Defence will have to tighten up but title is there for Premier

TIPPERARY survived the Clare challenge on Saturday but they’re limping into the AllIreland semi-finals. The McGrath brothers were in great form and while I gave John (below) the man-of-thematch award in match commentary, in hindsight I should have given it to Noel. His link-play was superb, while Seamus Callanan and John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer chipped in with valuable points from play. Bonner Maher is slowly but surely returning to being the key man that he is. He over-carried the ball a few times, when he could have flicked over a few points, but Tipp will be happy with their forward output. The problem for Tipperary is that they don’t appear to be comfortable at all in defence. Pádraic and Ronan Maher did have good games but behind them, Tomás Hamill was under pressure at times and James Barry was consistently under the cosh. I’m surprised with Barry’s form but he’s being used at corner back, when he had settled in so well at full-back. Donagh Maher emerged with real credit and stuck to his task on Conor McGrath but we’ve seen Tipp’s 2016 fullback line dismantled, and there’s also been a goalkeeping change. So much of the good play you’d associate with an inside line and goalkeeper is based on trust, experience and consistently playing with each other. But they’re in real turmoil back there and surely there’s still a role for Michael Cahill? The elephant in the room is Cathal Barrett and his continued exclusion and Tipp won’t win the All-Ireland if that rearguard continues to perform as it is. And yet I still fancy them. It’s just a hunch and they’ll still prove hard to beat. They’ve got here the hard way without playing brilliantly — and there’s still loads of room for improvement.