A positive start is very possible
MUNSTER SFC SEMI-FINAL Tipperary v Cork Sunday, June 12 Semple Stadium, 3.30pm
IN the lead-up to next Sunday’s Munster senior football semi-final clash between Cork and Tipperary next Sunday, it’s no surprise that their previous meeting at the same stage two years ago has been used as a means of spinning the notion that the game is a wide open affair.
It will be recalled that Cork were extremely fortunate to prevail at Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 2014, relying on a hat-trick of late points from substitute Aidan Walsh to come through by 0-16 to 1-11 and prevent Tipp from pulling off a major shock.
One would venture to suggest, however, that Cork aren’t going to experience similar difficulties in the championship rematch with the Premier County men, even allowing for the fact that the Rebels will be conceding home advantage this time.
For one thing, there will be massive changes in personnel on both teams, which is sufficient in itself to render any comparisons between what happened two years ago and what’s likely to happen next Sunday virtually meaningless.
It might appear churlish, and less than generous to Tipp, to suggest it was largely due to complacency that Cork almost came a cropper two years ago, but the reality is that the management at the time opted not to put out all of their big guns for the fixture, with such marquee players as Walsh, Colm O’Neill (both former All-Stars) and Eoin Cadogan occupying a seat on the bench at the throw-in.
True, Walsh had spent much of his time with the hurlers in the weeks preceding the game, Cadogan was nursing an injury, while a reluctance to push O’Neill back to championship action too quickly following a year long lay-off with a cruciate injury was cited as the reason for his omission.
All three were pressed into duty, however, once it became obvious that an upset might be on the cards. Walsh, having opted to give total commitment to the Cork hurlers the following year, is no longer part of the football setup, of course, but O’Neill and Cadogan remain key members of the team to face Tipp next Sunday.
And there is every possibility that less than a handful of Cork players who lined out against Tipp in 2014 will be selected on Cork’s first fifteen when rivalry is renewed between the sides.
Whether it’s a stronger Cork side is a moot point, but it will certainly comprise what the new management believe, currently at any rate, to be the best fifteen players available to them.
The general consensus is that Cork have a lot to prove in the championship ahead following their feeble capitulation to Kildare in an All-Ireland qualifier last year, and their topsy-turvy form in the recent National league, at the end of which they were forced to relinquish their Division 1A status, but they won three of their seven games in the league, and, level on points with Monaghan, Mayo and Donegal, they were a tad unlucky to be relegated on score difference.
They also delivered a highly creditable display against the
all-conquering Dubs in Croke Park , although they performed very poorly when going under to Donegal and, Kerry, while they really plunged to the depths when shipping an unmerciful hammering from Roscommon in Round 3 at Pairc Ui Rinn.
Still, the new management, headed by Peadar Healy, availed of the opportunity to assess all their options over the course of the league, and, notwithstanding the fact that the results were disappointing overall and some of the performances were simply inexcusable, they will probably feel the spring competition has served its purpose to a large extent on that account.
If Cork were far from happy with the way the league turned out, it certainly showed them up in a better light than Tipp, who finished in the bottom half of Division 3.
And Tipp’s championship form last year left quite a bit to be desired as well, as they succumbed tamely enough to Kerry in the Munster semi final, and were on the receiving end of a 12-point thrashing from Tyrone in the All-Ireland qualifiers.
All of which suggests that Tipp, despite achieving noteworthy under-age success in recent times, have still some way to go before they become serious contenders for a major trophy at the top level.
Their hopes of doing so have been diminished significantly by the departure from the squad of a number of their star under-age players, most notably Stephen O’Brien and Seamus Kennedy, who have thrown in their lot with the Tipp hurlers, and the richly talented Colin O’Brien, who is pursuing a career in Aussie Rules football.
Experienced attacker Barry Grogan has gone into premature retirement, and, all in all, it will be a much-changed Tipp side lining out on Sunday from that which came so tantalisingly close to upsetting the odds against Cork two years ago
To be precise, the Tipp team that registered an anticipated victory over lowly Waterford in the Munster quarter final a fortnight ago had just six survivors from the 2014 championship encounter with the Rebels on board.
So, it makes no sense whatsoever to peddle the line that developments in Pairc Uí Chaoimh two years provide some sort of a yardstick as to how things are likely to unfold in Semple Stadium on Sunday.
In light of their well-documented inconsistency, it would be tempting fate to assume that defeat for Cork is completely out of the question.
But if they are in the mood to put their best foot forward, as they did in the drawn Munster final and, to a lesser extent in the replay, against Kerry last year, it should be more than enough to ensure that Peadar Healy’s maiden voyage in championship management will get off to a positive start.
In light of their inconsistency it would be tempting fate to assume that defeat is out of the question