Safe and sound now in the All Ireland semi-final, Tipp now have just under five weeks before they stride out on to Croke Park, and while there are surely a few more twists and turns to come this summer, they have been spared the stress of the qualifiers and they look increasingly like a team which is coming to the boil.Perhaps not surprisingly, there was a period in the second half which must have caused their manager, Liam Sheedy, to have palpitations. If anyone needed some evidence that Tipp are not yet the finished article, the way that Clare quickly reduced a hopeless looking 12-point deficit to a manageable five, provided it in spades.
“I didn’t feel easy at all, we have work to do,” said Sheedy of his side’s eight-point success. “The day you get something easy against Clare, well … That’s how it is, you don’t go into a Munster final expecting it all to go your own way.”
After a first half in which Tipp’s hurling was crisp and precise, they led by 1-11 to 0-6 and Clare looked dead and buried. But then came the revival as Gerry Quinn and Patrick Donnellan surged from the back, and the losers rattled off seven points without reply. Faced by this mini-crisis of confidence, Tipp did what champions do, and the excellent John O’Brien struck for a badly-needed goal, before the same player added a quick point following Eoin Kelly’s assist.
Those scores slammed the door shut on Clare as manager, Mike McNamara, readily admitted. “I actually thought we’d win it then, but John O’Brien scored that great goal and there was no way back. We didn’t create goal chances ourselves and we paid a big price for it. We had a good summer until now, we have the qualifiers to go into, we’ll pick ourselves up and plan for that.”
While Clare fully deserved their place in the provincial decider, their passage via wins over Waterford and Limerick, who have both had their difficulties this season, wasn’t ideal preparation for the challenge posed by Tipperary. They found themselves in a different league and despite the best efforts of the veteran, Colin Lynch, as well as Niall Gilligan, Tony Carmody, Jonathan Clancy and Quinn, they were outclassed.
Hampered by the absence of the suspended Brendan Bugler, the Clare rearguard struggled to contain the likes of Lar Corbett and the fleet-footed Seamus Callinan, who hit 1-3 from play. O’Brien, who added 1-4 also from play, proved to be a handful throughout, but if there was spice in the attack, the winners’ half-back line in which Conor O’Mahony and Eamonn Corcoran were particularly effective, probably held the key to the county’s first Munster success since 2001.
With Corbett a constant threat, Callinan fired in Tipp’s first goal in the 27th minute after he had swept past Conor Plunkett, while Kelly kept the scoreboard ticking until their second half hiatus. Appropriately, it was the rejuvenated O’Brien who then put his team back on course when he won Brendan Cummins’s puck-out and burst away before cracking his shot home.
“John’s goal was the turning point,” said Sheedy. “Then we got another score, and here we were back up nine points after Clare had been doing all the hurling. It’s great to have won it. Munster medals are hard to get, and these lads appreciate them.”
Now they’ll be looking for another more valuable set of medals.
Meanwhile, there was a surprise in store in phase three of the hurling qualifiers as Offaly ended Limerick’s championship hopes on a scoreline of 3-19 to 0-18 at the Gaelic Grounds. It was bitter reversal of fortunes for Limerick after their great run last year, and as they trooped off the pitch at half time trailing by 11 points, they were booed by a section of their own supporters.
Three goals by Joe Bergin, with two coming in the early stages, set Offaly on their way, and with Seamus Dooley and Brendan Carroll hitting 0-6 apiece, they never looked back.
Not surprisingly, there was nothing but despondency in the Limerick camp. “I’m very shocked and there’ll have to be big soul searching,” said manager, Richie Bennis. “We must go back to the drawing board again, whoever will be involved. I’ll do what I can for Limerick hurling, but if a better man can be found, then fine.”
Offaly now meet Waterford in phase four on Saturday, while Cork, who had to work hard to subdue Dublin by 1-17 to 0-15, take on Galway. Despite losing, Dublin were able to take a lot of confidence out of the game at Pairc Ui Chaoimh and in the end, there was little more than Joe Deane’s goal separating the teams.