INSIDE THE BAINISTEOIR’S HEAD

IT has already been a challenging season for Tipperary boss Colm Bonnar (right) — and this hasn’t been the easiest week. His team’s season is on the line tomorrow in Limerick and he was already planning without Seamus Callanan (recovering from an infected finger fracture) and John McGrath, who has just had surgery on his ruptured Achilles tendon. By Wednesday, he discovered both Jason Forde and James Quigley were also ruled out of tomorrow’s must-win clash. How can such a depleted Tipp possibly repel the green waves expected to wash over them? Well, one improvement needed from the poor outing against Clare is a more organised and clearlydefined puck-out strategy, It wasn’t the source of all their problems, but it did malfunction against the Banner, who got two firsthalf goals directly from Brian Hogan’s restarts. Hogan’s long puck-outs can ask difficult questions of most opposing defences, but the Limerick half-back line is made of different gravy. The likes of Diarmaid Byrnes and Dan Morrissey thrive when those bullets are raining down on them. They need a plan to counter-act Limerick’s power around the middle third. It is time for some of that famous Tipp grit and fight. They need to break puck-outs rather than competing against the likes of Byrnes while their wing-backs and wing-forwards must be prepared to go to war when the ball hits the ground. Not the most innovative tactical tweak, but as very little else seems to work against Limerick, perhaps it just a case of showing some attitude tomorrow. It’s hard not to have sympathy for

Bonnar, who took the job in difficult circumstances. He’s guiding the Premier through a difficult transition period. What would he give to have Pádraic or Brendan Maher competing for those puckouts? As usual, there is plenty of underage talent coming through but it will take time to integrate them. For now, it is about pride and getting the neighbour’s foot off their neck.