PREVIEW: Former All-Ireland winning Tipp captain explains the build-up to Croke Park final day!

With Tipperary preparing to face Cork in Sunday’s All-Ireland Hurling Final, few are better placed to understand the unique demands of the week than Tommy Dunne.

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The 2001 All-Ireland winning captain knows what it means to carry a county’s hopes into the biggest game in Irish sport. For Dunne, the build-up is unlike anything else, but it’s a balance, he says, between soaking up the moment and staying locked into the process.

“Look, it’s definitely different,” he said. “It’s definitely different from the supporters’ experience anyway. But it’s still really enjoyable, absolutely, no doubt about that.”

Enjoyable, yes, but not without its responsibilities. “Your preparation comes first, obviously, you know? So you have to make sure that all your daily routines are boxed off in terms of what you need to do for your prep. And then it’s a matter of whatever works for you, whether you enjoy meeting people or whether you prefer to keep a lower profile or not.”

The buzz in the Premier County is tangible this week, and Dunne believes it’s as special for families, clubs, and communities as it is for the players themselves.

“It’s lovely, and I think just for your own fans, your family, and for your club and your community, I think they generally get a good kick out of it as well,” he said. 

“There’s a bit of an extra buzz around the place, particularly the week of the All-Ireland, because it’s getting really close, and it’s only a few days away.”

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Dunne, who was working away from Tipperary during his playing days, admits that staying out of the county helped him stay grounded. 

“I was travelling around a bit, so I wasn’t always working in Tipperary, which I was kind of okay with because I didn’t enjoy maybe talking about the match all the time to people. And so being able to work away from Tipp was probably a help for me in the lead-up to the game.”

Now, as a former player and lifelong supporter, he sees what this week means to others. 

“Players love it. They’ll definitely be enjoying it. And so many of the Tipp players haven’t played in one before. So it’ll be lovely, and it’ll be lovely for their families as well.

“You have to remember, it’s the thing as a hurler that you’ve been chasing all your life. So it’s a big deal, like, and it’s a huge event. But it’s a fabulous occasion, one of the highlights in the Irish sporting calendar.”

This year’s final comes just two weeks after the semi-final win over Kilkenny, but Dunne isn’t concerned about the shorter turnaround. 

“All the bodies are used to the split season now. They know the matches come thick and fast. And, you know, a two-week turnaround won’t bother them all that much.”

He stresses that, at this point in the season, it’s as much about the head as the hurley. 

“One of the biggest pieces on performance and all, I think, on All-Ireland day is the mental preparation, making sure that you’re mentally prepared to deal with the occasion.

“What way they want to play, how they want to go about their business positional and, you know, technical, tactical, puck outs, all that kind of stuff.

“You’re preparing for just another match. But then there’s another dimension to it, because it’s an All-Ireland Final. And you have to get that balance right, I think, in your play.”

For all the planning, few could have predicted Tipperary’s route to this point, and Dunne has spoken in recent weeks about a growing reconnection between the team and its supporters, a reconnection that didn’t come easy.

“It is remarkable. There’s no doubt about that. It’s been a remarkable season in terms of where we’ve ended up relative to where we were 12 months ago. And I don’t think there would have been too many Tipp supporters who could have probably foreseen it.

“There had been a disconnect with the fans, and there probably still was at that stage, and how tough a spell it is on everyone, and how do you get it back?” he says. “The sort of point I’m trying to make is that, even when things are at a low ebb, I think people in Tipperary can still feel that if things go right, it might be completely illogical, but we always believe that if we get things right, if we uncover a couple of new players, if we get a bit of momentum going, then anything is possible.

“And here we are, a few months later, sitting in an All-Ireland Final. They didn’t finish great, with the League Final defeat, obviously. But it definitely didn’t damage us below the waterline. And I think that was a huge sign of progress.

“The Clare game was a crossroads game. That was the key game in terms of whether the team was capable of pushing forward or whether the project was more or less over. And the boys weren’t ready for it to be over. That was the one.”

“I liked the atmosphere, that evening was electric. And I thought the Tipp fans were absolutely brilliant, even though we were outnumbered. But they really responded to the effort and the quality of the performance.”

That night, he believes, changed everything. 

“I think that won a lot of Tipperary supporters back. I also think it gave the team a huge injection of belief and confidence, that they were ready to go another bit. And they’ve pushed on, much further than most of us maybe thought was possible, given the quality of the other teams that were around.”

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