Poor record in Munster shows that club standards in Tipperary are lagging behind

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Clonmel Commercials’ exit from the Munster club championship on Sunday last completed another dreary year for Tipperary representatives in provincial campaigns. Across both codes and all grades, it’s another blank year for the county, the latest in an ever-lengthening sequence.

To their credit, Commercials have been one of our better representatives in Munster. They haven’t been able to replicate the heroics of their 2015 win over Nemo Rangers, but they have been competitive in Munster in recent times.

Last year they had another memorable victory over Nemo before bowing out disappointingly to Newcastle West. In 2019 they had the measure of St Joseph’s, Miltown Malbay before Nemo Rangers had their revenge in that final. This year they outscored Newcastle West before failing to Dingle on Sunday.

At least they’ve been winning games in Munster, which is more than can be said for our hurling reps. More about that anon.
Dingle just about had Commercials’ measure on Sunday after a tight, competitive game where there was never much between the sides. In fact, Clonmel led marginally at the break but the Kerry side had that bit more penetration in attack in the second period, which got them through.

Dylan Geaney emerged as the visitors’ star turn, landing five points from open play. It was a rich haul in such a tight, low-scoring affair. Commercials seemed to have more possession in the second half but turning it into scores proved problematic against a massed defence.

The Tipperary champions put in a decent shift and were luckless on a few occasions. Midway through the first half Peter McGarry found Sean O’Connor just to the right of goal but the corner forward’s shot took a deflection before coming back off the post.

Late in the second half Seanie O’Connor was out of luck again when his shot seemed to rebound off the angle of crossbar and post. A goal would have been a huge item in this game and as outsiders, Commercials needed a break or two if they were to progress.

With less possession, Dingle had more aces in attack, where Dylan Geaney may have been the hero but Paul Geaney, Matthew Flaherty and Conor Geaney also pitched in with braces of crucial points.

Jack Kennedy was the standout player for Commercials, turning over possession with a series of well-timed tackles, delivering pinpoint foot passes and even getting forward to kick a pair of points. Everything about him oozed class.

As a game it was entertaining enough, though as ever in the context of the modern method of crowded defences and endless lateral and back passing. For one phase of Commercials’ possession in the second half you had 29 players inside the Dingle 45. Joe Brolly, Pat Spillane and company are right: as a spectacle the game is dying and will continue on that path unless remedial action is taken.

Commercials’ defeat closes accounts for the year for Tipperary, with all grades drawing a blank in Munster. What’s new? The record of our club sides in provincial campaigns is cheerless. Clonmel Commercials do have the distinction of that 2015 triumph but otherwise it’s a barren landscape in football. No other club side has ever claimed a football title in senior, intermediate or junior grades.

The hurling scenario is only slightly better, which raises issues about the standard of fare on offer in this county. I was reminded on Sunday that in the last ten championship seasons (excluding the Covid year when competitions were cancelled) Tipperary senior hurling clubs won a mere three games.

Borris-Ileigh won two of those matches against Glen Rovers and Ballygunner on their way to provincial honours in 2019. Thurles Sarsfields won the third one, also with victory over Ballygunner in 2016, before losing to Ballyea of Clare.

It all adds up to a pretty miserly return for a hurling county like Tipperary. From twelve games through ten seasons our senior club representatives could only win three of those matches.

In fairness most of the Tipp representatives at senior hurling level have been competitive. If you exclude Kilruane and Clonoulty (who lost by 17 and 18 points respectively), the remaining Tipp sides lost by an average of just over three points. Like Kiladangan in recent weeks we’ve been competitive and close but just not getting over the line.

The scenario is equally bleak when you look at other hurling grades. We haven’t won a Munster intermediate title in the past ten seasons. Our only winners since the inception of the competition in 2003 were Kiladangan in 2024 and Silvermines in 2012. Cork, Clare and Limerick are all ahead of Tipperary in the roll of honour.

The junior hurling grade is just as abysmal. The competition began 22 ago in 2001 and our only Munster winners have been Moyle Rovers in 2007.

A reconfiguration of our grades would likely help at junior level if the present intermediates were rebranded as junior A, though the establishment of the premier intermediate grade hasn’t yet had the desired effect. Maybe in time it will.

What does all this say about our club scene in Tipperary? It’s unpalatable, but the stark reality is that our standards are below those of other counties. Our grading system has certainly produced competitive championships but the overall quality is questionable.

Meanwhile, an item of note this weekend is the launch of the Aherlow club history, a much-awaited chronical featuring an extraordinary story of rags to riches. They may have been latecomers but the club enjoyed incredible success over a period stretching from the 1980s into the 2010s.

Given the meagre resources of this half-parish, their achievements are quite remarkable. They were among the first batch of clubs to affiliate to the newly-formed organisation in 1885 but success was slim during the first century of the GAA’s existence. A pair of West Tipp junior football titles in the early 1950s was about the height of it, but what followed since has been exceptional.

Waves of juvenile talent eventually worked its way through to adult teams and a series of firsts punctuated the club’s progress.

The 1992 county Under 21 A football win, the “Effin” Eddie episode, was a huge moment. A minor A football win followed in 1994. The really big staging post then, of course, was the county intermediate football win of 1995, which sent them up to senior level. What followed was remarkable.

Initial disappointments were put down to experience before the club’s greatest day in 2006 brought a first county senior win, followed four years later by a second. These were halcyon days for the club.

In view of the discussion above it’s interesting to note how they tackled the Munster campaigns. With typical spirit, is the answer. In 2006 they defeated Fr Casey’s of Limerick before losing a semi-final replay to The Nire of Waterford. In 2010 they took the might of Colm “Gooch” Cooper and Dr Crokes to extra-time.

The winning ways spread to hurling, also taking a county junior A title in 2009 and a county intermediate in 2011. In the former year they took out Tourin of Waterford before losing narrowly to Richie McCarthy and Blackrock of Limerick in the Munster semi-final. The Limerick champs won out the All-Ireland.

As intermediate hurling champions they lost by a single point to Effin of Limerick, the eventual Munster winners.

It’s an extraordinary story of small resources achieving big. It’s been my pleasure to script the text, aided and abetted by the club’s finest researchers in Terence Coskeran, Lar Ivory and Noel Clifford.

I’m looking forward to the launch and hoping the narrative does justice to this unique club.