Tipperary hoping for first league win of season in Wexford

Tipperary footballers return to Allianz National Football League action on Sunday next with a difficult away trip to Wexford, with both sides in desperate need of recording a first win at their third attempt of this league campaign.
Following their opening day draw against Waterford in Fraher Field, Dungarvan, Tipp disappointed on Sunday week last at home to Leitrim in FBD Semple Stadium, going down by eight points.
It has been a backs-to-the-wall struggle for Tipp with absentees and injuries since the league commenced and next Sunday’s game is a do-or-die encounter for David Power’s side, as anything but a win will end their already remote prospects of a quick return to Division 3 for 2023.
Those who follow Tipperary football are well aware of the issues the team management is trying to come to terms with at present. Huge efforts are going on behind the scenes to steady the ship of a team that is caught between a rock and a hard place; the county having lost a wealth of experienced players too quickly on one hand, and on the other hand the end of what David Power referred to after the Leitrim game as the “golden generation” of exceptional underage talent feeding through to senior.
As the Tipp manager stated after that Leitrim defeat “we are where we are because of what we have” and patience and space are needed to give the “young fellows” time to find their feet at senior inter-county level.
There were periods during the two games against Waterford and Leitrim when Tipperary did well, but the killing thing, especially the last day in Thurles, was the number of unforced errors by Tipperary players in possession, and the number of times turnovers occurred, passing possession to the opposition. No doubt that has been a focus of training sessions and a challenge game against Longford since then.
Having used 32 players over the two McGrath Cup games and 22 players so far in the two National League games, no one can say that the management is not giving players their chance.
Tipperary will be hoping for some positive news on injuries, with indications that Clonmel Commercials’ Jack Kennedy should be back for the trip to Wexford Park. Colman Kennedy, having been selected for the Leitrim game was forced to cry off, while Killenaule’s Jimmy Feehan sat out both the opening two games. According to David Power, Steven O’Brien is further down the road in terms of recovery, the manager indicating that he might be back for the Cavan game in Breffni Park in a few weeks time.

'A good group of lads who are training very hard but it's just not happening for us'

A vast improvement will be needed, though, as Tipp will be coming up against a Wexford side in a worse situation than themselves, having lost both of their opening games.
They began their campaign at home to Sligo, losing out by 0-12 to 0-10 and then lost away to Cavan by 0-17 to 1-8. Those results in themselves indicate that they are not too far off the pace, as both Cavan and Sligo are looking the most likely to collect the promotion spots at this early stage of the seven-game programme.
Their defence hasn’t been breached with a goal in either game and Tipperary forwards will have their work cut out here. In the two games thus far, Conor Sweeney has accounted for 2-13 of the 2-18 total and that over dependence on the Ballyporeen man is unsustainable and high risk should anything happen to the 2020 All-Star.

TIPP V WEXFORD 2015
There is a little twist in the tail with regards to Sunday’s meeting between Tipperary and Wexford.
The last time the sides met in the National Football League, the game took place in Clonmel on April 5, 2015 when both were in Division 3.
Wexford, on that occasion, were managed by current Tipperary boss David Power, who was in the first year of a two-year stint with the Model County. Wexford had already been relegated by the time they arrived in Clonmel for the ultimate game of the campaign to face a Tipperary side under Peter Creedon’s management.
Tipp themselves had nothing to play for, in so far as promotion was out of their reach at that point.
Wexford trailed by 2-8 to 0-6 at half-time but the Kilsheelan Kilcash clubman helped to turn it all around for the Purple and Gold after the interval and stunned the Clonmel attendance with a second half comeback to win by three points, 2-15 to 2-12.
Seven years on, that game has little to do with Sunday’s clash, the only survivors from the Tipp 2015 team on the day being Conor Sweeney and Robbie Kiely.
Hopefully for Sunday Tipp can get a few of those injured players back on the field, drastically reduce the surrending of ball needlessly to the opposition, inject some pace into the transition from defence to attack and get a few more forwards working the scoreboard over the 70 minutes.
A win is also needed to instil confidence into this young side, settle the new players trying to establish themselves, and set them up well for a pop at Sligo in Thurles on Saturday week.