Leahy: Tipp lacking mental toughness

Tipperary legend John Leahy claims some of the county’s senior team players are not mentally strong enough to compete consistently for the game’s major prizes.

Leahy has waded into the debate raging in the Premier County following Sunday’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final defeat by Cork.

And the Mullinahone native, who served as a selector alongside former Tipp boss Michael ‘Babs’ Keating, lamented a lack of leadership in Declan Ryan’s team at Semple Stadium.

Leahy claimed All Star corner back Michael Cahill “wasn’t up to the pace of the game” and believes that another former All Star, Shane McGrath, should be asking himself “why he isn’t on the team.”

Leahy told Tipp FM: “From a Tipp point of view it was disappointing that when push came to shove, we didn’t seem to want it enough. At times you can do nothing about the result but it was the performance...are they mentally prepared?

“You look at Michael Cahill and he will be very disappointed with his performance. He fouled an awful lot and didn’t seem up to the pace of the game. I’m sure Shane McGrath has to ask himself the question – why aren’t I on the team? Last year he was taken off in a lot of the championship games.

“He doesn’t seem to be the player that he was two years ago. I thought Cork were more mentally prepared. On a positive, I thought Brian O’Meara had a good game, Pa (Bourke) came into his own in the last couple of games, Gearoid Ryan played well and Conor (O’Mahony) is playing ok. But it’s the demeanour...the togetherness in some form isn’t there. This is a pattern of Tipperary teams – the consistency is not there.

Leahy insisted there is only so much team management can do to prepare the team and ultimately, it comes down to the players to assume personal and collective responsibility for their performances.

“After all the managers I’ve played under, it all comes back to oneself and mentally preparing yourself for an occasion. I’d question is that happening.

“The management can play their part and I’m sure they’re doing everything they can. It happened after the Kilkenny game (opening round of National League). We heard rumblings that there were meetings and things addressed but we slipped back into the same frame of mind and that’s a concern. Declan will be concerned about his 15 for May 27 (when Tipperary play Limerick in the Munster SHC quarter-final). That’s the biggest problem we have.”

Leahy, however, insists that there is still time for Ryan and his players to turn their season around.

He reflected: “In my history with Tipp, you’d see this happening. A couple of League games, a settled team and then one bad result and the thing is up in arms. A lot of the players are around long enough and experienced enough to know how to get that back.

After Cork in 2010, on the Monday morning Tipp hurling was in disarray. Noel McGrath was taken off, Brian O’Meara was taken off and it was a case of: ‘where are we going?’ Everybody got together with Liam (Sheedy), Eamon (O’Shea) and Michael Ryan, a plan was put in place and it worked.”