So, there was to be no fairytale ending then for the minors who hit a Kerry Juggernaut and got mangled in the collision.
In the legal world there’s a term called double jeopardy where a defendant can’t be tried again on the same charges. Unfortunately a large group of our minors could avail of no such procedure as they faced a second trial in a few weeks at Croke Park and were handed down the same verdict – only this time a far more emphatic one.
It was a sad ending for these brave under-eighteens. It’s been a long and testing season and to take a whacking like that at the very end was tough. In truth there was a wide gulf in class between the sides and this game was effectively over well before half time. We just couldn’t get any traction in the match, starting with midfield where Mark O’Connor gave an exhibition of high fielding. Strangely we continued to pump kick-outs down on top of him when, perhaps going short, or at least varying them, would have been a better option.
Kerry hit early and decisively in the Munster final. This time it was more gradual but utterly relentless. The penalty was a heavy blow and it’s no comfort now to know that the referee got it wrong. It was a day when we certainly needed those marginal calls going our way.
It wouldn’t have altered the outcome, though. Kerry were just in a different zone to Tipperary and there are times when you simply have to accept unpalatable truths and move on. Actually I could never understand the angle being taken before the game that we’d just got in badly wrong in the Munster final and everything was much advanced now. Did we expect Kerry to stay the same while we made all those improvements? I feel for the teenagers involved who’ve given days of great cheer to the county but come away empty handed at the end. They deserved better than a twenty-point pummeling.
Like the hurling defeat it should focus minds on the bigger debate around accommodating the two codes but don’t hold your breath. Already you can sense the football side circling the wagons. In an ‘Examiner’ article during the week you even had one football manager claiming that playing both games helps players to perform better in each. Now that really takes the debate to a new level of absurdity.
Elsewhere throughout the country counties have moved away from the dual model after discovering that it’s simply unworkable. Yet in Tipperary we continue to stand firm in our belief that the earth is actually flat and everyone else has got it wrong. On present trends this county is heading for a level of mediocrity in both games but excellence in neither.
The County Board faces big decisions. We’re heading into county quarter-finals next weekend and still there’s no announcement about Michael Ryan’s management team for the coming year. The ‘Church man was appointed last year, we were told, in the interests of continuity. Do we really want to continue with what happened in past years? Maybe freshness is a bigger requirement than continuity so it’s to be hoped that the new man will shake up the management team and bring something different to the table.
We’re awaiting a new manager to be appointed to the U21 team as well following T.J. Connolly’s resignation after the defeat to Limerick. Liam Cahill’s two-years as minor manager have concluded also so there’s a decision to be made there. I suspect Cahill’s comments on different issues won’t have endeared him to some people in the county but maybe there’s no harm in shaking up complacency.
So in many areas the County Board has important decisions to make. A new direction is needed and it will be depressing if we simply get more of the same. We await developments.
In the meantime our premier hurling competition should be down to semi-finals by next Sunday evening. The Stadium hosts double-deckers on Saturday and Sunday with a quartet of fixtures that hold out much promise.
It all begins on Saturday afternoon with Drom/Inch facing North champions, Kildangan, in an intriguing contest. Drom will be favourites though the North men are now without their backers. For Drom it’s a pressure game. There’s a feeling around the Ragg that for all their high profile in past years that single county win of 2011 is poor dividend for the quality produced. It has led to unease. This year they struggled early season and went out of the Mid race at semi-final stage to Sarsfields, a Sarsfields team without the injured Paudie Maher.
There was immediate fall-out in Drom when their coach was sent packing and since then they’ve enticed Liam Sheedy on board. It was a major capture but the flip side now is that the players must deliver to justify actions. Kildangan may come in as outsiders but they’ll see it as an opportunity to take a major scalp as they become more familiar with the latter stages of this championship. The Gallagher brothers have obvious importance for them though they had county U21, Willie Connors, red carded the last day and he’ll be a major loss. Darragh Egan has been playing in attack for his club.
Incidentally Seamus Callanan was red carded too recently in a Cahill Cup game in the Mid as trouble broke out in their game with Holycross, but apparently he’s eligible to play at the weekend. A Mid league fixture it seems does not impact on the county senior championship, which seems strange to me since they’re both senior hurling. Anyway Drom go in as favourites though not overwhelming ones.
The second of the Saturday games at the Stadium sees Eire Og Annacarty face off against Kilruane MacDonaghs and this is a difficult one to call. Amazingly it’s Kilruane’s first county quarter-final since 1994. For three-times West champions, Annacarty, it’s a chance to build on progress and gain a visa to the semi-finals.
Liam O’Shea, Eamon’s brother, manages Kilruane and they’ve taken the unusual step of placing Niall O’Meara at centre back this year. There it seems he acts as a type of sweeper directing much ball towards his brother ‘Buggy’ in attack. For a club that won back-to-back U21s in ’06 and ’07, followed with another in 2010 and narrowly missed out on another to Sarsfields two years ago, their senior return has been poor. Kilruane will be slight favourites in this one but the West side goes in with strong hopes.
On to Sunday then and another double header at Semple Stadium. The opening bout will be a local derby affair between North neighbours, Nenagh and Portroe. To outsiders Nenagh might seem the obvious fancy here but local factors may come into play. Portroe, buoyed by their win over Killenaule, won’t fear their urban neighbours. Still Nenagh are listed at 7/3 for the county title – a major drop since the 9/1 on offer before they played Roscrea – while Portroe are available at 20/1 for outright honours.
Anyway Semple Stadium will suit Nenagh and it will be a major upset if they fall here.
The final game then has Sarsfields facing Clonoulty/Rossmore. It’s been a choppy year for Clonoulty so far, losing to Kickhams in the West semi back in late July and having to sit on the sidelines ever since. That game has cost them John O’Keeffe who was red carded. As their best player over a span of years now his loss is major. Thomas Butler it seems is also out. All of this should ease Sarsfields’ passage in a game where they’ll be heavy favourites – unless the West men can pull off a major coup.
Finally the county went into mourning last weekend with the passing of Eddie Connolly. Tributes were genuine and heart-felt for a universally popular man who fought such a dignified battle over the past two years. Our deepest sympathies, inadequate as they are, go to family and friends.
