The View: Games, games and more games as business end of the season approaches

While the Rugby World Cup in France and the exploits of the Irish team might be dominating column inches and the airwaves in the sporting sphere, one small little detail which might have passed through the newsfeed relatively unnoticed was the speculation that Eamon O’Shea is to join Henry Shefflin’s backroom team in Galway as a coach to the senior hurlers.

If it comes to pass that will be an incredible coup by King Henry, though not an entirely surprising one. Eamon’s name has been linked to Galway on a number of occasions and residing in the county and having been involved with club teams ensures that his talents were always bound to be recognised and utilised if possible.

That possibility now seems to be closer to becoming a reality than heretofore and with the combination of Shefflin’s attacking brain and Eamon’s ability to unlock the minds of the players, Galway it would appear, have really landed something significant. Eamon O’Shea is a man revered in Tipperary for his coaching nous and has always had something about him which is quite difficult to describe. But, what he brings to the set-up does require total buy-in on the part of the players – anything less and it all falls flat.

Eamon is just the latest on the coaching/managerial export list from a Tipperary perspective but in Eamon’s case, he owes Tipperary nothing. He has done all that travelling the roads from Galway to Thurles for training as both coach on a few occasions and as manager as well – the general feeling is that he was far happier with whistle in hand, out coaching, than dealing with the day-today management issues which are part and parcel of the modern set-up.

Former Tipperary physical coach Jim Kielty had an interesting take on management teams during last week as well. Jim was the man who introduced the SAC programme – Strength, Agility and Quickness – to the GAA and was central to Tipperary winning the All-Ireland Final in 2001 under Nicky English. He is also a former Irish athletics team coach, so he knows what he is on about. And, he opined that no modern management team should be any bigger than ten people. His argument is that a good manager should not need to surround himself with a backroom team as big as the playing panel, and should be hands-on enough to manage adequately without having to have so many others on the sidelines as well.

Kielty makes a good point – the backroom teams have become very overstocked and it is costing the County Boards a small fortune. At some stage, somebody will have to shout stop, but who will that be? If the County Board refuses to pay for a dietician, or a psychologist for instance, they will be accused of short-changing the prospects of the team. And, if the team is not successful, that is the first thing that will be fired in the direction of the officers.

So, unless Croke Park and Central Council introduces some dictat or other, the status quo will remain unchallenged and will continue to spiral out of control. Successful counties will have the resources to maintain large backroom teams, while others will not and the gap between them will continue to widen.

This weekend we have a feast of hurling again with the county semi-finals across all grades occupying attention. The senior semi’s in the FBD Insurance championship are the eye catchers beginning on Saturday evening under lights in FBD Semple Stadium when Sarsfields tackle Loughmore Castleiney whose sole focus now is on the hurling following last Saturday’s defeat at the hands of Moyle Rovers in the football quarter final. Noel McGrath did not feature in that game thanks to his troublesome hamstring – his state of health next Saturday will have a big bearing on the outcome of the game, one would imagine.

To Sunday and the all-north clash of Kiladangan and Toomavara – a game of real intrigue in prospect here with the Toome’ lads back in Thurles for the big day for the first time in many years. Kiladangan are favourites to advance but the Greyhounds have been quick from the traps in this campaign and could just do it by a short head.

In the relegation battle, last year’s champions Kilruane MacDonagh’s take on last year’s semi-finalists Upperchurch Drombane, while west champions Clonoulty Rossmore have to contend with last year’s mid champions JK Brackens – tight and tense games guaranteed all round in these matters.

The Premier Intermediate semi-finals see Sarsfields and Killenaule, and Lorrha against Cashel King Cormacs, while in the intermediate grade Moneygall take on Boherlahan Dualla, and Kilsheelan take on Golden. There are a significant number of games down for decision besides  the ones mentioned above and the only pity is that patrons will find it hard to get to them all. So, picking and choosing will be the order of the day – that’s where Clubber is really winning out in Tipperary, with Gaels across all four divisions really delighting in the service which allows them to watch the games they have missed live later on at home.

A lot of big games then this weekend – check them all out in the fixtures pages of the Tipperary GAA website.