Tipperary hope to salvage some pride against Limerick
Season has ended already for the Premier County
The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Tipperary hurling strikes again. Another championship collapse ends our season in mid-May. By now it’s part of a pattern – and deeply frustrating.
From brilliant to brutal, this team seems to swing through extremes with no middle ground. When we fall, we fall heavily; when we win, we win spectacularly.
The latest iteration of the pattern offered painful viewing last Saturday. The first quarter didn’t offer much warning. When Willie Connors executed a great interception before pointing after 16 minutes, we actually led five-four. It was a false dawn, however.
Enter Diarmuid Stritch. One of the Banner’s young guns announced his presence with three points on the trot. Tipperary went fifteen minutes without a flag while Clare rattled off seven on the spin. The day’s fate was announced.
Suddenly, Tipperary were struggling against the wind. We were finding no traction in attack. Energy levels were low. Clare were steps ahead all over, getting to the play quicker and in numbers, anticipating breaks better, executing endless turnovers – 1-15 from turnovers by game’s end. Thankfully, they blew nine first half wides but still led by eight at one stage. Then a pair of Darragh McCarthy frees chipped off two before the interval.
By then Willie Connors was on a yellow card for a frontal tackle on Mark Rodgers. If the colour was red, we could have no quibble. Earlier a high tackle by Sean Rynne on Robert Doyle escaped a card of any colour. Inexplicable. Eventually, the Clare man did get a yellow for high and dangerous hurley contact with Andrew Ormond. By then it should have been red but, perhaps, for some that’s being over-critical of the official.
Our half time musings were laced with worry. This was similar to the slack form shown against Cork, so a sharp improvement was required on resumption. A few rapid scores with wind backing could reset the terms of engagement.
Alas, the critical score came at the Killinan End. Midfield possession was lost as Ryan Taylor brushed aside Bryan O’Mara before lobbing one goalwards. With two-on-two under the drop, the break fell Ian Galvin’s way and his overhead bat beat Shelly for the game’s only major.
A tough challenge suddenly became much tougher. Clare were now nine-up and it was a gap that would never close. Tipperary’s effort was simply too weak to work a purple patch. Instead, the game continued on its one-way trajectory.
Our best chance of a reviving score came after 40 minutes. Oisín O’Donoghue attacked from the right corner and when closed off sent a pass across goal, where John McGrath first-timed. The shot hit the goalie and the chance was gone. When your luck is out it’s really out.
Soon afterwards Willie Connors collected his second yellow for an interaction with David Reidy. Silly. This was his second red card in three months. Thereafter, the game fizzled out. It was a small mercy that the margin was only 11 points at the end.
A depressing day then for Tipperary, one where there were few credits flowing the direction of the home side. Robert Doyle was one exception, showing a return to the dashing form that earned him an All-Star award last year. Ronan Maher too was strong and Bryan O’Mara put in a decent shift. Thereafter, Jake Morris hit 0-4 in attack and otherwise there was little to praise.
Rationalising such a slump after last year is hard to fathom. In 2025 so many disparate parts came together to form an impressive whole. Perhaps it was too much to expect all those aspects to click again, though the extent of the failure is hard to take.
For some of the newer players there was certainly an element of second year syndrome. 2025 was a breakthrough season for players like Darragh McCarthy, Sam O’Farrell and Andrew Ormond and this time they could never recreate the same impact. On top of that the older cohort, including the likes of Michael Breen, John McGrath and Jason Forde, also struggled to replicate ’25. The cumulative effect was huge.
Liam Cahill too has rightly pointed out that a sub-standard league run leaves you struggling to get to the pace of things in the championship. The proximity of the two competitions leaves little scope for reset.
Still, there remains an incomprehensible aspect to Tipperary’s 2026 demise. With three weeks to prepare for this game and so much at stake, it’s difficult to understand how the team could be so flat.
We’ll have plenty of time to digest it all after Sunday’s final round in the Gaelic Grounds. This is a match we don’t want but have to endure. Perhaps with all pressure around qualification removed, it’s an opportunity to salvage some pride, if nothing else. Let’s see it as the start of 2027.
Thank God for the minors! In a week when the seniors and Under 20s bowed out, the Under 17s saved the day with a rousing victory over Limerick in the Munster decider on Friday. Forward power and stout defending were the keys to a win that felt much tighter than the end margin of seven.
It was Tipperary’s 43rd Munster win in the grade, which puts the county eight ahead of second-placed Cork. It also sends the team directly to an All-Ireland semi-final.
The teenagers needed all their class and cohesion to see off a stubborn Limerick challenge. There was a lucky early break for Tipperary when the Limerick goalie was unfortunate to drop a Conall Morrisson lob over his line. That gave the home side the early initiative but a hard-tackling Limerick side stormed back into the contest to eventually go two-up.
In the swings and roundabouts Tipperary showed composure to come again before half time. Chris Dunne had a great goal chance but he was half-hooked and the shot was saved. No matter, within a minute Tipperary again laid siege to the visitor’s goalmouth before KJ Dunne slipped one home. We led by two at the break, with wind backing to follow in the second half.
It remained a tight, point-for-point contest throughout the second period. A few incidents were critical in deciding the outcome. On 39 minutes Limerick had the ball in Tipperary’s net but the score was ruled out for a square ball. Playback showed the officials got it right but such infringements are often missed.
Then on 46 minutes there was another critical incident, with Tipp leading by three points. Limerick orchestrated a great goal chance for substitute John Ross O’Reilly, but Eoin Connolly advanced and bravely stood in the gap to deny the chance with an excellent save.
At the end the encore was Tipperary’s with man of the match, Conall Morrisson, careering in for a cracking goal. Seven-up flattered the winners but there was no denying the quality of the Tipperary effort against an opponent not far behind them.
Conall Morrisson was the standout, as he has been all season. Close by was the excellent Conor Collins at corner back. They offered the individual highlights in an overall smashing team effort.
Team captain, Conor Collins, was following in the footsteps of fellow clubman, David Morrissey, who captained Tipperary to a Munster minor win over Cork in 2003. Sadly, Galway had the edge in the All-Ireland semi-final. Hopefully young Collins will have better luck.
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Finally, there was no luck for the Under 20s in their thrilling Munster decider against Clare midweek. Penalties are a cruel – and surely unnecessary – way to finish a hurling contest but that was Tipperary’s fate on this occasion, just as it was Clare’s in the 2022 minor final.
At least it took incredible saves by Mark Sheedy in the Banner goal to decide the outcome. You won’t see better than that final acrobatic stop from a superbly-struck shot by Stefan Tobin. Perhaps there’s some consolation at least in that.
There’s little consolation, however, in the Tipp wastage on the night with 18 wides – 13 in the first half alone. By the end of the initial hour, we had 38 shots on goal against 25 for Clare; yet the teams were level.
It was a brave effort on the night but over the span of the campaign there was much annoyance about the side’s tactical approach. The level of short passing and carrying the ball into contact was, at times, senseless.
With Brendan Cummins’s term as manager now completed there’s a major decision to be made over the coming months.