Tipp's 2016 football fairytale still feels like missed opportunity

It's been a decade since the late, lamented Liam Kearns steered Tipperary past the likes of Galway to an All-Ireland semi final. PJ Browne looks at what happened then - and next

JOY: Tipperary manager Liam Kearns celebrates with Peter Acheson after the Premier's All-Ireland SFC rd 4 win at Kingspan Breffni Park in Cavan. Pic: Oliver McVeigh/Sportsfile

Once the ovation from the supporters had ended, showing their appreciation for the unexpected championship journey the Tipperary footballers had taken them on, a sense of regret hit the players and management as they walked down the Croke Park tunnel.

Immediately, the five-point All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Mayo felt like a missed opportunity. Reaching that point felt remarkable in 2016; it feels even more so now. This was a team which had only avoided relegation from Division 3 on the final day.

The late Liam Kearns had been appointed manager the previous November, succeeding Peter Creedon. There was reason for optimism. Tipp had won the 2011 All-Ireland minor title. Those waifs were now developing muscle.

In 2015, the county’s U21s reached the All-Ireland final, as did their minors. Shane Stapleton had been a coach on the latter under Charlie McKeever. When Kearns called about taking the step up to the seniors, he answered.

All that optimism was tempered by off-season defections. Colin O’Riordan signed for the Sydney Swans while Seamus Kennedy and Steven O’Brien joined the hurlers. Media focus on those losses “drove the players mad”. “Liam used it to his advantage,” says Stapleton. “It killed all expectation.” Further exits followed when Kevin Fahey, Liam Casey and Jason Lonergan headed to the US for the summer.

In the two months between league and championship, things began to look up. Ian Dowling and Paul McMahon got players off the physio table and onto the pitch. Strength and conditioning coach Dave Moriarty got them fit, Brian Lacey refined Evan Comerford’s kickout strategy, and Bill Maher threw his lot in with the footballers after being dropped from the hurling panel.

They beat Waterford by eight points in the Munster quarter-final to set up a meeting with Cork in the semis. 2,700 would be at Semple Stadium to watch them beat their neighbours in the championship for the first time since 1944.

“I won’t say we were confident, but we thought Cork might be there for the taking,” says Stapleton. “We had a plan for Cork from well out from the end of the league. Then on the day the players rolled up their sleeves and said, ‘right, let’s see where this gets us.’” 

It delivered a two-point win, though they had to win it twice. Tipp led by nine in the second half but needed late scores from Kevin O’Halloran to finish the job. Kearns later called it their best attacking display of the year: 3-15, with 3-10 from play. No wides in the first half, and three in total.

“That was the trigger point,” Stapleton says. “That was the one that said, we’ve beaten Cork here now, so who says we can’t keep going?” 

Kerry were “clever” in the Munster final played in Killarney, setting up more conservatively than many would have expected, wary of the danger carried by Conor Sweeney and Michael Quinlivan. Kerry won the game by 10 points. It didn’t help that Jimmy Feehan – along with Josh Keane one of two Tipperary nominees for that season’s young player of the year award – was sick the night before the game, as was Ciarán McDonald.

“The spiritual leader of the group was Ciarán,” says Stapleton, “a long servant who had no cartilage in his hip and was going through so much pain to train and play. He was told by so many surgeons that he had to retire. Because Liam had such a good relationship with Aherlow, after they won a county together, Ciarán was never going to sit out that year. He was such a good defender.”

Grievances were aired ahead of the round four qualifier against Derry. Kearns felt there was very little neutral about Breffni Park, a venue the Ulster side played at far more regularly than Tipp. That they won the game anyway made it sweeter. Sweeney kicked two late points to earn them a spot in the All-Ireland quarter-final against Galway.

“We had a really good feeling about the Galway game, all driven by Liam,” says Stapleton.

“If he was happy, it gave us a huge sense of confidence. If he was cranky, it meant we hadn’t the work done or lads weren’t quite fit. He’d take your head off, including me doing football sessions, or Darcy doing the S&C work, or Ian Dowling with the physio. We were like a dysfunctional family thrown together, and it just worked really well.

“Liam was strong on matchups. He planned it out: he’ll take Conor, he’ll take Mikey, and that will leave him on Austy (Philip Austin).

“Liam was happy and was rubbing his hands together, licking his lips because he felt we could win it.” 

Unlike the wins against Cork and Derry where they let healthy leads slip, there was a comfort to the victory over Galway. The Tribesmen had no answers for the threat of Quinlivan, who scored 1-4, and Sweeney, who hit 2-2.

SCALP: Tipperary's Michael Quinlivan and Alan Campbell soak in the joy of beating Galway in the 2016 All-Ireland SFC quarter final at Croke Park. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Throughout their run to the All-Ireland semi-final – their first in 81 years - Tipperary used the same starting 15, and 20 players in total. It was a tight bunch who knew each other and their patterns of play inside out but it also meant that when players were unavailable, big gaps opened in the team. That was obvious when they experimented during challenge matches.

“We had a running joke that you could play us in a challenge match just to get your confidence up, but we were a different animal in championship,” says Stapleton.

“It was amazing to get to where we did by using so few. That wouldn’t happen now.”

There were real what-ifs against Mayo: a questionable eighth-minute black card for defensive lynchpin Robbie Kiely; a costly midfield turnover which led to Mayo’s first goal – Tipp had led 6-3 at that stage; and a freak Mayo goal by Conor O’Shea created by an Evan Regan miskick when there were just three points between the teams.

Tipp would end the year with an All-Star for Quinlivan, and nominations for Comerford, Kiely, Sweeney, and Peter Acheson.

“I heard from a few journalists that there was a big standoff over Peter not getting an All-Star that year,” says Stapleton. “He was unbelievable. I think he played the entire Mayo match with a broken hand, and we didn’t tell anyone.” 

Whenever Stapleton sees clips from that season, it’s tinged with sadness due to Kearns’ death in 2023. He was just 61 and managing Offaly at the time. The Kerry native managed Tipp for two more seasons, leading them to the Division 3 title in 2017, and the verge of promotion to the top tier the following year.

“The lads got such confidence from how planned it all was, but they still had huge freedom within that plan,” says Stapleton. “We needed Mikey and Austy and Sweeney and Bill and Robbie to play off the cuff as well.

“Sometimes Robbie would score one, like he did against Galway, outside of the right foot in front of the Hogan. If you come down hard on him for that and it goes wide, he’s not going to try it again. But Liam allowed that freedom.

“From a coach’s point of view, once the ball passed the halfway line, we’d go through different patterns: if the sweeper was back, we do this; if there’s a double sweeper, we do that; if there’s nobody back, we do this. We had an answer to any defence in 2016.

“It was easy for me to coach it with the players I had, but it was all Liam’s patterns and principles of play. The impression he left on those lads will last forever.

“It was a brilliant time to be involved in such a tour de force. The players we put together and the run we went on, it was life-changing.”