Michael Ryan’s new-look Tipperary aim to halt Kilkenny tide

The conversation probably won't arise on the Tipperary team bus but the cold fact of the matter is that tomorrow, Tipperary will play against a Kilkenny team seeking their third All-Ireland title in a row.

Without fanfare or warning, the Cats have returned to the “in-a-row” territory which has defined them for much of the past decade.

And where stand Tipperary in comparison? It takes two to tango and a neutral appraisal of the Tipperary senior team over the past half-decade must allow for the fact that they have represented the only consistent obstacle to an unbroken period of Kilkenny hegemony.

The finals of 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2014 stood complete as individual contests; taken together, they helped to redefine the most barbed of county rivalries and to erase some of the lingering bitterness carried over from the 1960s.

“One thing I will say about them – they are as humble as if had never won an All-Ireland,” Eoin Kelly told this newspaper shortly before he captained Tipperary in the 2010 final, recalling how he felt after meeting his adversaries in the players’ lounge following Kilkenny’s narrow, dramatic win the previous September. “And that is genuine. Anyone that says differently I think is wrong.”

We have forgotten that hurling seemed to be on the verge of a clean flip-over at that time. Tipperary were poised to take over from Kilkenny: all the surface trends suggested that the Cats, after six seasons of unparalleled dominance, were finally beginning to flag.

Tipperary, backed by All-Ireland U-21 successes and a plethora of gifted hurlers, were primed to step into the void. It didn’t quite pan out that way.

Reclaiming the shires

Galway made close bursts in 2012 and 2014. Clare happened in 2013. Kilkenny responded to that new fire by simply breathing a new, hotter fire. The shires were reclaimed. Figuring out Tipperary became the slipperiest task in hurling, both nationally and within the county.

In a recent conversation with Tipp FM, Shane McGrath, who announced his retirement late last year, admitted that he felt that the teams he played on “could have and should have” won more than that lone All-Ireland title in 2010. But in the same breath, he recalled how Ken McGrath had sent him a well-wishing text reminding him that at least he had got out of the game with one.

The conflicting emotions summed up the difficulty of assessing Tipperary since that 2010 victory. Did they blow it? Or should the retirees like Lar Corbett and Conor O'Mahony thank their stars that they got out by the skin of their teeth with something to show for it.

A week after that 2010 win, Tipp destroyed Galway in the U-21 final; two landmark wins in quick succession delivered an electrifying sense of wellbeing throughout the county.

That they didn’t quite reap long-term dividends left them hostages to fortune and open to the suspicion that the squad was being negligent with their talent.

In an interview with this newspaper last year, just before he started his final season in charge of the team, Eamon O’Shea gave what seems like the most reasonable summation of where Tipperary has stood in relation to Kilkenny.

“I won’t look at my team knowing the work they do and say that they have failed. We won’t have any baggage because of where we are. You do have to recognise the quality of the competition you are facing. I do think that Kilkenny are up in terms of world teams with the environment they have created. That is down to Brian and the structure they have. And Tipp: we have been there since 2008 and have been very, very close and you just keep going.”

Hawkeye decision

It can’t be argued that Tipperary teams have done anything less than that. In September of 2014, in the 72nd minute of a spellbinding All-Ireland final, all of Ireland believed that Tipp were All-Ireland champions as John “Bubbles” O’Dwyer’s long free travelled through the sky.

Hawk-Eye adjudged his shot wide: anytime over the previous century, it would have been scribbled down as a score.

And last year, it seemed as if Noel McGrath, just back from illness, had delivered his county back to another September – and another clash with black and amber – in a thrilling shootout against Galway.

But the maroon men were in one of those ornery moods that sometimes grip them, brilliant and contrary. They concocted a winning point. Tipp were out and within a month Kilkenny were All-Ireland champions for the 36th time. Again, slender margins had been reduced to Kilkenny’s year.

So tomorrow, Tipp have their first meeting of the year with the team against whom they are judged.

The 1-23 to 0-12 opening win against Dublin marked a smooth start to Michael Ryan’s period in charge.

The 1-5 posted by Jason Forde shone through a murky night. Forde has demonstrated his play-anywhere capacity with Silvermines but at senior level he is being developed in the stable of Tipp’s fearsome range of score-getters.

Conor Kenny, now in his third year on the squad, was another menace on the edge of a square and with Séamus Callanan still to come back, Tipp’s threat is clearly frontloaded. The half back line of Pádraic and Brendan Maher with James Barry at six has the energy and forward thrust of a coiled spring: whether the trio has the collective mindset for the fundamentals of minding the house remains to be seen.

With James Woodlock and McGrath retired, Tipp also have to think about a summer midfield partnership: with Kieran Bergin due to come back into the squad, it is one of the areas where the selection policy is likely to be fluid over the coming weeks.

Other issues hover over the squad as well. There is a sense that Tipp have never fully settled on a full back since Paul Curran vacated the panel. And with senior figures in O’Mahony, McGrath and Corbett gone, which players are going to assume leadership roles for the county?

If anything, the responsibility on Noel McGrath and Pádraic Maher has become greater. The Tipp management team has decided to limit their press activity to post-match comments for the time being and while the ease of last week's victory over Dublin was clearly welcomed by Michael Ryan, he was keen to emphasise the appetite within the squad for game time.

And that is the chief managerial trick of league hurling: ensuring that new players are exposed to elite hurling – while winning enough games to stay competitive. It was a point that McGrath touched on recently.

“It is the best prep you can have for the championship. There is no point in saying anything else. All the boys inside will agree with me; they want to get to a league final because it is the most competitive match you can get before playing a Munster championship match four or five weeks later.

“The way it is gone now is that every team is trying to peak two or three times – you are trying to peak for the league, again for the championship and then for knock-out championship. It is very tough on players, especially for newer lads coming in. If they are not peaking in league, they’re chance might be gone and it is a big pressure on them.

“But I suppose if they are good enough to be involved in the county set-up they should be good enough and should have their eye on performing well and putting themselves out there to be picked.”

Underwhelming start

Michael Ryan no doubt retains a strong memory of the minor waves of panic which spread through Tipperary two seasons ago following an underwhelming league start in which they lost three out of their opening four games.

Dublin were scheduled to visit Thurles for the fifth round game with fears that the city team could register a first win in Semple since 1946 and plunge Tipp into relegation.

The crisis was more of a reflection of the anxiety of the Tipp hurling public than it was to do with the team. It was over as soon as it began and was half forgotten by late April, when an altogether happier crowd showed up in Thurles for that year’s league final.

Kilkenny, of course, were waiting and won it through a bit of end-game sorcery by TJ Reid. But Tipp showed up, just as they would in September. They keep on going. Tomorrow in Nowlan Park will be a continuation of that.