Babs Keating fears he won’t live to see Tipp win another All-Ireland

Michael Dundon

Nobody is going to beat holders Galway in this year’s Championship, according to Tipperary great Michael ‘Babs’ Keating.

Keating, who won three Celtic Crosses as a player and steered the Premier county to All-Ireland honours as a manager in 1989 and 91, believes this Galway side will win more than one title.

Speaking in Thurles at a forum of hurling managers as part of the Thurles Festival of Sport, Babs based his opinion on the ability of the Galway forwards to defend when their defence is under pressure.

“There is no forward line in the Championship strong enough to hold the Galway backs.

To win an All-Ireland your forwards have to be able to play like backs when necessary, and Galway’s forwards can do this better than anybody else.

Keating recalled during his own playing days coming up to an All-Ireland final, being detailed to mark Seamus Cleere, the Kilkenny half-back who had such a huge influence on Kilkenny performances.

“The late Paddy Leahy, the Tipperary selector, took me aside some weeks before we played Kilkenny, and told me that he did not want Seamus Cleere raining balls down on the Tipp goal from the Kilkenny half-back-line, and that I was to basically play him as if I were a backman.

“I did, and it worked, but today’s Tipp forwards do not have the ability to play that kind of game.”

Looking to the future, Keating wondered if he would ever see Tipp win another All-Ireland in his lifetime.

”Cork have been down for some years but from what I see, with the young players they have coming through, they are going to be the team for the next few years, but I also feel that Galway will not be happy with just one All-Ireland from this team. They have the right kind of players and very good management.”

Keating was critical of the new Championship structure which, he feels, placed Munster teams at a great disadvantage.

“Everybody knew Kilkenny, Galway, and Wexford would come through Leinster but in Munster all the games were fought with great intensity. It is grossly unfair to expect players to turn out Sunday after Sunday at that level of competition. It is grossly ridiculous to have the Munster and Leinster finals at the same time, and it is ridiculous to have the All-Ireland final in August.

We are handing over the best of the year to rugby and soccer and it is ridiculous that counties like Tipperary will have to wait until next January for their next inter-county game.

He was joined on the panel by former Tipp manager Fr Tom Fogarty, who said that while tactics were important every player had to win his own personal battle on the field. He felt Tipperary have struggled to achieve this in recent years and also too often struggled to reach the intensity required in Championship hurling.

Five-time All-Ireland medal winner Donie Nealon suggested Tipperary were not ruthless enough in their approach. He was very critical of the short-passing and hand-passing game, and bemoaned the lack of ground hurling in the modern game.

Len Gaynor, the former Tipp player and manager, said that today’s players were more skillful than those of his era but perhaps were not as good to read the game.

”Hurling is a fabulous game but players had to be able to play by instinct. You can have all the planning you like beforehand but if it is not working out, a player has to instinctively know what to do in situations where decisions have to be made in split-seconds.”