The View Column By Noel Dundon

The View – Let’s see if Clare’s hurling can cash the cheques their confidence is writing

By Noel Dundon

From a Premier perspective it was a quiet enough week as we continued to lick the wounds from the defeat at the hands of Waterford in the Munster senior hurling championship. Instead we had to watch on enviously as neighbours Cork and Clare did the business in the U20 and minor All-Ireland’s respectively against our other neighbours Offaly and Galway.

There were just short of 30,000 in FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles in the sweltering sun – a means of making up somewhat for not being granted the Munster senior final perhaps. Most of the supporters present were from the Faithful County, just as was the case twelve months ago for the minor final in Nowlan Park, Kilkenny. And, just like twelve months ago, the majority of the supporters went home disappointed, apart from those from Munster of course, with Cork and Clare both prevailing.

Clare are one victory away from having a magnificent season – win the Munster Final in Limerick next Sunday and it will be a stunning provincial title. But, that’s a tall order because they must go across the border into the lions den for the second time this season, and secure the win. That’s of their own making of course, and it shows a really gutsy approach. Let’s see if their hurling can cash the cheques their confidence is writing. Beating this Limerick team twice is no mean feat – beating them twice on home turf would be unheard of. Advantage Limerick, I would suggest.

Tipperary have used their enforced timeout to charge the batteries and ready themselves for the trip to Tullamore in two weekend’s time. They availed of an away day trip in Cork to set themselves up, mull things over and discuss where they go from here as they launch an assault on the All-Ireland series. How they react to that first championship defeat will be telling, but history would suggest that a Liam Cahill trained team will generate a backlash – remember the u21 side which was hammered in the Munster Final and then came back to win the All-Ireland.

The Tipp hurlers continue their work this week, but the footballers campaign has come to an end and with it the term of Manager David Power. They finished a very difficult season on a positive note with victory over Waterford – a third for the season. David Power spoke to the County Board on Tuesday evening and informed officials of his intention to step aside. David will always be remembered as the man at the helm who delivered a minor All-Ireland title in 2011, and that stunning Munster senior crown in 2020. He has given tremendous service to the county but the last few seasons have been very difficult with injuries, defections, departures, retirements and under-performances. Tipperary cannot afford to be without key players and unfortunately over the last eighteen months or more, through no fault of the management teams, they always seemed to be missing somebody.

The Power family have given so much to Tipperary GAA, especially to football. David’s father, Michael, former Board Treasurer, selector, current President of the Munster Council and a very genuine and highly respected man is known throughout the land – his son has followed in his footsteps and is a very highly regarded coach and person. The loss of Miriam – David’s mother – in the last few weeks has been a tough and cruel blow on the family as well. Miriam was the strength and the glue which kept the show on the road while David and Michael were ploughing the GAA furrow. They are still coming to terms with her passing after a short illness.

You would have to say that the Premiers star has fallen somewhat from the dizzy heights of All-Ireland semi-finals under the late Liam Kearns a few years ago. A new generation has emerged and you just hope that they can get a few breaks starting with getting out of division 4 of the Allianz NFL. David departs with the good wishes and support of all Tipperary football supporters –finding a replacement Manager will be quite a task for the Football Board officers.

Rud Eile

The last few weeks has resulted in a lot of talk about pundits and commentary and opinions, and viewpoints. Well, here’s one for you. Why is it that RTE continues to use pundits from participating counties when it comes to analysing games? Surely, it would be better to have completely neutral voices for the different games? After all it’s not as though they don’t have enough pundits on speed dial for both codes.

On the other hand, if they do go down the route of bringing in somebody from the participating counties, the least they could do is ensure that there is one pundit from each. That would help to ensure some semblance of balance and would prevent individuals from using the platform to perpetuate a rather understandable county bias. Of course Brendan Cummins or Liam Sheedy will stick by Tipperary, the same as Donal Óg Cusack would Cork, Shane Dowling would Limerick, Joe Canning would Galway, or Jackie Tyrell would Kilkenny. But, we have seen too much unchecked naked bias with analysis and co-commentary – and, you can throw TG4 into the mix as well in this regard. The viewer deserves better.