INSIDE MAN Are Tipp ruing the day they let Donoghue learn their secrets?

GAA ALL-IRELAND HURLING SEMI-FINAL

The links between both sets of management teams are strong and, for some, a real source of concern.

The most glaring and obvious one is that Galway boss Micheal Donoghue was Tipperary’s stats man for two seasons, in 2014 and 2015.

Donoghue had guided Clarinbridge to AIB All-ireland success and was then invited into the Tipp setup by then boss Eamon O’shea.

But the ploy has exploded in Tipp’s face as Donoghue walked out the door with all their secrets before taking the Galway job.

He used all that information against Tipp last year when Galway ran the eventual Allireland winners to within a point in the semi-finals.

And his Galway side played Tipp off the park in this year’s League decider. Former Galway star Damien Hayes (right) made a big point of the issue earlier this week on the GAA Hour podcast.

Hayes said: “I do often wonder what does the Tipperary manager, Michael Ryan, think of it now, that they had a lad coming up from Galway learning everything about what they do. “Next thing, all of a sudden, he gets to bring all of these ideas back down to Galway.

“It’s like having a salesman and you train him for three months and then he leaves you and goes straight to your opposition or competition.”

Yet Donoghue didn’t settle for just infiltrating Tipperary and learning all their plans – he also pinched their trainer.

The Tribesmen chief poached Lukasz Kirzsenstein from Tipp just weeks after last year’s All-ireland final win.

The Limerick-based Pole trained Tipp while Donoghue was there and clearly made a big impression. Galway’s physical conditioning was remarked upon by many earlier this year when they blew Tipp out of it in the League decider. Galway skipper David Burke said after that win that Kirzsenstein has brought Galway’s conditioning ‘to another level again’. Burke said: “Lads have got a small bit bigger and stronger. He has brought some new ideas and lads are maybe a bit fitter as a whole in the panel.” Considering they lost by just a point to Tipperary last year, it could be the vital change that gives them the edge this year. As if Galway don’t already have enough insider information on their opponents, they’ve also got a useful ally in selector Francis Forde. The Galway mentor coached ace Tipperary attacker Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher as a teenager and developed him into one of the game’s most influential players.

Forde honed Maher’s skills at Banagher College in Offaly and got a front row seat as the powerful Lorrha player turned from boy to man.

Forde said: “I have a fair idea of what he brings to the dressing-room and what he brings to the pitch, it’s just massive for that Tipperary team.

“I was over the team for one year when he was in Leaving Cert.

“I remember him marking Paul Murphy from Kilkenny in a Leinster championship match and they had a fair old battle because they were big players for both teams.”

All of those links should make for one of the most tactical and tense All-ireland semi-finals in years.

Hayes said the battle on the sideline could be just as interesting as the individual duels on the actual pitch as Donoghue and Ryan square up to each other.

Hayes said: “I feel this game is going to be a battle of the sidelines. I feel this game is going to be a little bit personal for the management.”