Barry: If you’re not starting, there’s no point throwing in the towel

James Barry revealed that he knew he would not be included in Tipperary’s All-Ireland final team over a week before the game, but instead of wallowing in disappointment, he passed on a few nuggets of full-back advice to help Barry Heffernan and Ronan Maher.

Having started and finished the 2016 All-Ireland triumph against Kilkenny, how did last Sunday compare for Barry?

“Obviously, you’re disappointed not to play in an All-Ireland final, but you are waking up on Monday morning as an All-Ireland champion. And to be part of something like this, you don’t mind what job you are asked to do as long as you can get your hands on a Celtic Cross. That’s all that matters,” said Barry.

“Obviously, it was tough to be dropped, but that’s what the panel is there for. You see Barry [Heffernan] and Seamus Kennedy come in and the two of them were unbelievable. I thought one of them was going to be the man-of-the-match.”

The 2016 All-Star full-back had a strong inkling he’d be on the bench for the final given the make-up of the team lined up at training in the fortnight before the decider.

“They were getting the tactics right for the last week or two weeks and you knew the way they were lining up the team that you weren’t going to be in. I knew the week or so before that I wasn’t going to be playing so you just row in behind the lads who are starting.

If you know you’re not starting, there is no point throwing in the towel. There’s no point sulking for the two weeks up to it because that feeds into the rest of the group so you have to go around with a positive attitude.

“I had come across Colin Fennelly before so you give a bit of advice to Ronan [Maher] or Barry Heffernan who maybe haven’t played in the position. You help in whatever way you can and give all you can to the Tipperary jersey.”

Maher picked up Fennelly, while Heffernan shadowed Adrian Mullen. The forward pair contributed the sum total of 0-1 to Kilkenny’s final tally.

“Barry and Ronan came out with massive catches. After we went eight or nine points up, we could have let them back into the game if we had given up a few soft scores so it was important for us to keep on top of them and a couple of balls the boys came out with gave us massive momentum.” Barry added:

“Liam [Sheedy] came in for a three-year stint and he’s not going to be happy with just one All-Ireland. He is going to want to push on. Looking at the likes of Paudie [Maher], Seamie [Callanan] and Noel [McGrath], this is their sixth final and they are obviously coming to the end of their careers. They’re going to want to get as much as they can out of it, the same as myself.”