Ryan issues silent cry for help as Tipp gamble fails to pay off

THE team Michael Ryan picked for Tipperary’s game against Limerick seemed not so much a selection as a cry for help. A new goalkeeper, a new full-back, an entirely new midfield pairing made up of two championship newcomers, five players starting a first championship match, no Brendan Maher, no Michael Breen, no Seamus Callinan.

It all appeared to indicate not just worry about the league final performance against Kilkenny, but something close to outright despair.

The manager won’t be feeling any better this morning. Tipperary were terrible against Limerick as Ryan’s selection failed completely.

As failed gambles go it was up there with the time God decided to play the Devil at poker for the soul of a Spanish railwayman.

It could be argued in the manager’s defence that when he did introduce Maher, Callinan and Breen, things got even worse for Tipp. But the die had been cast at that stage and Limerick handed their opportunity.

Tipperary are living through their own version of Groundhog Day, but without the laughs.

Last year the All-Ireland champions breezed into the league final amid much confident talk about Ryan’s ability to prevent the kind of second season slumps which had left Tipperary without a two-in-a-row since 1965.

Cue a league final trouncing by

Galway, followed by a shock loss to a young, enthusiastic and unfancied Cork.

This year saw some more breezing and confident talk.

Cue a league final trouncing by Kilkenny followed by a shock loss to a young, enthusiastic and unfancied Limerick.

Tipp managed to recover somewhat from last year’s double whammy. A single-point defeat by a terrific Galway team in a classic AllIreland semi-final was no disgrace.

On the other hand, they were much worse in Limerick yesterday than they were in Cork last year.

Tougher, quicker and more intelligent, the home team would not have been flattered by a doubledigit winning margin. Only a couple of goals and some awful home shooting kept the favourites in the game for much longer than they deserved.

You kept waiting for a Tipp push that never came. In recent years few major teams have so often wilted in big matches.

They’ve done it in successive league finals, against Kilkenny in a notorious All-Ireland semifinal, against Cork on a couple of occasions in Munster.

It’s odd considering the Premier’s self-image as the home of hard men descended from John Doyle and his Hell’s Kitchen comrades.

There was a spell of play in the 19th minute which looked at the time as though it might be significant.

Limerick hounded Tipperary, producing two great blockdowns