin Larkin, Richie Power – if you’re not up to scratch on the day they’ll destroy you.
“Kilkenny have been beaten only once in six years of championship hurling, probably something that’ll never be done again. To get back to the final again this year is unbelievable. Even if we beat them they’re still the benchmark for me because they’ve made it to six or seven finals in-a-row.
“You don’t go out with the attitude to emulate them or better them, we’re just looking at 2011 as a new championship. 2010 is in the past, it was great to win it, but we knew if we didn’t put in more of an effort this year we wouldn’t have made it to the final. I’m sure Kilkenny worked harder this year as well, and you have to, because the Galways, Corks, Clares, Dublins, they’re all improving as well. We just have to keep raising the bar.”
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