Richard Stakelum: Tipp won’t go outside looking for new boss

Richard Stakelum is positive Tipperary will stick with tradition and find a new hurling manager from within the county borders, even if there is no blindingly obvious choice to succeed Michael Ryan at the helm.

The Premier County haven’t had to confront such uncertainty over their senior hurling management ticket for some time now, given Ryan was the obvious man to take up the mantle from Eamon O’Shea, who had himself been in situ since 2012.

There will be no natural succession this time around.

Liam Cahill’s name has been mentioned and it will be more prominent if his U21 side can account for Galway in an All-Ireland semi-final this evening, but a number of familiar names being suggested of late just don’t appear to fit, among them Liam Sheedy, manager of the 2010 All-Ireland-winning side, among them.

Willie Maher’s name is mentioned. Liam Sheedy is an obvious one, but I just wonder with Liam Sheedy’s trajectory of his career now,” said Stakelum. “He was very close to the Ard Stiurthoir’s job here in Croke Park, so is that the way his career is on now?

“I think if he wanted the job I’d say he’d be a pretty obvious choice, but there is no obvious choice, there is no obvious successor now, and Tipp, traditionally, just don’t go outside their county. They will keep it inside.”

Stakelum, captain when Tipp ended their 16-year long Munster Championship drought in 1987 and a long-time Dublin selector under Anthony Daly, said the idea of putting himself forward was merely a “lovely, fanciful notion”.

His reasoning highlighted just why it is so hard to find the right man at this level.

“Time-commitment and I just wouldn’t be able to do it with the work schedule I have. I’m involved with Anthony in [Kilmacud] Crokes and that’s tough enough to even get the time at club level. An inter-county job is a full-time job.”

He wasn’t surprised when Ryan pulled the plug, given the pressures of living up to what are often excessive expectations in a county such as Tipp. Also, Ryan had spent the bones of a decade with the squad, between his roles as selector and manager.

Reports over the weekend indicated the players were eager for fresh voices, but that Ryan wasn’t willing to shake up his backroom team. Whatever the intricacies of the situation, Stakelum can see the argument in favour of change.

Identifying the right man may be the most crucial piece in this jigsaw, but an injection of fresh blood is needed on both sides of the whitewash.

When you look at Paudie Maher, Brendan Maher, [Seamus] Callanan: These guys are around a long time and have played a huge amount of the big games. Themselves and Kilkenny jousted for years and I think there are only so many times you can go to the well. The team to me looked a bit jaded.

“The challenge now is what is coming underneath. We haven’t seen a huge infusion of the next layer of talent and whoever comes in will have to do that and blood players because Brendan Maher has his cruciate ligament injury, Callanan struggled with his back, so a lot of those players have a lot of miles on the clock.”

Hurling is a young man’s game these days and the success of sides such as Limerick and Cork — both of whose squads are loaded with players still eligible for U21 or not far past it — shows the age profile is continuing to dip. The jury is out on what Tipp have coming through.

Jake Morris, part of Liam Cahill’s U21 side this evening, made an impact in the senior ranks this summer, but how many others could say the same, even though Ryan handed out four championship debuts in the provincial opener against Limerick in May?

The argument could be made that Tipp weren’t all that far off the pace this year. After all, the width of a post here or there and they might have made it into the top three and less claustrophobic expanses of the wider All-Ireland championship.

Stakelum takes the point. Momentum is a wondrous thing and who knows where Tipp’s season may have ended had they managed to generate some. That said, it doesn’t change the sense that the county side has some fundamental issues that need to be addressed.

There are about seven teams that can win the All-Ireland. It’s ironic the width of a post caught them against Clare and the width of a post did Clare last weekend.

"I still think looking at the Tipp team… the zest and zip, I just didn’t see that.

“A lot of their big players just looked that bit tired. This new format doesn’t necessarily suit players like Paudie Maher, who is playing with Thurles Sarsfields all the way into the winter again and it’s probably likely this year again so it is hugely attritional on older players.”