Davy Fitzgerald praises Tipperary's tactical gamble but has sympathy for Pat Ryan

Ireland's Fittest Family Coach Davy Fitzgerald pictured as Londis launch their seventh year as lead sponsor of the show. Season 13 returns to RTÉ One this Sunday, November 2nd. Pic: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

Davy Fitzgerald has sympathy for Pat Ryan and his Cork management team for their lack of tactical reaction to Tipperary playing with a sweeper in the All-Ireland final.

Bryan O’Mara, and later Craig Morgan, played as the plus one in the Tipperary defence as they came from six points down at half-time to win by 15. It was a strategy with which Cork failed to get to grips.

The Antrim manager thought Cork’s healthy half-time lead was not a true reflection of how well Tipperary had played. Though he believed Shane Barrett’s goal just before half-time, scored via them running the sliotar through Rob Downey, Mark Coleman, and Barrett would be the key to Cork winning.

“How many more times did they do that again for the game? They didn't,” Fitzgerald said at the launch of the new season of Ireland’s Fittest Family.

“People can be critical of Pat Ryan, but when you're under that much pressure at that particular time, it's tough.

“It was easy for me to sit back at home and watch and say, that's how they got the goal. But maybe they hadn't the luxury of not being under that pressure to see it. 

“I said to myself, they're under the cosh here. But I said, 'I'll guarantee you now, they've found it'. That's one of the ways you can try and get around having a defender static.

“They ran the ball in for that goal. They didn't run the ball that much, did they? Maybe that was down to how tenacious Tipp were.

“Tipp came up with a game plan. The team stuck to the game plan and believed in it.” 

Fitzgerald thought playing the sweeper was “very smart” of Tipperary manager Liam Cahill.

“It wouldn't be a popular thing to do straight out. Jesus, you're getting nailed for it if you do it.

“What he actually did was he did something the Cork weren't expecting. They never for a million years thought he was going to do that. They probably hadn't prepared for that.

“If you're not expecting something, it throws you. And I think that's what happened. Trust me as a management, the one thing you hate is when something different hits you on the day and you're saying, 'okay, I've got to figure this out'. And it isn't that easy when you're under the cosh to figure that stuff out.

“Having that one person there, did it stop Tipperary's attack? No. It was just a different way of doing it.

"I hate seeing Pat Ryan gone out of Cork. I'm sure Ben (O'Connor) will do a great job. He's a good lad. But Pat Ryan was a really good fella as well who I really like."