Tipp's Conor Sweeney says beating Cork will make up for lost time 

2016 was supposed to be breakthrough year for the Premier but they failed to push on  

Tipperary's Conor Sweeney in action against Clare in the Munster SFC quarter-final. Sweeney is happy to play the underdog against Cork. 

It is put to Conor Sweeney that the Tipperary footballers have not backed up their breakthrough 2016 season. The Premier captain nods in agreement. It is a sentiment he cannot find fault with.

Just as a quick recap, that 2016 campaign included a first Munster championship win over Cork since 1944, a first Munster final appearance since 2002, a fourth round qualifier win over Derry, a first All-Ireland quarter-final appearance, a first All-Ireland quarter-final victory, and a first All-Ireland semi-final appearance since 1935.

And while the following spring did bring an Allianz League Division 3 title, there has been nothing since, by the way of results, to come anywhere near the heights reached in 2016.

Indeed, the number of championship games the Tipp footballers have managed to win over the past four seasons — four —  is equal to the number of victories recorded during that memorable journey in the summer of 2016. And when you consider two of the county’s four championship wins from the past four years arrived this month alone, Tipperary’s struggles in recent championship campaigns are starkly laid bare.

Sunday represents their first Munster final involvement since 2016, with Sweeney accepting this would not be the case if Tipperary had kicked on in the interim years.

“Well, I think our results would show that, for sure,” replies the Tipperary full-forward when it is put to him that the group have not backed up 2016.

“But you have to be realistic as well. We're never going to get to an All-Ireland semi-final or Munster final every year. It's just not feasible, with the teams we're coming up against.

“We hoped to kick on in 2017. We got league success, we won Division 3, and were a kick of a ball from going up to Division 1 the following year. There's fine margins there, but we definitely didn't kick on in Munster.

“If we were to make progress after '16, you'd hope to be looking at at least another one or two provincial final appearances, but it just hasn't happened. This is only my second Munster final, and I’ve been around a long time. We've a chance to rectify it this year and if we get the job done on Sunday, it will more than make up for it.

“I just really hope we can give a good account of ourselves this time around. We under-performed majorly in the 2016 final, which was very disappointing.”

 In a county where the small ball is the dominant and more popular code, Tipperary’s involvement in a fixture such as Sunday’s is pivotal for the promotion of the game locally. A piece of silverware certainly wouldn’t go astray either in the battle for hearts and minds.

“It's important that young guys in the county want to play for us. Whether that's doing a bit of coaching at club level or getting involved with underage, it's important that we're seen and doing well.

“Surviving in Division 3 was as important as any Munster final, not just for this group, but for football in the county. Young players coming up, they need to see us playing in top divisions, they need to see us playing against good teams, they need to see us playing on the television, they need to see us winning and enjoying it. If we can bring that to the fore this year and over the next couple of years, football will be in a good place, because we have to compete with the hurlers. That’s just the bottom line. That is the way it has been, and that is the way it will be.

“If we all do our little bit we can all keep Tipperary in a good place because we have made great strides over the years. We have won titles at minor and U21. It’s time to deliver for senior and now is as good a time as any,” said Sweeney, the contributor of 1-11 across their Munster quarter and semi-final wins.

Tipp have met their Munster final opponents on five occasions since the 2016 Munster semi-final win, with Cork coming out on top each time. But apart from the one-sided 2018 provincial semi-final clash, Cork’s margin of victory has averaged no more than three points.

“No matter who won between Cork and Kerry, we were probably always going to be underdogs. We're okay with that. The fact we've been playing Cork more regularly, we've been in the same league divisions as them in recent years so you'd take a little bit of confidence from knowing we can compete with them. They'd be similar to ourselves in that on any given day they could beat anyone if they're on their game.”