Lack of talent isn’t issue... Déise look weak mentally
ROLL back the clock a few weeks before the Munster SHC round robin and a few questions were being asked of Limerick and their Allianz League form. Some accepted they were training hard and working off the last of the celebrations. Even still, they hadn’t won a game bar the final round against Offaly which helped them avoid a relegation play-off.
Cork were also under scrutiny. They were up and down – after showing real intent during the League, they conceded four goals in the final and looked wide open down the middle.
We all knew Tipp were in a state of transition with so many warriors missing or sidelined or retired – Paudie Maher, Brendan Maher, Seamie Callanan, Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher, and John ‘Bubbles’ O’Dwyer. It wasn’t a case of being wise after the event.
Clare weren’t being talked about at all. There really wasn’t much expectation.
Most of the talk then was about Waterford – understandably so, given how they won the League so impressively. Right then, they looked the next best team to Limerick with all the qualities in the squad – the size, pace, athleticism, hurling and marquee players.
Liam Cahill made a huge call at the start of the season to stick with Waterford rather than go with his native Tipperary. I’m sure he was disappointed not to get the job before Liam Sheedy took it a second time.
He probably thought: ‘I’ve a better chance of winning an All-Ireland with Waterford.’ And why wouldn’t he?
Managers, no more than players, think in terms of silverware.
That was the Munster hurling landscape.
I’ve said here how Clare came along and stepped up massively. I’ve talked up Brian Lohan since he took the job, knowing him as a player and as a person and the qualities he would bring to it. So it didn’t shock me that the Banner came good.
In topping the group and securing a place in the Munster final, they have been the story of the Championship.
Limerick have done enough, as I expected them, even with a bad run of injuries with Cian Lynch still sidelined.
Cork looked like they were gone a couple of weeks ago, yet I fancied them away in Walsh Park against Waterford. I just didn’t get a good feeling about Waterford. I was in the headlines last week for saying their decision-making under pressure concerned me, but it’s hard to argue against that. We didn’t see a cohesive game plan when the pressure came on.
Dessie Hutchinson got the ball in his hands four times against Cork. When you have a player of his talent in attack, you have to get the ball to him – we all saw him in action for Ballygunner in winning the club All-Ireland and the impact he made. And he even did it against Seán Finn and Limerick in round two.
Waterford though looked to be caught between the short and long ball – and I didn’t fancy them. So I went for Cork.
The way Waterford collapsed then last weekend against Clare was something else. On a Sunday when they could have gone through. Clare left out six top players including Tony Kelly, John Conlon, and Paul Flanagan yet Waterford went out with such a whimper. There’s something clearly not right within the camp when those limp performances are produced.
It has raised questions again about the League being so close to Championship and only a fortnight from the final to the first round. But I don’t really accept that argument either. You’ve only a limited number of meaningful inter-county games per year. They’re toned, superbly conditioned athletes. And they’ve big squads there. I think it’s a mental thing.
Waterford failed that mental challenge as much as anything.
Then you have Tipperary supporters who seemed to abandon the team when it wasn’t going well. I drove straight out the road to Templemore after the final whistle against Cork last Sunday at Semple Stadium. I was parked 10 minutes from the ground and I was out of the commentary box, half running, when I wrapped up with RTÉ. Normally you’d be caught in a tailback but I went to Templemore and didn’t meet traffic. No cars backed up. No support. There are some green shoots.
Craig Morgan was quite solid, so too Dillon Quirke. Ger Browne had some good moments, though he was really quiet last weekend. Mark Kehoe was another who stood up.
Clearly, Colm Bonnar needs to be given time as manager.
Liam Cahill, too.
It’s a long time to lick your wounds being out of the Championship in May. I think it happened once in my career. Dublin beat us in the middle of May in 1991 – after winning the National League, too! In 1992 and ’93, Kilkenny beat us – both years they went on to win the All-Ireland.
I was working down in Ardmore in Waterford on Monday morning. There was a real sense of pessimism about the place. Now Carlow were after beating Offaly in the Joe McDonagh so I didn’t want to talk about that either.
We were all depressed. For once, there was no hurling talk. Leinster hasn’t captured the imagination in the same way and then Wexford come up with a performance like that against Kilkenny. The Championship reminded me of the League in how there has been this massive variance of results from week to week. We saw it with Wexford who drew the week before against Westmeath – a brilliant result for Westmeath who seem to have moved to another level – and then went from there to beating Kilkenny in Nowlan Park in Championship for the first time. Who saw that coming? Dublin then probably thought they’d squeak through as the third team but Wexford winning knocked them out.
Now Limerick are still the team to beat, especially when Lynch comes back. But Cork are another team on the up. It will be interesting to see what the last two matches does for this team because I’ve always said there’s huge talent. They are mixing up their game much better in terms of short and long ball and every one of their attack were lively against Tipperary. You had Jack O’Connor coming off the bench while Conor Lehane lit up Thurles – he hit six from play in the first half and it could have been eight or nine. Séamus Harnedy is showing great leadership while Tim O’Mahony offers more direct ball at full-forward if Patrick Horgan is called ashore. Alan Connolly has turned into a goalscoring machine.
Maybe at the backline a few question marks remain.
So all to play for. And don’t forget the Leinster boys yet. They could well have a big say in this year’s Championship.