Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
TIPP WANT EASY LIVIN
MICHAEL QUINLIVAN is hoping former Dublin All-ireland winning forward Philly Ryan can do a Conor Cox with his adopted county.
Ryan, whose father is from Tipperary, has joined David Power’s squad as the Premier men look towards the defence of their Munster crown. The St Brigid’s (Dublin) forward also holds four League medals as well as Leinster and All-ireland titles at under-21 level (both in 2012).
Kerry forward Cox (left) joined Roscommon in late 2018 and had a huge impact, kicking the county to the 2019 Connacht title.
“I’ve met him [Ryan] a couple of times since we’ve started training,” said former All-star Quinlivan (28). “Look, he’s a good player and hopefully he can bring a lot to us. He obviously has experience of winning two All-irelands, which is invaluable as well.
“Hopefully he comes down, settles in, and can play some really good football for us. We’ve seen it across the board in a lot of other counties.
“You see Conor Cox doing it up in Roscommon and hopefully, he [Ryan]can have the same impact for us.”
Quinlivan added: “He has been training with us for the last couple of weeks and he’s a really really good player.
“He can get on the ball. He can take his own score. Hopefully, he’ll be a big addition to us this year and hopefully going forward, as well.
“The one thing I would say about him is that he’s fitted in seamlessly enough and is definitely part of the group already, which is the big thing.”
Quinlivan went on to welcome the addition of legendary double All-star forward, Declan Browne to the Tipp management team.
The Clonmel Commercials ace said: “He’s ridiculous. He’s so good.
“He still has it. I honestly reckon you could put him at corner forward and he’d still do a job.
“Just the small things that he does. He’s not trying to tell you exactly what to do.
“It’s only very small little pearls of wisdom. Little things for even kicking in the ball.
“He knows where to be and what positions to take up. He understands both sides of the game and he has certainly been a big benefit to us since he came in.”