Munster rivals Clare and Tipp desperate for valuable points in pivotal league clash
It was March 2013. Mick O’Dwyer had his feet barely under the table in what proved a relatively short stint with the Banner. Peter Creedon, meanwhile, was busy laying the foundation blocks for current Tipperary manager Liam Kearns.
Neither side managed promotion that spring.
Tipperary finished third, Clare just below them. Defeats at home to Carlow and Waterford in the opening round, ultimately, is what scuppered their respective bids to attain Division 3 status.
Fair to say, so, both counties have climbed more than a few rungs on the football ladder between then and now. And yet, both find themselves at something of a crossroads this weekend.
We’ll begin with the hosts.
Last Sunday was a setback. No question about it.
The 0-21 to 0-7 hammering away to Meath was the largest defeat of the Colm Collins era.
Worse still is that the visitors trailed by just two points at the break and felt at half-time they should have been at least level, if not in front. What materialised thereafter was a total collapse. Outscored 0-15 to 0-3.
From their starting six forwards, Jamie Malone was the sole player to point from play.
“It was a listless display, but I didn’t see that second-half coming,” said Collins.
“There just seemed to be a lack of energy. We’d be very disappointed with our display. If you are playing Division 2, your learning curve is severe because you will be punished.
"For a finish, it was a bit farcical, in the sense that anything we did at all was going wrong.”
Gary Brennan, the Clondegad midfielder now in his 12th season with the Banner, added: “Our intensity was way off. We were struggling to win the ball and struggling to get it up the field. We have a lot to learn from it.
“It just looks like Meath have been playing at a higher intensity and are more used to playing at that intensity. We have a good bit of work to do to get up to that standard.”
We’re not entirely in agreement with Brennan’s sentiment regarding Meath’s more regular exposure to high-intensity games.
Clare have a full spring of Division 2 football under their belt, there’s been three championship meetings with Kerry these past two summers, as well as the visit of Mayo to Ennis last July.
Indeed, both Clare and Meath fell at the same championship hurdle in 2015 and 2017, with Collins’ men outperforming the Royals in 2016 by virtue of weaving a path to the quarter-finals in Croker.
Gone are the days when Meath thumping Clare passed without much notice, their close proximity in football’s pecking order dictates otherwise.
Chatting to this newspaper before Christmas, Collins said the challenge for them in 2018 “is to see can we take out one of these top teams in serious competition”.
Well and good, but they also need to make sure they’re taking points off teams at their own level. Clare haven’t beaten Tipperary in a league fixture since 1992.
If that losing streak stretches to eight games tomorrow, Clare will find themselves rooted in the relegation zone with one point from three games. And consider they’re away to Down at the end of the month before Roscommon and Cork present themselves.
What should be noted is the panel has lost a handful of capable defenders in Martin McMahon, John Hayes, Liam Markham, Dean Ryan, and Kevin Hartnett (injured). Factor in, too, the retirement of goalkeeper Joe Hayes. Moving on without this cohort was never going to be routine.
They don’t necessarily need to move on or move up this spring, rather hold steady and safeguard their Division 2 status. That begins with victory tomorrow.
The visitors, though they haven’t said as much, are eying a move up.
After their opening round win away to Cork, manager Liam Kearns told reporters of his surprise at seeing Cork as pre-match favourites.
“We came here expecting a result,” he said.
Prior to the league’s commencement, most observers were tipping Cork and Roscommon for promotion to the top tier.
Tipperary held a seven-point lead over the Rossies last weekend before throwing away their winning hand.
Division 1 football is still attainable but does hinge largely on claiming maximum points on their travels to Ennis.
“We have played the two promotion favourites and have given them plenty to think about. I am happy that we are holding our own in the division which is what we set out to do at the start of the campaign,” said Kearns on his way out of Thurles.
At full-back for Tipp last weekend was John Meagher. Hurling was his chief focus in recent years, with the Loughmore-Castleiney man, half-back on the Mary I team which won their first Fitzgibbon Cup in February of 2016.
Steven O’Brien has returned after time in Michael Ryan’s camp. Sean Carey, the provider of 1-3 when Tipp walloped Galway in the 2010 All-Ireland U21 hurling final, is back with the footballers.
Their options off the bench have improved immeasurably by comparison with last year.
Holding steady, despite Kearns’ utterances, isn’t the road they’re interested in travelling this spring.
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