LONG READ: Tipperary senior hurling panel is back on the treadmill

The GAA never sleeps. From spring through to winter, the ball keeps spinning. There is no closed season.
And so, our club championships continued right into Christmas week with the Under 21s, as ever, at the back end of the queue. Now the inter-county season kicks off this week with the Munster league bringing Waterford to Clonmel on Saturday. It’s unceasing.

Club action scrambled to a close on St Stephen’s Day. Those who attack the split season should take note. February’s Congress will address motions to move the All-Ireland hurling final forward one week and the football equivalent two weeks. Such proposals are modest but still need to be opposed. Any eroding of the club window is unwelcome.

Anyway, on Stephen’s Day Holycross and Ballycahill confirmed what we already knew: they are an upcoming force in club hurling. By swatting aside Borris-Ileigh, and in the process retaining their Under 21 county title, they underlined the rich potential in the club.

The game was a disappointment because it was so one-sided. Borris-Ileigh have won the last two north titles but they couldn’t live with Holycross. The gap was nine points at half-time and 18 by the end. It was a pasting.

There was a brief flurry from the north champions midway through the first half when they pared the lead back to just two points. However, it was as if they prodded the bear because Holycross reacted instantly with eight of the next nine points. It was effectively game over at half- time.

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The match needed a quick retort from Borris’ early in the second half but instead Tiernan Ryan hit the game’s only goal for Holycross. A steady flow of points ensued. The north champions were outscored 1-8 to 0-2 in the second period.

It was a polished performance from Holycross. As a team they moved to a beat that was way beyond their opponents. Borris-Ileigh looked to a few individuals like Paddy McCormack, Tom Delaney and Cathal Kennedy but they were helpless against the Holycross collective, which was slickness personified.

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This Holycross combination has developed through underage success and you can only admire the outcome. Their movement and combination are textbook for the modern game. Then they have the standout individuals from the likes of Evan Morris, Cathal O’Reilly and Tadhg Gould in defence to Tiernan Ryan around midfield and Robbie Ryan and Eoin Craddock in attack. The combined effect is powerful.

The next staging post in the evolution of Holycross hurling is the step-up to senior level. That will be more challenging than anything they’ve met thus far in the underage ranks. Against Loughmore in the 2025 county semi-final they got a taster of what to expect. Success at senior won’t be instant but they certainly appear to have the ingredients to make the leap. 1990 was the club’s last senior win.

In other news over the past few weeks, the County Convention revealed a spectacular turnaround in the County Board’s finances. You often expect an All-Ireland-winning year to cost more but in this case 2025 marked an eye-catching upswing in the Board’s finances, one that deserved more comment than it received.

The headline figure was a surplus on the balance sheet of €767,430 for the year, as opposed to a deficit of €126,312 for 2024. In fact, the Board had been recording significant looses for a number of years, which makes the 2025 turnabout all the more spectacular.

The reversal in fortune is based on a slashing of expenditure and increased income. On the expenditure side there were reductions under many headings. For example, the cost of player mileage dropped from €413,106 in 2024 to €373,850 in 2025, which is extraordinary given the successes of teams and therefore longer seasons in the latter year.

The expenses paid to team managers and selectors took an even more dramatic plunge from a figure of €289,061 in 2024 to €177,798 in 2025. An inevitable conclusion from all these figures is that there was a lot of wastage in previous years before a tightening was implemented this time.

When you look deeper into the figures for team costs some surprising anomalies appear. Under the heading team manager and selectors, the Under 20 football bill was €17,987, whereas the corresponding Under 20 hurling charge was just €6,341. Similarly at minor level the football manager and selectors cost €11,383, whereas the hurling figure was €7,875.

However, under the heading backroom team and personnel the hurling costs far outstripped the football. Here the senior hurling bill was €105,881, whereas the football cost was just €15,877. The difference at underage was similarly spectacular, with the Under 20 hurling backroom team costing €39,550 while the football equivalent was €8,905. I’m sure there are explanations for all these differences but I’m not aware of them.

Overall team costs from last year were almost €2.5 million, with the senior hurlers accounting for €1.3 million. The senior hurling team holiday to South Africa cost €373,300, while on the income side the Win-a-House fundraiser brought in €450,700. Losing the league final to Cork was painful but on the balance sheet it was profitable: we got €206,243 of league share against a mere €80,504 in 2024.

Interestingly, a figure of €312,765 was set aside as a Revenue settlement. This covers four years and is a provisional amount pending acceptance by Revenue.This is an issue that County Boards nationwide are having to grapple with and it’s one that’s due to be visited on clubs also. One suspects Revenue rather than Croke Park will be the ones to resolve the so-called under-the-table payments in the GAA.

There was a rare enough convention election, with Michael Quinn (Kiladangan) outvoting opponents to become the new PRO in place of Jonathan Cullen, who retired after a very successful five years in the job. Michael Quinn comes highly recommended by those most familiar with his work up north.

Meanwhile, a new year spins around and with it a new playing season kicks off. The glories of 2025 are parked and the focus switches to 2026 and what it might bring. Whatever unspools in the coming season, we head into it in buoyant mood.
By now the senior hurling panel is back on the treadmill preparing for what’s ahead. “Friendly” wins over Limerick and Kilkenny prior to Christmas were encouraging, with many new players being tried out. Events move on so standing still is never an option.

Liam Cahill and his management have obviously put a focus on developing players from the successful Under 20 side while also keeping an eye on others. The return of Brian Hogan to the group was one of the most interesting inclusions. There’s going to be a mighty battle for the number one spot.

Ultimately, you get little enough time to rest on your laurels after a successful year. Building on progress is always the new challenge.

An obvious quest for Tipperary is back-to-back titles for the first time since the mid-sixties. It won’t be an obsession for the players, who have to focus on each game as it comes, but it will be a background storyline.

We haven’t been good with follow-up seasons. For whatever reason the appetite is satiated with one win and we lapse into softer methods. Will this year be different? Let’s hope so.

Having so many young players emerging in 2025 is a major nod to the future but things often don’t pan out as you expect. There is a phenomenon called second season syndrome, where players struggle to follow up their breakthrough year.

Anyway, Waterford come to Clonmel Sportsfield on Saturday for a Munster league engagement. Lineouts will be interesting for a tie that has an attendance limit of 2,000. Tickets must be purchased in advance. The following week Tipperary play Kerry in Tralee. The season is off and running. No hibernation time for the GAA.