Tipp-top tackling separated winners from the losers

When Davy Fitzgerald and Ger Cunningham sit down to analyse their sides’ weekend defeats, one simple statistic will jump out at both: The tackle count.

I’m often asked what constitutes a tackle in hurling. It is open to interpretation, but a fair translation of a hurling tackle is a block, a hook or an attempt to stop the momentum of an opponent in possession.

In that facet of play Tipperary were the kings of the weekend with a decent total of 74 tackles, 18 more than Clare, 22 more than Cork and a whopping 41 more than a Dublin side who simply malfunctioned on their big day out in Croke Park. You would imagine Davy Fitzgerald will be most upset by the fact Tipperary out-muscled his Clare side.

For physical evidence of this all one has to do is look at the two McGrath’s, Conor from Clare and John from Tipperary. John won the TG4 man-of-the-match award with five points from play. While the Tipp man played superbly he was given the freedom of Cusack Park for some of those scores. At the other end of the field namesake Conor had to fight like a dog for every ball, when he did get possession he was buffeted and swallowed up by a ferocious Tipp full-back line. In most top-class hurling games at present it’s the narrow margins that win games.

The other major game-winning stat for Tipperary was the fact they forced Clare to turn over possession 24 times. Once again this was as a direct result of their tackle count and incessant work around the field.

Clare had more possession than Tipperary but they could do little with the ball due to the intensity of the visitors. Another area of concern for Fitzgerald must be the fact they missed a number of good scoring chances. 14 missed opportunities are far too many for a Clare side seeking to return to the top table of hurling.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy won’t be getting carried away on Leeside but Cork, for the second game in succession, produced a class performance against Dublin in Croke Park.

The Rebels lost one of their form men in Christopher Joyce but, in a sign of the growing strength in the Cork panel, Stephen McDonnell came in and performed well. The same could be said of Shane O’Neill at corner back and when you look at players like Bill Cooper, Stephen Moylan, Brian Lawton, Paudie O’Sullivan and Anthony Spillane, Cork have one of the best benches around. Saturday’s game resembled a basketball match with score after score, 56 in total, and a massive 70 puck-outs. Rather surprisingly, given the outcome, it was Dublin who were the dominant force at midfield, winning 41/70 puck-outs, but their shooting left them down badly. They converted just 22/38 chances and those 16 missed scoring opportunities proved fatal to their chances.

In comparison Cork only missed 8 out of 42 scoring chances — or if you like they took 4/5 of every scoring chance which is a percentage that will win most games. One simple thing that illustrates the way Cork are hurling with their brains at present is their lineball strategy. Most counties opt to tee it up and puck the ball as far as possible or opt for a score but Cork have perfected the art of the short ball to the player in support.

The real challenge for Cork now is to maintain a consistency right throughout the year. Given how tight the margins are in this league, a fourth All-Ireland SHC final replay could be your best bet of the year.