All-Ireland quarter-final against Galway is 'very dangerous game' for Tipperary hurlers

Everyone knew in advance that it was a futile fixture but, nonetheless, Tipperary still had to go through the motions at Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Saturday last. In the event it all panned out as expected. Tipperary went through the (low) gears and now look ahead to a tougher trial this weekend.

Much tougher. Galway come to the quarter-final with a strong history in this particular rivalry. Paddy Power and company see Tipperary as a 1/4 fancy against 10/3 outsiders. I don’t.

But first to Saturday’s event at Portlaoise. It was never going to be anything other than a routine obligation for Tipperary. There appears to be unanimity on the pointlessness of such a fixture for the defeated McDonagh finalist. One suspects the plug will soon be pulled on such folly.

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Tipperary needed to get through this assignment as unfussy as possible and they certainly laid the foundation in the opening four minutes. Instant points from Forde, Connors and McCarthy were followed by a goal when Forde wheeled away from the cover. Connors followed up with another pair of points and at 1-5 to nil after a mere four minutes it looked like early annihilation for the hosts.

Except that it wasn’t. To their credit Laois steadied the ship and lost the remainder of the half by a mere point. In part that was due to their impressive goalie, Cathal Dunne, who denied Darragh McCarthy, Jason Forde and John McGrath in turn with fine saves.

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In part also it was due to Tipperary’s untidiness, where our play became sloppy and we failed to push home advantage. The four-week break since we defeated Waterford may have been a factor, so if the game helped to flush that rustiness from the system then it may have been of some help.

I’m sure there were half-time urgings in the dressing room to kill off this contest and that was precisely what happened on the resumption. A long ball into attack broke out to Sam O’Farrell, who drove low and hard across the goalie for a smashing score. The long, route one ball into attack may be traditional but it still has merit.

Soon Jason Forde found space through a crowded defence to smack home his second major. That was it.
We might have embellished the win with further goals. John McGrath lashed one off the crossbar and substitute, Peter McGarry, was very unlucky to hit the post after a fine solo run, which deserved better. Other half- chances were smothered by a scrambling defence.

Against that, Laois stayed honest and plugged away, albeit never threatening a major breach. Their best chance of a goal came in the first half but Rhys Shelly stood firm. They had a useful player in Paddy Purcell and Tomás Keyes also showed real quality. However, 17 wides was a telling statistic.

For Tipperary it was a case of job done and little more. In such a one-sided affair both criticisms and credits have to be moderated. This wasn’t a true barometer of anything.

Still, I suspect Liam Cahill will be happy that the game might have rinsed some bad habits from the system. We won’t wish to see Sam O’Farrell come so close again to an own goal with a back pass towards his goalie. Some of the marking got very loose in the first half; they’ll need to reset better for Galway’s puckouts on Saturday.

On the positive side the game will have helped Alan Tynan after his lay-off. It was good too to see another busy performance from Andrew Ormonde, hitting three points and acting as playmaker for others.

Joe Caesar, I thought had a solid day, even getting on the scoresheet. Every game has to be a benefit for developing players like Sam O’Farrell and Darragh McCarthy, who are learning their trade.

Of the five substitutes introduced Peter McGarry, Oisín O’Donoghue and Joe Fogarty all got on the scorecard, which is good to see. McGarry is an interesting promotion. I rated him highly as a minor but he didn’t kick on as expected. Clearly, he’s impressing now in training and what we saw on Saturday was encouraging, showing real dash in his play.

The upcoming Galway game this Saturday is now a pivotal moment for our season. The undeniable progress that has been made so far needs to be franked here. And Liam Cahill is correct: this is a very dangerous game given our past experience against the Tribesmen.

Since the turn of the century, we’ve played Galway in 11 championship games, with the Westerners holding a slim six-five lead. However, drill deeper into those figures and some interesting trends emerge. In particular the tightness of the margins is a standout feature.

Five of those 11 games were decided by a single point; a further four had two-point margins; there was one three-pointer and then an absolute outlier in 2014 when Tipperary crushed Galway by nine points at Semple Stadium. The average winning margin over the 11 games was 2.2 points; exclude the 2014 result and the average drops to 1.6 points per match.

Given such tightness, it’s amazing that there has never been a drawn championship game between the counties. The history of the rivalry goes back to the very first All-Ireland final played at Birr. The counties have met on 32 occasions, with Tipperary on 22 wins and Galway on 10. But never a draw. You’ll get odds of 12/1 on it happening this Saturday.

There is a more worrying statistic, however, when you look at recent games. When Galway defeated us two years ago, they completed a three in-a-row over Tipperary. It was a first in their history and we certainly won’t want that to extend to four in-a-row.

I guess one of the lessons from past meetings is that we’ve struggled to win in tight finishes. It’s a pattern that will embolden Galway, who see Tipperary as a side that they know how to beat.

For all that there is a genuine buzz around the Tipp camp at present, a sense that incremental improvements are happening. There’s a feelgood factor at play, mainly because of the younger cohort who are coming on board and showing real potential.

As for Galway, we’re unsure what to expect. Borrowing from the old phrase you could argue that they are something of a conundrum wrapped in an enigma. Their Leinster final summed it up: limp and lame for much of the game but then full of dash and daring for a spell near the end. Which version appears on Saturday will be central to the outcome.

In a sense they resemble Tipperary in terms of development. The post-Canning era has seen the county struggle. They still retain some of the older element and are trying to blend in the newer lads, but with mixed luck.

Cathal Mannion is their one star turn at the moment, so allocating a marker to him on Saturday will be important. Maybe it’s a task that would suit Robert Doyle or Michael Breen. Conor Whelan too has potential to be troublesome so he’ll likewise need watching. The match-ups, as ever, will be interesting.

When the sides met two years ago it was a case of bad beating worse, such was the poverty of the game. Tipperary are definitely in a healthier spot now. We’ve found our best shape through the round robin series, so there’s structure to the team that was absent in 2023.

Besides, the younger lads have added a new dynamic to the side. However, Saturday will be a major test of that progress. A defeat here would seriously undermine the team’s upward trajectory.

Past history suggests this could be another tight one but recent form offers hope of a Tipperary advance. I’ll go with the latter.

P.S. Thanks once more to SO’D for the extensive statistical background.