Will Tipperary stick or twist now? 

How much of the Munster final turnaround was down to a Tipperary collapse?

Tipperary's Brendan Maher and Seamus Callanan dejected after the game

Anthony Daly posed the central question, on his Irish Examiner GAA podcast,
about Sunday’s remarkable Munster Hurling Final turnaround: “No matter how well Limerick did, there has to be an element of Tipp collapse.” 

John Kiely’s side surged from 10 points down to win by five in, as Derek McGrath put it, a performance that was “a combination of everything that’s good about Limerick; power, pace, skill, work ethic, all on display in one quarter.” 

But Mark Landers felt psychology played its part: “Liam Sheedy was like a man possessed at half-time. Potentially, I feel Tipp felt at half-time the job was done, we're hurling out of our skins, we’re back to our best. There must be one or two fellas saying to themselves at half-time, we’re in a great position here, there’s no way we are going to give up a 10-point lead. And once your foot comes off the pedal it’s very hard to get it back on.

“And the body language of all the Tipp players sunk when the Kyle Hayes goal went in.” 

McGrath doesn't see it like that: “I’d imagine Tipp were as skeptical about being ahead as being behind. I watched the game back and Liam was very animated, but lip-reading him he was actually saying to the boys ‘job half done’.

“The interesting thing is Limerick’s corrective analysis. They’re able to correct things on the fly. It’s almost like you have to come with something different again, on the back of something different at the start.

“If you’re in there at half-time and it’s going well for you, maybe that’s the time to change it up. It’s not a time where you say more of the same. Maybe you go (Seamus) Callanan on his own inside, Jake Morris back out, flood it for about 10 minutes and make it as messy as possible for 10 minutes.

“It’s gone to that stage with Limerick where if you’re ahead you might need to change it up slightly.

“With the heat and conditions, possibly Tipp could have got a runner in, some energy. Even if Bubbles or whoever is going well, do we need energy?

“Limerick are so good at fixing things. Kiely said afterwards it was the physical commitment of the players that turned it round. But they did fix things as well tactically."

Will Tipperary make those changes in an All-Ireland quarter-final? Landers isn't so sure: “The big concern is that Tipp have won an U20 and U21 All-Ireland and Jake Morris is the only recognised player that has come in from those two squads. They should be filtering in more at this stage. But it’s very hard to discard fellas who have been very loyal.

“The draw has a bit to do with it. If he got, say, Cork, I think he would twist and go with the younger fellas. But if he got Galway, if they beat Waterford, it might be a different story. I think Galway will bring a physical edge."

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