Cahill moves around the pieces in Tipp reshuffle
Tipperary's remodelling (LR): Conor Bowe, Eoghan Connolly, Jake Morris, Michael Breen and Craig Morgan.
If necessity is the mother of invention, who gave birth to reinvention? Liam Cahill hopes to discover the answer as he attempts to inject life into a relatively familiar-looking Tipperary team.
His opposite number on Sunday John Kiely certainly knows the path. Declan Hannon’s switch to centre-back in 2017 stands as his greatest relaunch followed by Barry Nash’s move backwards in ’19.
Limerick reshuffled heavily between 2017 and ’18 after realising neither Kyle Hayes or Gearóid Hegarty were best suited to full-forward, nor Darragh O’Donovan to centre-forward. Their moves further out the field were transformative.
Kiely sensed he had the pieces, just not in the right order. The same can’t yet be said of Cahill. He may have too many similar players and there are several in the county who argue Tipp's biggest challenge is between the ears.
But after a chastening 2024, reorganisation was required. In training, David Herity has been given more responsibility. In the timing and amount of sessions, there was an admission that mistakes had been made.
On the pitch, remodelling is most evident. Apart from new faces like Darragh McCarthy, Robert Doyle, Conor Martin and Gavin O’Halloran, there is freshness in some assignments.
:Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 last Sunday, John Mullane, while unimpressed by Tipperary’s performance against Wexford, endorsed the switch of their most dangerous attacker to centre-forward. He spoke about his own experience of being moved out from the corner with Waterford and feeling liberated. Morris is too important to Tipperary to be in a corner. When that charge about samey players is thrown at them, Morris is excluded. They have nobody like him. McCarthy is a dazzler but it’s the Morris who provides the buzz. He has to become more prominent even if in more of a creative than finishing role.
: A championship debut at half-back in 2023, midfield last year, now stationed at the edge of his own square — it’s obvious Cahill rates the Cashel King Cormacs man. As U21 manager Cahill started Connolly as an 18-year-old in 2018. His stature and agility makes him an option in several positions as it has Dan Morrissey. His long-range shooting and strong running draw similarities with Nash. It’s too early to make a call on the latest switch but the Salthill and Thurles showings were promising.
No current Tipperary player has been moved around the field more. An All-Ireland winning midfielder in 2016 and ’19 with an incredible goalscoring knack (three in the ’16 Munster SHC), he was wing-forward under Colm Bonnar in 2022. Cahill refashioned him as an inside back and he has played there regularly ever since with an odd foray at wing-back. Now 30, Breen’s reading of the game is sharper and his athletic qualities remain strong.
It wasn’t until last year that Cahill got his hands on Morgan as a senior after a cruciate tear destroyed his 2023 season. Bonnar gave him an SHC debut at corner-back in ’22 and it was there he was considered last year before a change of tact this pre-season. The Kilruane MacDonaghs man has a work ethic to hold his own in the middle and isn't far behind midfield partner Willie Connors as an attacking threat. The combination of Connors (0-6) and Morgan (0-3) has produced nine points in the two outings thus far.
Where best to play Bowe is a riddle. The Moyne-Templetuohy man has an obvious eye for goal but then so did Breen and look where he has ended up. In 2023, he was a corner-forward for a period but last year his blend of physicality and running saw him at wing-back for three of the four Munster SHC games. In pre-season, he has lined out at full-forward and in the league games against Galway and Wexford been introduced into the attack in the second half.
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