Tipperary ready to spoil Kerry’s three-in-a-row chase

In 2013, Kerry defeated Tipperary in Fitzgerald Stadium to deny the Premier County footballers a minor three in a row.

Now, two years later, Kerry are the ones chasing the treble.

There are few survivors from that day still underage, among them Tipperary captain Danny Owens, who firstly remembers the traditional Killarney Munster final sun that bore witness to Tipp’s heartbreak.

“It was a lovely day and you could hear the Kerry crowd all day because they were in the senior final as well. It’s going to be the same on Sunday. We’ll just have to push on, try to block out the crowd and listen to ourselves.

“It was a tough day but I can use that to try to settle the boys down. A few of us have been there before and know the run-up to it. We’re trying to calm everyone down and make sure we enjoy it really, and not lose again.”

The injured Stephen Quirke, another 2013 veteran and captain of the county's minor hurlers, will be missed in the middle of the field.

Meanwhile Alan Tynan, the final survivor and Tipperary’s top-scorer that year, comes into the panel as a recent addition; one of nine dual players who will be taking in hurling and football finals in the next eight days.

It’s not easy for Tipperary boss Charlie McKeever to adjust from a hurling week to a football week, as the 10-day turnaround since Thursday’s hurling semi-final has necessitated, with the added complication of a round of club matches at the weekend.

McKeever revealed: “The biggest problem we’ve had is the fact that between the Leaving Cert and the minor hurling semi-final, we really didn’t get a collective training session in six weeks until last Saturday. There’s no way around that, that’s just the reality of being a dual county.”

Lessons have been learned, though, from 2013, with McKeever seeking to shorten the day before the game, as they travel to Kerry later this evening.

“We’re going a good deal later on Saturday than we did the last time and the shorter the day, the better. We’re trying to take as many changeables out of the equation as possible.”

Strangely, tomorrow’s meeting between the top-two forces in Munster minor football in recent years is also a meeting of the two teams with the fewest goals – Clare, Limerick, Waterford (4 each) and Cork (3) have all outgunned Tipperary (2) and Kerry (none).

In line with that, Tipperary’s focus will firstly be on getting the defence right and building from the back.

“You always have a chance of winning if you’re not conceding goals,” says Owens, who leads the team from centre-back.

“We’re not a team that leaks a lot of goals so we just have to keep our defence strong and hit them hard on the counter. We know playing against Kerry is obviously a challenge in itself but we’re not afraid of them.

“It’s 15 against 15 and anything can happen on the day of a final.

“We believe fully in ourselves.”

That belief was tested by the concession of two goals to a talented Clare side in their semi-final, with Tipperary kicking 59th, 60th and 61st-minute points to swing a one-point victory. And while that says enough about Tipperary’s character and ability in clutch situations, McKeever insists that Tipperary have plenty more of a performance to give between the white lines.

“We had dictated the game in a sense but we haven’t played to our potential this year for the group of players we have.”

McKeever’s hope will be that his youngsters react well when faced by the rigours of a Munster final under the spotlight of the Killarney sunshine.