Premier have no fears, declares Fox

It used to be a very cosy world, Gaelic football in Munster, Kerry dominant, Cork challenging in what was a virtual duopoly.

Then, along came Limerick in the last decade, and now Tipperary. In 2010, Tipp won the Munster U21 title, beating Kerry in the final, while at minor level they won back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012 beating Cork and Kerry respectively in the final.

Last year in the All-Ireland qualifiers, Tipperary beat Offaly, Wexford and Antrim in turn before finally succumbing to Down in round four. Under new manager Peter Creedon, that progress has been maintained this year, McGrath Cup wins over Cork and Waterford already under the belt.

Those wins gave the team confidence as they head into the final tomorrow against Kerry, according to flying forward Brian Fox.

“It’s all coming together now, the result of all the great work done at underage. We have a relatively young team and we’ve all played in Munster finals at this stage, whether at minor or U21 level.

“I played in three U21 finals, 2007/’08/’09, lost them all, but we were always very competitive. Every team that beat us went on to win the All-Ireland. Eventually we made the breakthrough, 2010, lads like Ciarán McDonald, John Coghlan, Robbie Kiely came through from that panel.

“From the minor team that won the All-Ireland in 2011, we got more players, the likes of Michael Quinlivan, Liam McGrath, Phillip Quirke, they’re all coming through and adding to the pool of talent. Fellas are committing totally to it now and that’s the big difference. We realise now we’re good enough footballers and a good enough a team to compete with anyone, but you have to give that 100% commitment.”

Total commitment has become something of an issue lately, in the dual counties especially. In Cork, Eoin Cadogan has become the latest in a line of dual stars to opt for football over hurling, which would have been seen as sacrilege only a few years ago. Could be that Tipperary will soon face the same scenario, reckons Fox, himself a dual star, being hurling captain of his club, Éire Óg Annacarty.

“Hurling would have been number one for me up to a few years ago but now it’s football. I’d love to be a dual player, I love the hurling also, but being realistic, it just isn’t possible. Noel McGrath is a fine footballer, we’d love to have him with us, same for Conor O’Brien from our own club, a fantastic player.

“Underage, it can be done and this year’s Tipp minor teams had a lot of dual players. The time is coming though when all those will have to make a decision, one or the other, because they won’t be able to do both. You’re looking now at a situation where you need to be putting in at least five sessions a week for just one sport. The commitment is huge, can’t be done in two sports. The luxury in Kerry is that football is the bigger game while in Tipperary it’s always been hurling first, then give the football a lash.”

None of that matters tomorrow.

“We’re going out to win this game, nothing less. I know it’s an early season warm-up competition but winning a bit of silverware would be a great start to the year. It would keep things ticking over, get confidence up, improve strength and conditioning but even more important, build up morale as we head into the league. We want to get out of division four this year and you’d like to go into it with a winning record.”