A busy start to the New Year for Tipperary’s hurlers produced a pair of wins. A trip to Sixmilebridge next Sunday for a quarter-final of the Waterford Crystal offers prospects of a sterner examination.
The students of Mary Immaculate, tutored by Eamon Cregan, came to Morris Park on a windy Friday night and gave Tipperary quite a tussle before a trigger-happy Seamus Callanan hit a three-goal volley to conclusively settle all bets.
It was a lively clash, probably the better of the two weekend games. A hardy line of followers was forced to line up on the walled side of the pitch with the cross-field gale beating into their faces. They witnessed a game where the end margin flattered Tipperary after the students looked sharper for a lot of the contest.
We were a point adrift at half time with the Limerick College very successfully hassling and harrying at every turn. On resuming Sean Maher grabbed a Tipp goal from a goalmouth scramble but within seconds Niall O’Meara had flashed the score of the game past Darragh Egan and it was clear there was going to be no easy route out of this match.
In fact as the second half unfolded Mary I looked the sharper combination but were undone by a string of wind-carried wides. Then with the issue precariously balanced Callanan did the business. The Limerick goalie facilitated the first strike when he batted out; then with the defence unsettled Callanan took advantage by following up with two more in as many minutes. Game over.
We had to come from behind on Sunday too at Cashel. With the wind aiding in the first half Wexford got clear though the sting was taken out of the lead near half time when great work by Niall O’Meara set up David Butler for a smart finish. We were three down at the interval but with Callanan now in at full forward and drawing the Wexford focus we soon got ahead, a Conor Kenny goal the major judgment. We won by five and it might have been even easier after Callanan won a new-style penalty but drove it straight at the ‘keeper who saved.
Overall it was a worthwhile weekend. A few items stood out. Any notion that old warriors like Paul Curran and Conor O’Mahony would slip away gently into the sunset were emphatically dispelled. They haven’t gone away, you know, and defended as stubbornly as ever in both games. You have to admire their resilience and insatiable appetite for the game.
Of the new guys Joe O’Dwyer and Michael Breen did their prospects no harm at Cashel, manning-up on either flank of Paul Curran and ensuring that Darren Gleeson was mostly redundant. At the other end there were individual items from each of the new boys and I liked the bright form shown by Jason Forde when introduced at Cashel. Both he and Niall O’Meara look capable of making their mark and it will be interesting to watch the development of players like Sean Maher, David Butler, Conor Kenny, Liam Treacy and Denis Maher too.
It’s not that time of year where an individual game will make or break a player but the ongoing impression will be important as players strive to stake their claim. In that regard next Sunday’s trip to Sixmilebridge offers O’Shea and company another excellent opportunity to cast a cold eye on available personnel. Tipp and Clare have shared this Waterford Crystal between them in recent years, which gives this quarter-final added significance. You might not be a great fan of these pre-season cups but they are a step above challenge games.
Meanwhile I’ve been reading the ‘Hurling 2020 Review’, produced by Liam Sheedy and his high-profile committee and published last week. It’s an interesting document and one that will surely provoke debate.
The proposed change in the penalty rule is one that was well flagged in advance. Once the Anthony Nash technique was outlawed last summer the conversion rate for penalties dipped significantly – something we know to our cost. Restoring the advantage to the taker was always going to be a priority and in general I think people will welcome the one-on-one innovation.
Mind you players will have to rethink their technique in view of the change. Three penalties last weekend, including Seamus Callanan’s against Wexford, produced only one goal. The other two were saved by the goalies. Under the new dispensation placing the ball away from the goalie will surely be more critical than the power of the shot. Eventually I suspect when players get familiar with the new requirements the conversion rate will increase significantly.
I do have one concern about the new, experimental rule. A worrying factor in inter-county hurling last season was the number of penalty calls that referees got wrong; either the player wasn’t fouled or in some cases was fouled outside the large parallelogram. We got those calls in our favour in the All Ireland’s but they went against us in the league final. Now with the advantage restored to the taker it’s imperative that referees get their calls right.
And on that score I can never understand why the umpires aren’t more central to the decision making. You have three officials in close proximity to the penalty incident and surely between them they should get the vast majority of calls right.
One of the other noteworthy proposals that this review committee has produced has met with much opposition; I’m afraid it won’t get any backing here either. Liam Sheedy’s committee wants a replacement allowed for a player who gets a second yellow card. It’s a move that I suspect will be cheered in Kilkenny but I’ll be amazed – even dismayed – if it gets sufficient backing to become a permanent fixture.
The committee might disagree but I sense that this move results from a few high-profile double-yellow dismissals in recent times, most notably Ryan O’Dwyer and Henry Shefflin. In both cases it was felt that at least one of the yellows was dodgy and the dismissal therefore too harsh.
However, in the legal world there is a long-held principle that hard cases make bad law. The same should apply to hurling. If referees make mistakes then that’s an argument for better refereeing rather than changing the playing rules.
There’s no denying that this proposal represents a major softening of standards of discipline. The rationale the committee uses to justify this proposal is strange – and flawed. They base their view on three premises: “a) hurling is not a cynical game, b) we are best served where the game it 15 v. 15 and c) the impact on underage players being sent off for two bookable offences is putting an unfair pressure on the individuals …”
Let’s examine these. The notion that there’s not a cynical bone in hurling is fanciful. A hurling defender will ground an opponent bearing down on goal as willingly as Sean Cavanagh ever did so please save us this purer-than-snow image of hurlers. Of course 15 v. 15 is best but that’s up to the individuals to be disciplined. Strangely the committee doesn’t put any emphasis on individual responsibility here. And finally the best lesson an underage hurler can learn is that his actions have consequences for the entire team.
Eddie Keher and others in Kilkenny I’m sure will applaud this proposal (Pat Henderson was a member of the committee). Hopefully the wider hurling community will see the dangers of diluting discipline in this way. Anyway we’ll watch developments.
Finally indomitable Loughmore and Castleiney are on the prowl once again. They relieved Sarsfields of their Mid U21 crown last Sunday and now face Kilsheelan/Kilcash in the county semi-final. The result might have been a surprise to some but bearing in mind that they had five panellists from last year’s county U21 side – three McGraths, Lorcan Egan and Joey Hennessy – then perhaps the Mid final was predictable. Bill Maher (newly promoted to an extended county senior panel) and his colleagues from the South will face a still challenge.
By Jonathan Cullen Thu 15th Jan
