Tipperary fear for fitness of Conor Sweeney after knee injury

Sweeney sustained the blow when knocked to the ground entering the final 10 minutes of the defeat by Down

Sat, 28 Jan, 2023 - 16:41

Stephen Barry, FBD Semple Stadium

Allianz Football League Division 3: Tipperary 1-11 Down 2-11

Tipperary are sweating on the fitness of captain Conor Sweeney after their All-Star attacker suffered a knee injury in their League loss to 14-man Down.

Sweeney sustained the blow when knocked to the ground entering the final 10 minutes of a game he helped to drag Tipperary back into. Although he initially tried to continue, he soon limped off the field.

“Conor Sweeney is too early to say,” said manager David Power. “There's no point in trying to speculate but it is a knee injury. That is worrying and worrying for Conor but we'll have to wait. The next 48, 72 hours we'll probably know more.

“[Luke Boland] was suffering with the calf but I don't think that's as serious. It's Conor Sweeney's injury I'd be concerned about. There'd be no point in saying [otherwise]. Again, we just don't know what it is at the minute but it definitely is his knee.”

Down denied Tipperary so much as a shot from play in the first half before a 40th-minute second yellow card for centre-back Niall McParland, Tipp’s bench impact (0-4), and Sweeney (0-4) steadying Tipp’s free-taking woes made a game of it and belatedly grabbed the attention of the 1,013 spectators.

Their first-half return against Down’s 1-6 was 0-2 from six shots. Five of those shots came from frees, plus one 45; Seán O’Connor’s three misses surely a factor in his half-time withdrawal.

Power pointed the finger at Down’s tactical fouling as a contributory factor to Tipp’s first-half malaise.

“The free count was 16 to five,” he said. “Every time we were trying to come out of defence, Down were fouling. The referee was very slow... There should have been way more cards given.

“I thought it was [done] purposely. They were well drilled. They had it well sussed. There were different people fouling Mikey O'Shea, for example. I was disappointed with that.

“The substitutes were so slow coming off, I thought there should have been even more minutes added on. [Six were announced.] “We can't control that but ultimately, what we can control is our performance.

“First half, we were very poor, very slow, very lethargic. We never got to the pace of the game, even though we missed five frees that were really scoreable.

“But second half, we were very, very good. There's way more positives to be taken out of it. We must build on the second-half performance for the Cavan match.”

Power had been advised to restrict the minutes of Steven O’Brien and Mark Russell, both returning from injuries. In O’Brien’s absence at full-forward, Tipperary’s high-ball tactic failed to make any inroads, but they made immediate impacts on their introductions.

O’Brien carved out Tipp’s first chance from open play in the 38th minute, finished off by Sweeney, while Russell kicked huge points with his first two touches to twice narrow the deficit to four.

Tipperary appeared to have given away their chance when keeper Michael O’Reilly got caught under Andrew Gilmore’s high delivery and Conor Francis tapped into an empty net for a 2-10 to 0-9 lead after 61 minutes.

But Tipperary kicked the next 1-2, Teddy Doyle with the goal and Donough Leahy, a late sub for Sweeney, adding two points of his own.

In a frantic finale, Gilmore cracked the Tipp crossbar, Pat Havern won and pointed an insurance free, O’Brien, surrounded by red jerseys, couldn’t force home a shot on goal, and Doyle was sent off for a second yellow card.

“That's the frustrating thing,” said Power. “If we had probably our strongest 15 out... It's a game looking back on it now, we're after leaving it behind us. I thought we were that bit better. We had Down under serious pressure there in the second half but ultimately, the first half display is after costing us.”

Earlier, Havern (1-4) showed superb movement floating around the attacking zone and kicked their opening two points, added to by two more from Eamon Brown. Those two combined for the goal too, Brown picking out Havern with a brilliant reverse pass that wrongfooted the Tipp cover.

When Havern added a 22nd-minute point, it would be Down’s last for 24 minutes. Barry O’Hagan was black-carded and Down were happy to see out a seven-point lead to the break.

Never mind the second-half wobble for the journey back: a first League win under Conor Laverty and a first competitive victory since May 2021 enough to shorten the long road home.

Scorers for Tipperary: C Sweeney (0-4, 3 frees); T Doyle (1-0); M Russell, D Leahy (0-2 each); S O’Connor (free), J Kennedy (free), M O’Shea (0-1 each).

Scorers for Down: P Havern (1-4, 0-1 free, 0-1 mark); C Francis (1-0); A Gilmore (0-3, 2 frees); E Brown (0-2), B O’Hagan (free), O Murdock (0-1 each).

TIPPERARY: M O’Reilly; S O’Connell, J Feehan, D Carew; K Fahey, C O’Shaughnessy, E Moloney; L Boland, J Kennedy; M Stokes, M O’Shea, T Doyle; C Sweeney, L McGrath, S O’Connor.

Subs: C Deeley for Boland (32 inj), S O’Brien for O’Connor (h-t), C Cadell for Stokes (44), M Russell for Moloney (51), D Leahy for Sweeney (63 inj).

DOWN: J O’Hare; R Magill, P Laverty, R McEvoy; C Francis, N McParland, M Rooney; N Donnelly, O Murdock; G Collins, D McAleenan, L Kerr; E Brown, P Havern, B O’Hagan.

Subs: A Gilmore for Brown (45), C Doherty for Rooney (47), C Fitzpatrick for Donnelly (52), M Welsh for O’Hagan (61), P Branagan for Collins (70).

Referee: C Maguire (Clare).