'Any sort of injury a player can pick up in these games could be a big issue,' says former All-Ireland winner

As far as championship clashes go, there won’t be too many games in recent memory where there are so many sideshows and off-the -field interest to almost usurp the on-field action as the clash of Tipperary and Waterford will provide.

Colm Bonner is in his first year as Cashel man and has lived in Waterford for a number of years, and was perhaps the second choice appointment to take the Tipperary job behind the current Waterford manager Liam Cahill, who decided to stay loyal to the Deise for another year.

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The game was played at Semple Stadium

The add to that there is also the interesting symmetry of Mikey Bevans and Tommy Dunne facing off in opposing coaching roles for Tipperary and Waterford. The Toomevara duo are in quite a unique situation once again as they go head-to-head on Sunday, and former teammate Paddy O’Brien isn’t in the least bit surprised of their success in the game.

“It is a very unusual thing yeah, but I’m not surprised in the slightest,” O’Brien said.

“Especially in the case of Mikey. We obviously have a good tradition in the club of producing hurlers and coaches over recent years and it’s no surprise to see the lads excelling at this level.”

Dunne and Bevans hurled alongside O’Brien at club level for many years and the pair have a playing and coaching CV that would be the envy of most around Ireland, and in the case of Bevans, O’Brien says that the Waterford playing style and workrate is indicative of their coach.

“He (Bevans) was an incredibly honest player when he hurled and he worked very hard for the team at all times. He had great creativity and a great engine on him and he always put in 100 percent. Whether that was in a match or in training, it was all the same. He was demanding of himself in all the teams we played on.

“I played under Mikey when he captained us a few times, and while he was demanding, he never had to really tell us what needed to be done because we knew what we needed to do as a group at that time. But he led by example in the way he applied himself and you can certainly see that philosophy in the Waterford players at the moment.

“He has no ego whatsoever, he just loves hurling and coaching and the players will definitely see that and feed off it. You can see they seem to be enjoying the way they’re hurling and Mikey is a big part of that,” O’Brien added.

The decision of Bevans and Liam Cahill to continue with Waterford proved to be a big surprise to many, including the Waterford camp who seemed resigned to the departure of the Tipperary duo. But, looking back on it, O’Brien feels it was the right decision for the pair.

“At the time I was slightly surprised but with the benefit of hindsight I’m not. They’ve obviously saw something in the players there and realised that there is more to be gotten out of the group yet.

“As we know, going into any county setup and starting from scratch, it takes around three years to really put your stamp and philosophy on a team. They’re in their third year now and are really hitting their peak and the lads obviously felt there was unfinished business there.”

In terms of Tipperary, it was a big part of Colm Bonner’s plan to retain the services of Tommy Dunne as team coach for 2022, and O’Brien believes that his clubmate will be relishing the opportunity to put his own unique stamp on the team, as he would have had diluted influence in recent years under Liam Sheedy.

“Tommy will be looking to put his own stamp on the team for sure,” O’Brien remarked.

“In the time I was involved in the setup, Tommy had been inside for a number of years and he only really was the number one coach under Declan Ryan back in 2012.

“He had more of a supporting role to Eamon O’Shea and Darragh Egan in Liam Sheedy’s setup. He will be putting a lot of pressure on himself to get things right and get the lads hurling the right way, but he is more than capable of getting a tune from the players.”

O’Brien has intimate knowledge of a lot of players in the squad at the moment, having served a lengthy stint as team physio for the Tipperary senior team for eight seasons up to last year. And, the reinstatement of the round robin series will put a serious strain on panel depth, in the opinion of the All-Ireland winner.

“From a conditioning point of view it can be tricky to manage the short turnaround in games. Any sort of injury a player can pick up in these games could be a big issue. You’re looking at a grade 1 muscle strain, which would only be a slight injury usually, possibly ending a lads season if you don’t get out of Munster.

“So it’s very important to try and manage the players. You’re looking at managing the things you can control like diet, sleep and general recovery between the games and you’d certainly need the full panel chipping in over the course of the games.

“Obviously, there are things you can’t account for like impact injuries, which are a big part of the game now, but you’d hope that those injuries are avoided as much as possible with a bit of luck.

“In terms of training you’ll have been looking to keep the mileage down on a lot of the older lads in terms of minutes, but the subs and extended panel will still have needed to get the clocks ticking over on the GPS to keep that match fitness in place if they’re required over the course of the championship,” he finished.

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