Ryan relief as heroic effort in defence bags massive prize
HE didn’t quite say phew when he arrived inside the press conference room, but the sheer relief was etched all over Michael Ryan’s face. Even if yesterday was partly about cutting the ribbon on an impressive new stadium, this quarter-final was still about the destination for Tipperary. Getting back to Croke Park, where their wondrous forwards can inflict the utmost damage.
And it was their talented attackers that saw them squeeze through in the end but it was a match that probably gave the Tipperary manager an extra few grey hairs.
‘The over-riding feeling is total relief to have got through,’ Ryan admitted. ‘Clare got six unanswered points in a row, had the gap down to one and that was the tipping point of the game. Thankfully it just tipped back in our favour, so we’re delighted.’
Ryan was particularly happy by how his players had upped their work-rate. ‘We had to do that. This was end-game. For whomever lost, their season was over and nobody wants their season to be over in July. The prize was massive.
‘The work-rate was very good, even at the end when the third goal was conceded, the boys were out on their feet, they really well. There was some heroic defending. I think both teams deserve a huge amount of credit, it was a really good game of hurling.’
Seán O’Brien’s second-half appearance as a substitute meant that Tipperary were operating with a different goalkeeper and fullback line to that which won the AllIreland but Ryan said he was pleased to get O’Brien on the field.
‘We were delighted to get Seán O’Brien on the pitch, we really wanted to get that opportunity over the last couple of games but it just didn’t fall like that.’ said Ryan.
‘But he’s been really good in training. We have Mickey Cahill there as well with huge experience. We had healthy cover. That’s the game, we need those guys. The competition within the squad will be all the better for it.’
Ryan also praised Brendan Maher for standing up near the end and putting over a 90-yard free. ‘Those are precious shots and it takes really good players to do that. Brendan has been plying his trade here with us for years and I don’t think it would have surprised any of us that he would have the courage to look for that ball to t ake it.
‘But I am just very proud of the collective Tipp effort. We are arriving at the right tempo for the All-Ireland series just now. We’ll have very sore bodies, we’ll regroup during the week and then make a plan for our next opponents. We’ll have to wait to see who wins on Sunday first.’
Clare joint-manager Donal Maloney was proud of his players’ efforts but admitted that they did have a few regrets, not least in their wide count. And he also felt that Colm Lyons’ decision to disallow Conor McGrath’s first-half goal for over-carrying was questionable.
‘It was very harsh, to be perfectly honest,’ Maloney said of the disallowed goal. ‘We couldn’t buy a free in the first 20 minutes. Look, it is a big game for Colm Lyons as well. I wouldn’t be complaining too much but it was a very harsh free. There were loads of other incidences of over-carrying throughout the game and that was a big call, that was a very big call for him to make.’
As for the wides? ‘We hit 18 wides, was it? From that perspective, some of those we would expect to finish, and it was a little disappointing that we missed a couple of frees and a few from play but overall, I don’t want to take from Tipp’s victory in terms of how they won the game.
‘But the wides are a regret and we probably missed some goal chances aswell. We probably made some mistakes at the back which handed them a few points as well.’
Maloney insists that himself and Gerry O’Connor will learn from their first season in senior management and they believe they will improve going forward.
‘We have a terrific group of players, We still maintain they are the best players in a generation in our county, they have already won a lot. We are trying to change how we play the game, we are very optimistic. This is our first year, we have learnt a huge amount. We will definitely put what we learnt to good use.’