Tipperary hurlers will travel to Waterford in search of redemption

The gradual decline in the level of performances by the Tipperary hurlers since they beat Galway in the National Hurling League, way back on February 11, has continued.

Since that game in Thurles they were unconvincing when beating Westmeath and Antrim in the group stages of the league, where they also lost to Limerick.

They were well beaten by Clare in the league semi-final and their stock plummeted further last Sunday when, in their opening game of the Munster Senior Hurling Championship, their challenge was easily dismissed by All-Ireland champions Limerick at the TUS Gaelic Grounds, when they lost by 2-27 to 0-18.

It may have been unrealistic to have expected too much of a transformation in their performance in the five weeks that followed that eight-points defeat by Clare.

However, their supporters, including those who were vastly outnumbered by their Limerick counterparts in the attendance of 33,475 at the Ennis Road venue, would have expected something better than the insipid display they witnessed, one that ended in a 15-points trouncing. To sum up the poverty of the performance, just half of their 18 points came from play.

In time, the benefits of the recent five-day training camp in Portugal may become apparent, but on Sunday they were nowhere to be seen.

Manager Liam Cahill delivered a damning indictment of the performance by saying that his team had been “hurling in hope” and performed at “half throttle”.

It was a painful watch for Tipp followers everywhere, the sense of disappointment exacerbated by the fact that Limerick, by contrast, didn’t even seem to be motoring at full throttle, with a display that suggested that they have a few more gears in them yet.

In a low key, drab encounter that never reached any great heights of quality, there were five points between the teams at half-time, with Limerick leading by 0-12 to 0-7.

The first goal chance of the game fell to Sean Hayes in the 22nd minute but Limerick ‘keeper Nickie Quaid was equal to his effort, the opportunity having been created by a great steal by Eoghan Connolly and Alan Tynan’s pass.

Two points in the space of a minute in the 43rd minute from substitutes ‘Bonner’ Maher and Noel McGrath meant there were just four points in it. Realistically, however, Tipp were only hanging on and when Aaron Gillane sent a bullet of a shot to the net a minute later, Limerick were set fair for an easy win.

The unfortunate broken ankle that Peter Casey suffered in an accidental collision with Tipp captain Ronan Maher when scoring his team’s second goal sucked out what life remained in the game for the closing 20 minutes, including added time.

What next for Tipperary? There’s a very real danger that the ignominy of two years ago, when they lost all four games in the group stages of the provincial championship, could be repeated.

Emerging from the round robin will be a tall order, one that Liam Cahill recognises by suggesting that his team will be underdogs in their three remaining matches, starting at 6pm this Saturday evening against Waterford.

The Tipp boss said there would be changes in the line-up for the game in Walsh Park, which will be shown live on GAAGO.

“It’s a game where we just have to throw off the shackles and have a good think about our personnel for the week and there’ll have to be consequences after today. Some players, it just didn’t run for them and they’ll have to make way for the next fellow to give him a chance.

“I know there was a lot of talk during the week about Tipp not having a settled team. That doesn’t really concern me, we felt we had a very settled team coming in today with the way we train.

“We loaded up our team as best we could to tackle Limerick in the areas where we knew they would give us concern, and to put legs and speed into our team, and that’s what we’ll try and do again now for six days’ time”.

When asked if any of the injured players would return, he said “I’m hoping they will. Conor Stakelum and Barry Heffernan are injured”.

When it was put to him that Cathal Barrett had played for his club Holycross/Ballycahill last Saturday night in the county league, he replied “I told these guys who were injured to go and play for their clubs and get a bit of game time into them.

“We’ll have to go with whoever is available and pick our best 15, judged from today as well, and just hope that we have the combination right for a really difficult match against Waterford”.