Tipperary geared up for a real test and a long summer

GAELIC GAMES NEWS:THERE ARE various theories as to how the Cork hurling strike of earlier this year will affect their performance in Sunday's Munster quarter-final in Thurles, but the way Tipperary are viewing it, it won't affect them at all.

The current Cork panel effectively missed the first half of the league as then manager Gerald McCarthy was restricted to his development squad, and it wasn’t until the Clare game on March 22nd, when most of the established Cork players returned under interim manager John Considine, that natural order was restored.

A fortnight later newly-appointed manager Denis Walsh endured a baptism of fire when Kilkenny hammered them in Nowlan Park, although by then it was already about the looming championship date with Tipperary. So the true potential of Cork this year will be revealed sometime after 4pm on Sunday, and for Tipperary midfielder Shane McGrath, that will be the potential of old.

“That Cork team is every bit as prepared as any county team going into the championship this year,” says McGrath. “We realise that. They’ve played two very competitive challenge matches lately, put up huge scores. They’re the closest thing to a professional GAA team that there’s ever been in the GAA.

“Everyone knows who their leaders are as well, because they seem to have this thing now where everyone on the panel is the leader now. It’s going to be a right good battle, but we’re really looking forward to it. We’ll give it a right good rattle. The weather is picking up and the grass is looking good in Thurles.

“You’d be nervous though, because you’d be nervous about playing Cork any time. Cork have the tradition, they have the experience. A lot of these boys have won All-Irelands. A lot of us haven’t. They know what it takes to win the big games so we have it all to do to get a result against these guys.”

Tipperary have one definite advantage: a highly encouraging show against Kilkenny in the National Hurling League final earlier this month. McGrath admits that was a performance they badly needed, but of course will count for little when the ball is thrown in on Sunday, and even less if they lose.

“It was a tough game, gave us a taste of what the championship will be like. They’d beaten us heavily a few weeks before, and in any sport, a defeat like that, against a team you want to be competing against, will always hurt. So we’d a big point to prove to ourselves, and to a lot of people at home, that we weren’t that bad.

“As it turned out we couldn’t last it for what turned out to be an hour and a half of hurling, Kilkenny just had that extra bit of experience, but we learnt from that, that we need to get a bit more physical.”

Win or lose on Sunday, it’s the first step in what McGrath hopes will be a long summer for Tipperary, as they look to bridge that final breach of last year. They’ll be a slightly new look to them on Sunday, and McGrath for one is likely to have a new midfield partner against Cork, with Tom Stapleton among several players expected to make his championship debut.

Manager Liam Sheedy will announce his team after training tomorrow evening, but Paddy Stapleton and Pádraic Maher are also set to make first championship starts in defence, while Noel McGrath will continue his rapid rise from the minor ranks to get a starting place in the attack.

Eoin Kelly has returned to match fitness after a chronic back injury, but is unlikely to start as Micheál Webster is likely to get his chance at full forward. Wing back Shane Maher is ruled out with a hamstring strain.

CORK(v Tipperary, senior Munster hurling championship first round): D Óg Cusack, S O'Neill, E Cadogan, C O'Sullivan, J Gardiner, R Curran, S Óg Ó hAilpín, T Kenny, J O'Connor, B O'Connor, N McCarthy, T McCarthy, K Murphy (Sars), A Ó hAilpín, P Horgan.