Daly: Challenge of preparing for replay begins straight away
“There’s definitely a different dynamic with a replay and one thing I’d remember from last year was that Davy [Fitzgerald, Clare manager], who wouldn’t be a drinker himself and would be strict on drink generally with his teams, was very clever in what he did last year when Clare drew with Cork in the All-Ireland.
“He let the lads have a few beers after the banquet and relax a bit. I met Jim McInerney, David’s father, on the Monday, and he was saying, ‘they were all having a few pints last night, I couldn’t believe it’.
“And I thought that was great, very important, because it’s such a massive build-up and you’re thinking, ‘this is the end of my year, one of the biggest days of my life...’ so the draw had to have been a massive anti-climax. You’re not devastated, you’re not elated. It’s a strange spot.
“I thought that was a great move out of Fitzy to let them relax in their company, have a chat and a laugh and then go back at it the next day. Some of the players might have been thinking, ‘God, more of this and we probably can’t have a beer or anything...’ but he went the other way and they benefited.
“I don’t know what Kilkenny and Tipperary did the evening of the draw, but certainly the challenges in preparing for the replay begin that soon after the final whistle.”
The Cats have decided Henry Shefflin starts on the bench, and Daly concurs: “It’s hard, in fairness, when you only have three or four minutes, which was all he had the first day. It’s not a lot of time to get into the game unless it just pops into you for a goal or to set up a goal on a plate.
“I’d be thinking that I wouldn’t play him from the start simply because if he had to come off, either through a knock or through not playing well, it’d be the biggest boost that Tipp would get. The Tipp support would erupt in the stadium and the players would surely scent blood.
“I’d stick to that reasoning still, and there’d be a boost when he’d come on. I know against Limerick, Henry made a couple of mistakes in terrible conditions but in the Galway game, the draw, he got a massive score to put them one ahead in injury-time.
“In the Leinster final he hit good three points from play, and I know people were probably saying, ‘sure it’s easy for him to do it then’, they were on top and our heads were down, but still.”
The former Dublin manager leaned towards the Cats the first day, but now he’s not so sure.
“My gut went for Kilkenny and with five minutes to go I was saying to myself, ‘well, you called that one fairly well, it’s just a pity you didn’t put a few bob on it’. But I think the dynamic has shifted a bit.
“I think there might be a sense that the monkey is gone off the back for Tipperary a little bit. If Kilkenny’s approach works then it’ll be, ‘ah, they’re very cute, Cody is ruthless’, all of that, but I just prefer [Eamon] O’Shea’s approach at the minute. They’re nice and loose, they’re not afraid to talk, and I think Clare were a bit like that last year.”
There was a sense that Clare couldn’t be as good in the replay last year as they were in the draw, but they improved for the replay. Can Tipp be better?
“I think they can. I think they’ll take massive encouragement from the finish. It was shaping up with five minutes left a bit like 2009 — that Tipp would be hearing, ‘ye contributed to a great All-Ireland but Kilkenny were too good’. And yet Tipp had the puck to win it.
“I think that will stand to them hugely in the replay, particularly as they’re a group of players whose fortitude was being questioned recently. I think there’s more in the draw for them than there is for Kilkenny.
“In terms of goal chances and scoring opportunities I think they smell blood and a bit of what was in the air in 2010. I think they’ll take massive encouragement from some of the performances, the likes of Larry [Corbett] gave a huge display, and a lot of us would have doubted him. Now, he might come in for closer attention this evening, because I’d say Kilkenny didn’t see that performance coming either.
“We’ve been saying Kilkenny are ageing for a while, and going to the well one more time may be too much.”
Whoever wins, everyone’s hoping for a game of the same quality.
“I thought it was the best second half of hurling I ever saw,” says Daly.
“I just felt the first half wasn’t quite at that level. I suppose in the after-glow we’re inclined to say, ‘ah, that’s the best we ever saw’. But yeah, the second half, I have to say, had absolutely everything down to 82,000 of us turning around to look at a screen to see what county was going to be putting their name at the entrance of Croke Park for ever more as 2014 champions.
“It was incredible, the second half — brilliant scores, brilliant incidents — but overall... I took a day there at home and sat down and watched it through once there on my own, and the first half wasn’t the best ever by any means. It’s just that the second half... in fairness, it was some 35 minutes of hurling.”
And 70 more to come this evening.
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