Forget systems, it’s players that win matches, says TJ Ryan

You’re probably dizzy from reading about sweepers in hurling, but TJ Ryan has a slightly different perspective on the great tactical discussion in the game.

The Limerick boss points out that sometimes you don’t lose because of your system, but because you weren’t good enough.

“We tried different things in the league, and people can end up blaming the sweeper system. That seems to be a handy out for supporters, managements and media — teams lose and sweeper systems have been blamed, but sometimes you lose because you didn’t play well enough.

“Whatever system we play we’ll need 15 lads playing well, winning their position. The system feeds into it but I think the players have to play well first, then the system feeds into that.

“Sometimes we get that the wrong way around. It’s a fine line because you have to have confidence in how you’ve trained and trust what you’ve done.

“Just because you’re two or three points down and a few fellas are shouting your to do this that or the other — there’s 70 minutes in a game and you have to go to the end.”

He’s facing Tipperary tomorrow. There’s no hiding from their quality.

“The last day a lot of people — maybe you guys included — were looking at Cork and saying their performance wasn’t up to scratch. But maybe Tipperary were very good — they did everything right, all their marquee forwards got on the ball, you have to give them credit for that. You could argue all night where that balance lies — is it good play from Tipp, bad play from Cork?

“We’ll prepare in the best possible way for us and we’ll be picking a team we believe will win — nobody will want to win more than us, but on Monday, with hindsight, the conversation could be different. It’s important teams play to their strengths. You can get hung up and focused on the opposition and counteracting them, but things mightn’t work for them on the day, or a certain player you focused on mightn’t play, and that throws things.

“Having your own house in order, and doing things you hope will work is important. Obviously, you pinpoint a couple of players, what you need to do, but the key is to get the best out of yourselves.”

The fact Tipperary had a game means a good start is important for Limerick.

“Vital,” Ryan says. “It’s always a concern when you don’t have a game under your belt as you’ll always improve on your first outing. But it is what it is. The flip side of that is that after the league semi-final we had a good break and fellas went back to their clubs. When they came back in, there was a freshness there, and we went again. We feel we’ve dealt with that break well and on Sunday evening there’ll be no point in blaming the break. Last year it was the other way around and Tipperary used the break very well. We feel we’ve done the same.”

Limerick feel they have a point to prove after a disappointing 2015: “The way last year petered out, none of us would have been happy with it. There was an opportunity to get to a quarter-final — after a good start we didn’t finish the job off but certainly, we felt improvement needed to be made on last year.

“There were a couple of snippets of nice form (in the league) but looking back, there were two halves there as well, the second halves against Clare and Waterford, who proved to be the best two teams in the League at the time, wouldn’t have been good enough. We need to up that.

“Our first half against Waterford in the semi-final, when we went in a point up at half-time and could have been maybe three or four, we’d need to make sure we keep that consistency up.

“We’d like to have gotten out of Division 1B, we’d like to be playing Division 1A hurling like any team. The performance against Clare — albeit a poor decision early on and then a sending-off decision that I certainly felt was harsh - went against us and we were fighting an uphill battle.

“But I accept the second half show was a bit flat. not good enough. They are the things we need to improve.”