Ryan’s bold selection is a welcome treat for all

Limerick look like they’ll go for broke against Tipperary today

IT has been an underwhelming Championship so far. Tipperary-Cork was a damp squib. Clare didn’t turn up against Waterford. Kilkenny had the Leinster semi-final wrapped up against Dublin not long after halftime.

So the hurling summer is limping along.

I’m hoping Tipperary-Limerick can change all that because we really could do with it.

We’ve seen it as well in the football Championship with some big hidings even up in Ulster which prides itself on its competitiveness. I heard former Wexford football star Matty Forde saying he’s not sure if he’d want to be playing in the modern game – something I’ve raised repeatedly in terms of where hurling is going.

All of us can’t be wrong. Plenty more are beginning to say the same thing. We all love the game. But when only one team can win, why straitjacket the quality of the players that are out there with defensive systems that often don’t play to the squad’s true strength?

It only serves to take from the beautiful game, to borrow a phrase.

Look at Thurles today and the individuality of someone like Cian Lynch. Or Declan Hannon, who has shown flashes of brilliance in his senior career to date.

With five Championship newcomers, it looks like TJ Ryan is going for broke with his Limerick selection. The big call is Dan Morrissey at fullback instead of Richie McCarthy.

McCarthy has been a great player on occasion for Limerick but pace isn’t one of his biggest attributes and Séamus Callanan did a job on the full-back line last year.

Tommy Dunne of Tipperary has questioned bringing in a lad with little senior experience. To me, it’s a no-brainer. You can’t keep going with the same team and expect different results.

I expect to see Gavin O’Mahony, listed at number six, playing very deep as cover. Oneon-one, the Tipperary All-Star is unmarkable.

Even with Cork playing a man back as sweeper the last day, Tipperary just played around him, hitting Callanan with diagonal balls as the two inside men broke to the wings.

Waterford are the only team with the set-up to blot him out.

It’s a big ask for Morrissey but the day of a traditional stopper is gone. Look at Waterford and the likes of Tadhg de Burca who drops deep in a free role, a savage hurler, a fantastic stick man.

Galway though were badly exposed in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final without cover so it is a gamble. Limerick’s team ethic then is key. O’Mahony’s hurling intellect is suited to a covering role but the onus is on Limerick to press out the field. Diarmuid Byrnes has been hugely impressive this year, mainly in the centre, and if he carries his form he will be a big player.

I think the League semi-final against Waterford answered the question as to whether Limerick should play with a sweeper. They really struggled with it that day. It’s not in their DNA. There doesn’t seem to be any appetite for it and I think they might as well go for it.

The bare form doesn’t augur well for them. Last year, Tipp beat them by 16 points. The last time we saw them competitively in the league, Waterford beat them by 11 points.

Contrast that with Tipperary who cruised past Cork. So there can be only one winner on all-known form.

And yet there is something about Limerick. They remind me of Wexford. Before the breakthrough in 1996, Wexford had to go back to ’68 for their last All-Ireland. Limerick have that same sort of energy and enthusiasm when the mood catches them. In 2013 and 2014, they came from nowhere and beat Tipperary.

After pushing Kilkenny so close in the 2013 All-Ireland semi-final, they have been on the slide for no apparent reason, particularly with the Under 21s and Na Piarsaigh winning their respective All-Irelands.

The fact that there is only one Na Piarsaigh player starting says a lot about competition for places. For whatever reason, it just hasn’t happened over the last year or two. That disappointment from 2013 was severe – maybe there has been a hangover.

Tipperary have been there or thereabouts since 2009, seven years being involved in the big games.

It’s a bit simplistic to say that Michael Ryan’s way is more traditional than that of former manager Éamon O’Shea. Ryan was a tough nut himself – and you can see that in the backs. Cathal Barrett, James Barry, Pádraic and Ronan Maher – all very physical players.

I think Tipperary will win because this is a very determined group of players who have shown they can marry a more direct style with the skill and way of creating space that has been their hallmark.

I’m hoping that Limerick really show their true worth. They were physically overpowered by Tipperary last year so I expect them to front up and finally give us a seriously competitive Championship match.