By Noel Dundon (Tipperary Media)
Soundly thrashed by a score a man.
“Where do we go from here. This isn’t how I had planned it to be. We started out, I believed in you, you believed in me.”
The words of one of the big numbers from the hit show Evita could well have been written with Tipperary supporters in mind, following the gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of Limerick in Tús Gaelic Grounds – they literally beat us a score a man, as the saying goes. Belief in Tipperary hurling is in short supply right now, but despair not – all is not lost just yet.
Yes, the performance in Limerick was as bad as anything witnessed in recent times. Yes, we were thoroughly thrashed. Yes we lacked energy and punch. And yes, we will be licking our wounds after this one for a long time.
But, a reality check here now. Did Tipperary supporters travelling west to Limerick really believe that John Kiely’s men would be turned over? Did we really believe that? I very much doubt it and the fact that Premier people were outnumbered about 5/1 in the 33,475 attendance would suggest most Tipperary people didn’t believe it either.
So, we got the result we probably expected and while we certainly didn’t get the performance we expected, in real terms at this stage of the season we are where we thought we would be – facing for Waterford on Saturday evening next without a point to our name.
Now the real battle for third place begins. Now is the time for Tipperary to start showing what they can do. Now is the moment for the squad to step up to the expected levels – the levels they have reached on occasion, but not consistently so.
Waterford will be buoyed on three fronts as they open Walsh Park to the Tipperary visitors. On one hand, their victory over Cork will have stirred the Deise emotions and might just get the hurling public behind the team again. Then there is the fact that Tipperary lost so spectacularly to Limerick – they will be of the view that the Premier psyche has been damaged considerably and no better man than Davy Fitzgerald to play upon the mental deficiencies in the neighbouring camp in order to advance the confidence of his own charges.
Finally, Walsh Park has become something of a fortress for Waterford and were they to win their second game at home on Saturday, they would have traveled a decent way along the journey towards emerging from the province as the third side behind Clare and Limerick.
Whither Tipperary now then? Well, even if Tipp boss Liam Cahill were to have access to famed Limerick psychologist Caroline Currid, the multi All-Ireland winning therapist would surely be scratching her head trying to figure out this conundrum.
How can it have gone so badly wrong? What were they at in Portugal? How do we get over this humiliation?
The answers are not actually as complicated as one might think. Tipperary just have to go out and hurl. They have to believe. To trust. They must hurl with the kind of passion, energy and aggression which Premier hurlers are renowned for -not the kind of sloppy, slipshod and highly frustrating approach we witnessed on Sunday. They must win back the Tipperary hurling public and get them following and supporting them again – it does not look like that will happen next Saturday with even fewer Tipperary supporters expected to travel.
So, Tipperary will need to channel their anger and frustration; they will be required to hurl with a chip on the shoulder and just throw off the shackles; they will have to say ‘damn it to hell’ and just go for it.
Munster is a bear pit – we all know that – but if you want to emerge from the bear pit, you have to be hungrier, more aggressive, stronger on the ball and in the tackle, than the other bears. And more than anything else, you have to be prepared to put everything on the line. Right now we are not seeing that – a repeat of the Gaelic Grounds showing and that will be that for this team.
On a positive note, the players reaction to Peter Casey’s injury was admirable. Sport is important but humanity is more so. We wish Peter well in his recovery.
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