A shock is on if Tribesmen can spark firepower
COMING off the back of their All-Ireland success over Kilkenny, Tipperary have made no secret of their desire to add spring silverware in the League. And, for the most part, the Premier County have hit the ground running.
Michael Ryan’s men won three of their five Division 1A games, a thrilling draw with Kilkenny and defeat to Cork — when they were already home and hosed in the table — the only black marks. They went on to hammer Offaly in the quarter-finals and thrash Wexford in a heated semi-final clash last weekend — but fullforward Séamus Callanan left Nowlan Park with a broken thumb which rules him out of today’s clash.
For Galway, reaching the League final is small consolation for the fact they failed to gain promotion to the top tier, finishing second behind Davy Fitzgerald’s revitalised Wexford in Division 1B.
They recovered from that setback by beating Waterford in the quarter-finals before easing past Limerick to set up this Gaelic Grounds date with old foes Tipperary — the 10th League final meeting between the sides.
If they are to upset the All-Ireland champions, a big performance from their forwards will be key. Luckily, Conor Cooney and Jason Flynn have helped ease the scoring burden on Joe Canning, the pair hitting 2-16 and 221 respectively to the Portumna star’s 3-38.
Tipperary’s last League title came via a 3-18 to 3-16 win over the Connacht side in 2008 — also in Limerick — while Galway’s most recent success came two years later in 2010, getting the better of Cork in the decider.
With last season’s cracking AllIreland semi-final still fresh in the memory — Tipperary winning 2-19 to 2-18 — another explosive clash is expected this time around.