We have a chance if we perform says Tipp football Boss David Power

Tipperary senior football Manager David Power says that the biggest challenge facing his squad for the coming week, months and years, is to gain a level of consistency in performance which marks the side out as being a top tier one.

Speaking ahead of the All-Ireland semi-final clash with Mayo in Croke Park on Sunday – Tipperary's second penultimate day showing in five years – the Kilsheelan Kilcash man said that Tipp are capable of producing the kind of performances which landed a first provincial crown in 85 years, but also of producing a performance which would not defeat a division four side.
“Consistency has to be the thing for us and that comes down to having a steady panel and a core group which manages to keep that panel together. That's what we are trying to achieve and we know that it will not happen overnight,” he said admitting that the yo-yoing of Tipperary through the league divisions can be very frustrating.

Of course Tipperary had been sunning themselves under the warm glow of the spotlight cast upon them as Munster champions. But, David and his management team were not long about casting them back into the championship shadow and while he admits that neither Croke Park nor Mayo will hold any fear for the Tipp lads ahead of the big game, they still face an enormous challenge when they take to the field.

“There have been little things which went in Mayo's favour in the last two championship games against us and I think we can grow into this game in Croke Park. The surface there is quite similar to Pairc Ui Chaoimh and the lads loved that so this will not be an issue for us. Tactically, we got it right against Cork and we also got the match-up's right as well. If we do not do the same against Mayo we will be in trouble so we are working hard on that at the moment,” said David who added that taking chances when they present will also be a key – Tipp had a 73% conversion rate in the Munster Final which is division 1 standard shooting, especially for November action.

Admitting to having been overwhelmed by the reaction to the Munster success, David is very grateful for the thousands of messages of good wishes, but said that the story had to be parked last week and preparations for the semi-final commenced. The football family in the county is a relatively small grouping and for them to witness the victory was indeed special. But, they too understand the necessity of the players coming out of the bubble and getting back to the core business of playing football and readying themselves for the championship fray.

“I have been impressing upon the players that we must go up a level in terms of our performance and I am confident that we can do that. There are more gears left is us and our performance in the Munster Final was not perfect by any means, so we have plenty to work on. I suppose what has impressed mos people who made contact with me, is that we won the game playing with real style and that's what we set out to do and will continue to do. Whether that will be good enough to go further we will see. Like Mayo still have great experience and a lot of great players. They have hit the ground running and to be fair about it, they would have a lot more experience of the big day in comparison to Cork. They have also brought in a few young lads into the team who have added to their side and the mix is good for Mayo right now.

Tipp revert to the blue and gold jersey on Sunday and have regarded the Munster Final now as “just a stepping stone.” They hope to have Rian Quigley and Jack Kennedy back available after injury and Colin O'Riordan has once again been cleared by Sydney Swans to play, thereby further bolstering the squad – many of those squad members of whom were with David when they won the All-Ireland minor title back in 2011 – a victory he says is on par with the provincial senior success.

“Right now I am not happy with what we have. I want to drive on and the same as I was going into the Cork game, I feel that if we get a performance against Mayo, we have a great chance again.”