Dispatch from the deathbed of hurling: Tipperary's bench bounce wins the day
NICE AND KNEESY: Galway’s Brian Concannon confronts the man of the match, Cathal Barrett, on Saturday in Thurles. Liam Sheedy's side prevailed by five points.
An update from the deathbed of hurling or a run-of-the-mill National League game?
Or both?
We’ll rein in the hysteria. Tipperary and Galway spent Saturday afternoon feeling each other out with a view to the future rather than dwelling too much on the present.
Tipp got over the line because they were able to introduce more quality from the bench, and Galway’s loss of sub Jarlath Mannion to a late red card didn’t help their cause either.
If the game’s remembered at all it’ll be for the news which took some of the heat out of the sun in Semple Stadium, the loss of Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher with an achilles injury for the rest of the season.
It certainly won’t be remembered for the shooting prowess of either side, with both soaring well into the double digits for misses.
Tipperary boss Liam Sheedy acknowledged that: “Fourteen (wides) again, we were 17 last week, 14 today.
“I'd be more concerned if we weren't getting the chances. We created good chances. Sometimes as well I thought we were shooting from outside where one more pass . . . I thought Jason (Forde) was free inside, Noel (McGrath) had a few chances, I thought they should have got the ball and we went for the score.
“We're still a work in progress. We scored 2-19, had 14 wides on top of that, that's not a bad, there's a lot to like about that.”
His Galway counterpart made the same noises.
“Tipp had a lot of wides in the first half at the same goal where we had wides in the second half,” said Shane O’Neill, but his side didn’t have the comfort of Tipperary’s goals to rely on.
With both sides’ radar malfunctioning out the field, those two goals were crucial. Inside the first five minutes Jason Forde got onto a clever Noel McGrath pass and put Tipp 1-2 to 0-1 ahead.
The scores Tipperary left after them allowed Galway to settle and nudge closer as the half wore on, and it was 1-7 to 0-6 approaching the half-hour. Forde did the needful for McGrath this time, playing him in with a nice pass for goal number two: 2-7 to 0-6.
Credit Galway, they hit the next seven points in a row either side of half-time, but both teams then began to waste chance after chance. At the second water break it was 2-11 to 0-16, Tipp ahead thanks largely to Forde’s accuracy.
The home side’s late substitutions finally turned the game their way - Mikey Breen, Brendan Maher and Niall O’Meara came in and scored, making Mannion’s late red card less decisive then it might have been.
In the maroon corner Shane O’Neill articulated the manager’s 2021 dilemma: team changes are necessary but there’s a resultant disruption within matches: “We had game minutes in our head for various players, so we had to make those changes because you just don’t want to risk over-loading injuries.
“So those changes were made - still, we’d expect to be able to drive on and we didn’t quite do it. With the sending off then as well, and the short turnaround, you could see they had the better impact off the bench at that stage. Overall, pleased enough with the three weeks.”
Liam Sheedy was happier, naturally enough.
“I thought at 2-7 to 0-6 we had a good flow in the first half. A few chances that we'd normally take, we didn't take.
“Galway hit us for five just before half-time. Then they came out after half-time and struck two more.
“So it was seven points without reply and they probably had all the wind advantage, but we hung in there, we picked off a few scores and I suppose getting the extra man gave us a bit of impetus.
“There were tired bodies out there - I ended up using seven of the bench but we just picked off some really good scores finishing up and just about shaded it in the finish.”
Sheedy will be particularly pleased with Mikey Breen’s performance, which added some much-needed direct running to Tipperary’s half-forward line, and the impending return of Seamus Callanan is another boost for the county, particularly with the loss of Bonner Maher.
For Shane O’Neill the value came at the other end of the field, where he rightfully described defenders Darren Morrisey and TJ Brennan as superb, but he acknowledged that it’s another Galway game without a goal.
“Something we’ll have to look at,” said O’Neill. Calmly.
I told you we were reining in the hysteria.
J. Forde (1-5, 4 frees); N. McGrath (1-2); J. O’Dwyer (0-3); R. Maher, M. Breen (0-2 each); B. Maher, N. O’Meara, B. Heffernan, R. Byrne, P. Flynn (0-1 each).
J. Canning (0-8, 1 65, 6 frees); B. Concannon, E. Niland (2 frees) (0-3 each); C. Cooney (0-2); C. Whelan, K. Cooney, J. Flynn (free), J. Coen (0-1 each).
: B. Hogan; C. Barrett, P. Maher, B. Heffernan; R. Byrne, S. Kennedy, R. Maher; A. Flynn, P. Cadell; D. McCormack, N. McGrath (c), D. Quirke; J. O’Dwyer, J. Forde, J. McGrath.
: P. Flynn for J. McGrath and N. O’Meara for Quirke (both HT); B. Maher for Cadell and W. Connors for A. Flynn (47); J. Morris for D. McCormack (53); M. Breen for N. McGrath (60); B. McGrath for Kennedy (64).
: E. Murphy; D. Morrissey, D. Burke, TJ Brennan; A. Tuohy, P. Mannion (c), A. Harte; J. Canning, J. Coen; J. Cooney, J. Flynn, C. Cooney; B. Concannon, K. Cooney, C. Whelan.
: G. McInerney for Burke and N. Burke for Flynn (49); J. Fitzpatrick for Harte, C. Mannion for J. Cooney, E. Niland for Canning (all 55); J. Mannion for K. Cooney (58) J. Hastings for C. Cooney (69).
J. Keenan (Wicklow).
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