The wrong sort of history created by Tipperary's back-up panel is worrying sign

The lid finally closed on an U21 hurling season that was dogged by Covid and controversy. Fittingly, Moycarkey Borris had the last word. Their narrow, if fully deserved win over Mullinahone at Golden on Saturday, completed a generational clean sweep of underage titles from U12 through U14, U16, minor and now U21.
It’s a success sequence that few others have matched and one that requires sustained development through those awkward teenage years. It also generates its own expectations, of course, with these lads now expected to step up to the plate at senior level.
Golden was a well populated venue on Saturday. Heading back towards Cashel afterwards and passing the lines of parked cars you realised how far some people had to walk. U21 has always been a popular grade and, I guess, on a pleasant January day there’s an understandable hankering to get out and about and see real live hurling again.
Few clubs have been as enterprising as Golden Kilfeacle in developing their facilities over the years. They now have a top-quality venue. I’m always reminded of the older generations that I knew, people like John Currivan, Morty O’Connell, Teddy Landers, Jimmy O’Donnell and a host of others who have long since shuffled off this mortal coil. They carried the flag in bleaker times.
The late sixties and seventies was the club’s most prominent period in senior hurling, winning west titles in ’69 and ’72. That group was involved in many a hardy battle. Good to see Con Cash defying the passage of time and still looking sprightly and talking hurling as passionately as ever. They lost one of their former colleagues recently with the passing of Liam Horan in Canada.
U21 is in the headlines at the moment, with a push by clubs and divisions to retain the grade. Ironically those same clubs had an opportunity to vote for U21 at the November meeting but instead opted for U19, which made no sense. U21 is essential in bridging that gap between teenage grades and senior adulthood.
Mind you, if I was building a case for the reinstatement of U21 I wouldn’t cite this game on Saturday as supporting evidence. It certainly wouldn’t rate on a list of the best U21 finals. It was dour and dogged, a real arm-grapple, but as a hurling contest it fell well short.
You need look no further than the main match statistics. The half-time score was eight points to four, the type of figures you’d expect in a poor football game. The second half brought no improvement. There wasn’t a hint of a goal threat at either end; the worst the goalies had to contend with were shots that dropped short.
There were bad misses from play and frees. The first touch was often poor, as was the striking. Between them the two teams scored just twenty five points and only eight of those came from play. It was a grim, defence-dominated, goal-less contest.
None of that will bother this generation of Moycarkey Borris players, who carved out a special niche for themselves as all-conquering underagers. They were hotly tipped in advance and duly delivered, albeit after a sterner test than they might have liked. Winning ugly, I suppose, is always preferable to losing pretty.
I’d give a lot of credit to Mullinahone for keeping this game tight and pushing the favourites to the edge. Moycarkey would have more aces in the pack and if it came to a free-flowing shootout there was only one way the margin would go.
Eoin Kelly was incredibly animated on the sideline and the players certainly couldn’t be faulted for the effort. Ultimately their dozen wides proved very costly against a more economic opposition.
The modern fad of sweepers was on show, with both Darren Flood and Conor Whelan excellent in their roles, patrolling between the two lines of defence. It was yet another factor that kept this game subdued.
I was reminded at the weekend of the late Jacksie Ryan of Upperchurch, who was wont to say in his playing days as he lined out the team, “me and so-and-so will be midfield and the rest of you spread out.”
The older generations wouldn’t have much grá for this new-age stuff of sweepers and corner backs venturing into attack, and fluid positioning generally.
Kyle Shelly’s free-taking in the second quarter was a key component in this win. He landed four (three frees and a ‘65) in that spell and it would prove crucial to the eventual outcome. Mikey O’Shea had less luck on the dead balls, hitting good and bad ones, and you sensed that the south side needed every break they could get in order to see this one out.
To their credit Mullinahone rallied stubbornly in the third quarter, two excellent points by Martin Kehoe and Eoin O’Dwyer, sandwiched between frees by O’Shea and Conor Whelan cut the margin to just two.
They made it a one-point game when Conor Whelan came up to take a free at the start of the final quarter, the switch of free-taker perhaps coming too late. Ultimately Moycarkey had a bit more to offer and scores from Jack Morrissey (sideline), Kyle Shelly (free) and Max Hackett was enough to see them through for a deserved win.
Completing the sequence from U12 to U21 will always stand apart as a special achievement. Goalie Rhys Shelly landed two of their points from long-range frees. He got superb cover from full back Peter Melbourne, one of the very best on show despite hobbling throughout with a heavily-strapped calf. Tom Ryan was solid in front of him, with Darren Flood offering added security as sweeper.
Stephen Walsh and Jack Fallon capably patrolled midfield, both getting on the scorecard, while in attack Max Hackett, Kyle Shelly and Jack Morrissey were the pick.
Mullinahone will be disappointed but they gave this one a decent rattle despite the adverse odds. Daire O’Brien was strong and effective at full back behind Conor Whelan, Carrick Davins, a player of real potential on the forty. Elsewhere Martin Kehoe showed up well and Mikey O’Shea was their main threat in attack.
Overall, it’s been a strong year for Mullinahone, with their seniors surprising many in the Dan Breen and these U21s showing the supply lines are working too.
Elsewhere Colm Bonnar’s county senior side, albeit another largely experimental one, got the better of Darragh Egan’s Wexford in a challenge match at Carrick-on-Suir on Sunday. I wasn’t there but reports speak of a decent second half, with some of the newcomers doing well.
It may be only an insignificant January season preliminary but, nonetheless, I’m sure the management will have welcomed the outcome after the embarrassment of losing to Kerry the previous week. We don’t expect to lose hurling matches to Kerry, no more than they’d expect to lose football to us.
That Munster Cup defeat certainly raised a few eyebrows, even if it was a hugely experimental team that travelled to the Kingdom. There were a few outright newcomers on board but the bulk of the side comprised panellists from past years. To have your back-up material create the wrong sort of history was worrying. Seeing an experimental Limerick summarily dismiss the same Kerry side last weekend only added to our unease.
In the bigger scheme of things, it’s not a game that will define Colm Bonnar’s term but still no manager wants to get off to such an inauspicious start. Perhaps it serves to underline what some of us have been saying for some time, namely, the supplementary material is poor and we can expect a tough road ahead.
Finally, congratulations are due to Ger Ryan as he starts his term as Munster Council chairman following last weekend’s convention. He becomes the ninth Tipperary man to hold a post that dates back to 1901, when Fethard’s Dick Cummins was the very first head of the newly-established council.
Most previous Tipperary occupants of the position served as county chairman first but Ger has taken a different route since his time as county PRO. He’s a man of “capernosity and function”, if I can quote that famous phrase by Brendan Behan in The Confirmation Suit.
Behan coined the phrase, which some suggest is a combination of capable and generous – it certainly fits Ger. Somehow, I suspect it may not be the end of Ger’s progress in the association. We wish him well.

Tipperary's Ger Ryan is new Munster Council Chairman

The Templederry man was elected at The Dome, Semple Stadium and told delegates the favours the Green Proposal for the proposed new football championship format