Ryan’s Tipp need to take a leaf from Davy’s book

THERE has been much to admire about the approach that Davy Fitzgerald and his Wexford team have brought to this season’s Allianz League. Along with Clare and Limerick, they are the only three teams right now you can say, with any confidence, are showing their full hand — and they are yielding the rewards for it too. They face Tipperary tonight in Thurles and I really wish I could say that I have a handle on what Michael Ryan’s team are about. Hand on heart, I haven’t a notion. After last year, I would have thought that they would have come bursting out of the traps, especially after they paid a dear price for the reckless and feckless attitude they showed at the business end of the League campaign last year. You would have thought that the penny would have dropped by now, that Ryan would have copped on that form is not a tap that can be switched on and off at will. He only has to look at tonight’s opponents to see the value in consistency. After winning promotion and reaching a Leinster final, Fitzgerald’s (above) instinct this spring is telling him the only way forward is to keep pushing hard. Momentum is such a precious and fragile thing that once you lose it, there is no recapturing it. That attitude will serve Wexford well come the summer because their confidence will be high and they will believe that they can go even further than last year. But where is Tipp’s momentum? Do they really believe that it is locked away with those warm memories of winning the 2016 All-Ireland final? They need to start creating some new memories. They need to start showing the urgency to go with their undoubted talent if they want to deliver on the lessons of last year. Make no mistake; they are the team under pressure to win tonight.