It was another dismal day for Sarsfields, a sense of déjà vu as once more they came up short in the club series. Battling Ballyea produced the necessary attrition to wear down the ‘Blues’ and set up a final clash with Cork’s Glen Rovers.
This extending series of failures outside the Tipperary border will rankle with Sarsfields. They may have won six of the last eight county titles but one Munster win out of six attempts is a poor return for a team well stocked with county personnel.
Sunday’s loss will be particularly painful because it was one they had in their grasp and let it slip. At seven-up into the last quarter it was theirs to lose. They’d recovered from a nightmare start when leaking two goals and seemed to be in control heading into the home straight.
However, old failings resurfaced. As legs tired and the game became more combative their attack faded badly and the pressure took its toll on the defence. Relentless Ballyea chipped away at the deficit, Tony Kelly now a major feature, and the equalizing goal deep into injury time will haunt Sarsfields.
The delay for the injury to Corbett should have allowed them time to organize in defence to avoid any late lapse as they played out the final seconds. Instead they defended very poorly when play resumed allowing Gary Brennan career through for a late, late equaliser.
The momentum was now with the Clare champions. Another run by All Star football nominee, Brennan, set up Damien Burke for an extra time goal, and even though Paudie Maher got one back for Sarsfields the home side finished stronger with Niall Deasy pointing twice from placed balls to record a famous win.
You know that old clichéd definition of insanity where you repeat the same process over and over again and expect a different outcome? Well, it has a certain relevance to Sarsfields who don’t seem to learn from past failures.
I was trying to recall 2012 on Sunday, the year when they won their only Munster title. At least then they had Jim Corbett at centre forward. He wasn’t the greatest hurler ever to wear the blue of Sarsfields but he was strong and competitive complementing the lighter stickmen around him. Significantly they had their best year with Jim supplying a bit of physicality to attack.
They also had Denis Maher at half forward four years ago, another player with size and strength. Bringing Denis back to half back this year made absolutely no sense. Why would you further reinforce a defence that already has half of the Tipperary backline? Especially when everyone recognised that the forward line is noticeably lightweight. They seemed to eventually recognise this on Sunday sending both Denis Maher and later Paudie Maher into attack to try and rescue the day, but by then it was too late.
Club teams have limited resources and they need to spread them for maximum effect. You simply cannot play everyone in their natural position, some have to sacrifice their game for the greater good of the team. This Sarsfields team was unbalanced all year and while they got away with it at home it was always going to be exposed outside the county. And if they go back with the same formula again next year it will again fail.
In a sense on Sunday we saw the best and the worst of Sarsfields. The best came when they recovered from those early goals, sent Ronan Maher to full back to cope with Brennan, and came to grips with the challenge. At that stage the game was open and lively and the Sarsfields attack throve. In the first half they scored nine points from open play; Ballyea managed just a single one and that came in injury time.
However, the last twenty minutes exposed the limitations of this Sarsfields team. Once the game tightened up, space became limited and you needed battlers. In the final twenty minutes of the initial hour Sarsfields managed a mere two points from play.
In fairness it should be noted that the loss of Mickey Cahill and Richie Ruth was a major blow though Ballyea weren’t at full strength either. Still an experienced team like Sarsfields ought to be able to hold a seven-point lead heading into the final phase.
At that stage Paudie Maher was being lined up for man-of-the-match but by the end Tony Kelly had overtaken him for decisive impact. Gary Brennan too had a heavy hand in the outcome; it will be surprising if the Clare hurlers don’t make an approach though football seems to be his main game.
So, it’s a desperately disappointing exit for Sarsfields who must head back to the drawing board and figure out ways of addressing their failings. The team certainly has to be re-shaped, though that won’t be easy because their bench looks weak at present.
In other news the All Star function saw Tipperary collect a magnificent seven hurling statuettes. Those awards went according to general expectation though inevitably people will argue the merits of this or that player. Brendan Maher, as captain and leader, might have expected to win favour though it’s difficult to argue with the two chosen midfielders: David Burke was a shoo-in and Jamie Barron had an impressive season too.
This All Star team is selected by a fourteen-man panel of national journalists. They each submit their chosen fifteen and then the tots are done for the final decision. The group met on Wednesday last but I’m told it was a mere formality lasting less than ten minutes. The only names mentioned in passing were Paul Murphy and Brendan Maher but on the voting neither was in with a shout. Interestingly this selection was identical to that chosen by ‘The Sunday Game’ analysts following the All Ireland final.
The player of the year award, however, is a different conundrum. In this case a secret ballot by the Gaelic Players Association members decides the outcome. It’s democratic, at least, though far from perfect. Was it Churchill who said that the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter?
People vote for many, varied and at times downright twisted reasons and I’d suggest that a committee like that which chose the All Star team would be a far better option. Players are not necessarily the best placed to make overall judgments; that work is the bread and butter of journalists.
Austin Gleeson is an extraordinary hurler. He’s the king of spectacle, whether it’s those salmon-leaps for high fielding or those mazy runs, he has that ability to draw gasps of amazement from the watchers. However, at twenty-one he’s still a work in progress; often the solos end badly and he needs to become more of a team player rather than individualist.
For overall championship impact he was surely behind both Seamie Callanan and Paudie Maher, whose inputs were crucial to deciding the destiny of the Liam McCarthy. For me it was Callanan’s year with Paudie a very close second – and if you wish to reverse that order I wouldn’t be too argumentative.
Callanan’s relatively quiet afternoon against Galway in the semi-final has been cited as a negative in his case; but where was Gleeson in the Munster final when he was eventually substituted? Callanan’s man-of-the-match display in the All Ireland should have nailed this award and after being nominated now for three years running it’s very disappointing that he hasn’t been recognised – heck it’s downright wrong.
The seven ‘Sunday Game’ analysts got it right in the wake of the All Ireland final. Four of them chose Callanan as player of the year, two opted for Paudie and Michael Duignan chose John McGrath.
On the football side Michael Quinlivan’s statuette was a deserved award for an outstanding player, a natural inheritor of the Declan Browne tradition. The cases of Peter Acheson and Evan Comerford have been argued too, though when you look at the quality of the opposition then there’s certainly no shame in losing out.
Finally I was away last week and missed out on any mention of Conor O’Brien’s retirement announcement. His decision to call time on his inter-county career was expected and the tributes have rightly been warm and generous.
His senior career began in 2007 and he missed just one season, 2011, when he was dropped by the management before being recalled in 2012. Actually he won great respect when he was dropped in 2011 because with typical stoicism he refused to sulk and willingly returned the year after.
He never quite nailed down a permanent position over a prolonged spell but filled some vital gaps at different times when he was called upon. He’s most associated with corner back, though he was a type of utility player that could be moved around to several positions; his brother Damien often suggested that midfield might have been his best posting. For Annacarty he filled a crucial role at centre forward – Sarsfields would do well to copy the Eire Og way of maximizing available resources.
Conor was seen as a great dressing room personality with that mix of devilment and talent. Injury this year limited his involvement and it must have been difficult to sit out the final in Croke Park. Anyway he certainly did the county some service and deserves our appreciation.
