Tipp belief swells but Cahill left with plenty to tweak

Tipperary largely swept Galway aside in Saturday's quarter-final, yet their own display was patchy too.

Daithí Burke of Galway is tackled by Darragh McCarthy of Tipperary. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile

All-Ireland SHC quarter-final: Tipperary: 1-28 Galway: 2-17 

Outside the Tipperary dressing room, the mood was electric. There was swagger and self-belief and a sense of vindication that the county are finally back in Croke Park for the first time in six years.

Liam Cahill knocked back youthful requests for his branded cap. “This is my lucky hat,” he said with a laugh. Noel McGrath faced his toughest battle of the evening, as his son refused to leave the Gaelic Grounds pitch, mimicking his royal blue and gold heroes. A line of Gardai became a band of admirers as Ronan Maher emerged to accept his colleague’s congratulations.

They swept Galway aside in front of a 16,404 crowd. This was a quarter-final played at their ease. Tipperary hit a remarkable 51 shots. Their final scores from play tally was 23 versus just eight conceded. Both teams suffered from patchy shooting, but only one of them never looked in trouble.

““It's always good,” said Cahill of their enormous output. “But I would say at least 10 to 15 of them were bad decisions.

“That's what I'm talking about when I talk about trying to fix little areas before we go up the road to take on the might of Kilkenny. We’ll look at that and we'll see, but that's a very interesting stat.

“Our shots off are important, every team is chasing it now because you have to be in the 30-point bracket or the 2-25, 3-25 to have any chance of winning an All-Ireland.” 

That was the only slight reference to their sole ambition now. As soon as the cheers popped off around the ground at the news Limerick had been beaten, it was clear the competition was wide open. Cahill was adamant Cork remain “raging hot favourites.” Kilkenny will be content with that narrative as well.

Ahead of that semi-final, Derek Lyng was issued with a reminder of the opportunities and threats. Jake Morris, Andrew Ormond and Sam O’Farrell’s rotation was relentless. They scored 0-11 between them. Every single member of the front six scored, only Darragh McCarthy was scoreless from play. The second-half goal was textbook Tipp brilliance. Rhys Shelly to Willie Connors to Noel McGrath, who had the two luxuries that opposition should never afford him: time and space.

His diagonal ball found Oisín O’Donoghue. An outstanding move yielded a deserved green flag.

“The game really didn't get into its flow as often as we'd like it to from our perspective," Cahill admitted, "and again, I was probably a little bit disappointed at half-time in some parts of our play. But they're the expectations I have of these players and the standards that I feel they can come to.

“That would be the only reason that I felt I would have been a little bit animated at half-time going in was that those standards, maybe our expectations of players, wasn't where it should be. 

"As I said, credit to the players, they fixed it again at half-time and got about their business well in the second half. I'm happy with that.” 

Galway trailed by five at half-time having repeatedly tried to force goals. They clearly felt there was change to be had in the Tipperary full-back line. Eventually, Colm Molloy went past Robert Doyle but they then conceded six successive points. Declan McLaughlin’s last-minute strike snuck past Shelly and saved them from a double-digit loss. The defeat remains damning, though.

“We needed them,” said Micheál Donoghue.

“That was the message at half-time. Stay plugging. We were hoping one or two of those goal chances would come early. We got one, but tagged on a few wides after. That was disappointing.” 

Are Galway bottoming out? Galway’s last Leinster title was 2018. They haven’t won a minor All-Ireland since 2020. The last U20/U21 was 2011.

“Look, it is easy when there is three defeats to cast that. All of us have to acknowledge there is a lot of hard work. We knew that when we came back to it. That is not to say we have the total say on it. From the top right down, we have to look at what we are doing and look for constant improvement.” 

Scorers for Tipperary: J. Forde 0-7 (0-1 free, 0-2 s/line); J. Morris, A. Ormond 0-5 each; O. O’Donoghue 1-0; D. McCarthy (frees), J. McGrath 0-3 each; D. Stakelum 0-2; S. O’Farrell, W. Connors, N. McGrath 0-1 each.

Scorers for Galway: C. Mannion 0-13 (0-8 frees, 0-3 65); C. Molloy 1-0; D. McLoughlin 1-0; T. Monaghan 0-2; C. Whelan, C. Cooney 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: R. Shelly; R. Doyle, E. Connolly, M. Breen; C. Morgan, R. Maher, R. O’Mara; W. Connors, P. McGarry; J. Morris, A. Ormond, S. O’Farrell; D. McCarthy, J. McGrath, J. Forde.

Subs: D. Stakelum for McGarry (half-time); N. McGrath for McGrath (48); O. O’’Donoghue for McCarthy (52); C. Stakelum for O’Farrell (60); S. Kennedy for Connors (66).

GALWAY: D. Fahy; P. Mannion, D. Burke, D. Morrissey; C. Fahy, G. Lee, S. Linnane; R. Glennon, D. Burke; C. Cooney, C, Mannion, C. Whelan; C. Molloy, B. Concannon, K. Cooney.

Subs: TJ Brennan for Linnane (half-time); T. Monaghan for Burke (50); D. McLoughlin for Cooney (52); T. Killeen for Cooney (58); R. Burke for Glennon (66).

Referee: S. Stack (Dublin).