Great incentive for Tipperary minor footballers to beat Clare, says manager

Tipperary's minor footballers have the perfect motivation going into the Munster Championship phase one final against Clare on Tuesday, May 7. 

The counties, who emerged from the preliminary stage round robin, will compete for the right to join Cork and Kerry in another round robin.

The winners of the phase one final will also be presented with the Darrel Darcy Cup named after the Tipperary U-21 and senior footballer who was tragically killed in a car crash 11 years ago.     

Speaking after his team qualified for the final following Wednesday night's draw with Limerick, manager Matt O'Doherty said "the phase one final has been our goal since the start of the year. 

"The Darrel Darcy Cup is a Tipperary cup that's honouring a Tipperary man who played football, and the tragedy is not he's not with us any more. We want to honour Darrel and we want to honour the Tipperary cup, so for us getting there is the big thing. 

"But look it, we're under no illusions. Clare have been in the Munster Final for the last two years and they're probably a little bit ahead of us. But we'll give them a rattle and hopefully we'll give them a game".   

The Arravale Rovers clubman described this week's match with Limerick as "tense. 

"I said earlier in the week that every time we play Limerick we know we're going to get a huge, intense game. They're a very well-coached and well-drilled team, and there has never been anything other than a kick of the ball between us for the last few years. Realistically we knew it was going to be close and thank God we just came out on the right side of it.

"We went three points up early in the second half and we had a great chance for a goal a minute or two after that. Of course, when you don't take it, they came back and got the next point, then they got a free and got another point. Typical Limerick, they never gave up and just keep coming at you.

"Hopefully, a tough game like this will stand to us going forward, because we have a massive task facing Clare, who we know are probably ahead of the rest, they're up there with Cork and Kerry. It will be a huge battle but it's something we'll look forward to".

He said his team missed "two fantastic chances for goals in the first half. They were real one-on-ones, five yards out. But look, that's sport. If you put the ball in the back of the net you pull away, if you don't stitch those ones away the next minute you're fighting for survival with 10 minutes to go, so look, maybe it was a lesson learned for the players themselves".

He admitted he was concerned when his team went 17 minutes of the first half without a score. 

"When we had the wind you would think we would get that ball up the field, no bother. But that's a credit to Limerick, they closed us down at every opportunity, they had their homework done on us. They knew we like to keep it wide and keep it fast and they tried to shut down the spaces. They made it very hard for us.

"We worked very hard in the second half and that's what we're based on all year, that hard work ethic that we're trying to get into the lads.

"I thought we underperformed in the first half. We had a cut at the lads inside in the dressing room at half-time, we asked a few tough questions and to be fair to them I thought they answered them. They really showed a bit of character and a bit of passion in the second half".

For more Tipperary sport read St. Michael's soccer team win the Munster Champions Cup