Tipp seeking less ebb and more flow
Munster and All-Ireland titles have been won at minor, U21 and senior grades and he has claimed county and provincial honours with Loughmore-Castleiney.
But then you ask him how many National League finals he has played in and he reminds you it is just the one — and that didn’t end well.
So often when it comes to Tipperary we churn out the same old stats to emphasise their inability to cash in on their shares when at their highest, how they haven’t been able to back up an All-Ireland title since 1965, but they haven’t claimed successive league titles since 1968 either.
Their frustrating hallmark, to ebb as quickly as they have flowed following fleeting championship successes, has been mirrored in springtimes. Kilkenny have done the back-to-back five times in the last 45 years, Cork have claimed a three-in-a-row as well as another quick one-two to go along with those secured by Clare and Limerick.
It is as another example of a county for whom periodic success has become ingrained and one that finds itself over two years removed from that last day of days and once again part of a pack expected to chase the Cats this summer.
It is up to men like McGrath to change all that, to write a new script and avoid the fate of colleagues such as Eoin Kelly and Lar Corbett who know a thing or two about the yawning chasms that can separate Tipperary’s all too occasional treks to hurling’s summit. A first league title in five years would make for a good start.
“Every year you go out, everyone wants to try to win the All-Ireland,” says McGrath when asked if the last few years have frustrated. “We’re no different. The last few years we haven’t got there. Galway and Kilkenny are the top two who we’ll all try to get towards.”
The early vibes were favourable when Eamon O’Shea and Michael Ryan, agreed to pick up where they had left off under Liam Sheedy and Paudie O’Neill was added to the ticket as coach. It is a combination that has rekindled memories of that 2010 campaign while holding out the promise of more great days to come.
“The game has changed over the last few years,” says McGrath. “Eamon, Mick and Paudie are up to speed with the way things are. We’re just moving on to try to be successful and working hard.
“The management that have come in have been very good. The management and players are pulling together. Eamon’s been very good for the players. Everyone’s working together and trying to do their best for Tipperary.”
It hasn’t all been sweetness and light. Is it ever?
The suffocating structures of a six-team league left everyone’s nerves jangling this spring and, had Tipp finished the far side of a one-point game against Kilkenny, they would have instead found themselves peering over the precipice of possible relegation.
It was, in other ways besides, an odd campaign.
The only other nail-biter they featured in was a one-point loss to Waterford but the other three fixtures were either won or lost with between 11 and 13 points to spare, starting with that opening reversal to Cork in Pairc Ui Rinn.
“You’d be disappointed,” says McGrath who declines the opportunity to lean on excuses such as the reliable ‘hard week’s training‘.
“You never like going out and getting results like that. Everyone had put in hard work since the start of the year. You have to get up again and get training hard again. Thankfully we’ve got to the semi-final now.”
And so to Dublin.
Like Tipperary, they have found momentum hard to come by, having won this competition in 2011 and then reached an All-Ireland semi-final before plummeting below their lowest expectations last season, but they will come to Thurles tomorrow eager to calibrate themselves against 1A’s table-toppers after their own stint in 1B. “Everyone wants to be as successful as they can in league and championship. We’re no different. It’s as far as we can (look) at this stage. We’re looking no further than Dublin.”
