CHALLENGES MOUNTING FOR TIPP BOSS
IT’S not exactly a reason to declare a state of emergency, but Tipperary hurlers find themselves in a position that few – if indeed any – of their predecessors did as they prepare for Sunday’s clash with Cork in Páirc Uí Rinn.
One win from their last nine Allianz League and championship games is a dismal return, a scenario that nobody would have anticipated when they reached last year’s league final.
However, the defeat by Kilkenny unsettled them as they headed in to the newly-formatted Munster championship, where they lost two and drew two games before joining Waterford through the exit door.
Four games into this year’s league and now under new management, they have lost three of four games, with their only success coming against Clare on the opening weekend. Two weeks earlier, they lost to Clare in the Munster League final.
Assessment
“Our poorest performance to date,” was Liam Sheedy’s assessment after the one-point defeat by Kilkenny last Sunday.
“What do we do? We dust ourselves down and go again next week.
“After a great start in this league we’ve come up short in our last three games. That’s disappointing. There are still areas to work on.
“Some parts of our play (today), I was hugely impressed with but we’ve got to do it for longer periods if we’re going to be more competitive come championship time. We feel a small bit unlucky not to come away with something out of that game,” he added.
Adopting the familiar line, so beloved of all mangers when their sides lose, that sometimes more knowledge is gained in defeat than victory, Sheedy said that recent results would prove very informative in terms of planning future strategy.
“We could be sitting here on six points and thinking that we’re the be-all and end-all, but we’re not and we know we have a lot of work to do. Sitting on two points and propping the whole thing up (they are bottom of 1A) makes it very real for us.
“We’ve got to get back, got to get working. I’m still very happy with our overall situation. I still feel we’ve a lot to work on for the next 10 or 11 weeks and we’ll do that.”
His optimism may not be shared by Tipperary supporters who will have noted a worrying pattern, which has carried on from last season.
Tipperary’s inability to win games from favourable positions struck again last Sunday when, after leading Kilkenny by two points on the hour mark, they were out-scored by 0-5 to 0-2 from there on.
Even when they nudged ahead in stoppage time, they were unable to defend it, allowing Kilkenny to pick off two points in the final minute.
Two weeks earlier, they led Wexford by eight points in the third quarter, but ended up losing by a point.
In Round 2, they led Limerick by a point at half-time, but lost the second half by 0-13 to 0-5.
Twice in last year’s Munster championship, Tipperary were also caught on the home run, losing the last 15 minutes against Limerick by 1-5 to 0-1 and surrendering a four-point lead against Clare in the last 10 minutes to lose by two, a defeat which ended their All-Ireland ambitions.
Three successive defeats in recent weeks leaves Tipperary needing to beat Cork to have a chance of reaching the league quarter-finals.
And while Sheedy suggested last Sunday that it “wouldn’t be the end of the world” if they didn’t qualify for the knock-out stages, it would raise concerns about their overall well-being.
Questions marks still remain in a number of areas, including the fullback line and midfield.
And while the forward line still has high scoring potential, they haven’t quite gelled so far this year.
There was some surprise last week when the county board announced that former manager Eamon O’Shea would be joining the camp in a “support role” at the end of the league.
Nobody doubts the wisdom of bringing O’Shea, who worked under Sheedy in 2008-2010, aboard but it seemed odd that a formal announcement would be made at this stage of the season.
It was also stressed that O’Shea would not be a selector.
Secrecy has become the norm in camps these days, yet for some reason Tipperary decided to announce O’Shea’s return weeks before it’s due to happen.
Sheedy steered Tipperary to the league title in his first season as manager in 2008 and while it’s still possible that he could repeat it in his second coming, they have drifted out to seventh favourites at 10/1.