Cahill’s Tribe lower King Henry’s banner
By Noel Dundon (Tipperary Media)
There’s nothing quite like a right joust of hurling to get the blood stirring. And, that’s exactly what we got on Sunday in FBD Semple Stadium when Tipperary and Galway went at it in the second round of the Allianz National Hurling League.
They hit twenty nine scores between them in the first half; and twenty two scores between them in the second half; a total of fifty one scores. But, it was the last score of the game which really separated the two teams – Gearoid O’Connors goal from a penalty after sub Conor Stakelum was fouled, finally settled the matter after what had been a rip roaring contest.
Even allowing for O’Connor scoring 1-13 of the Tipp total, there were still nine other Premier County men tallied on the day. That will surely please Liam Cahill and Michael Bevans – two attacking players in their own days who would have relished the kind of ball given to the forwards in the modern game.
They might not have been too pleased with the 19 minute barren spell midway through the second half when Galway pilfered seven scores in a row to come within a point of the hosts who had opened up an eight point post-break lead. But, from then until the end, Tipp outscored the Tribesmen by 1-5 to 0-4 to claim their second set of points in the league.
It was a fine victory and it was certainly enjoyed by the Tipperary supporters who came in strong numbers to cheer on their side. They witnessed a fine victory; great workrate and effort; some magnificent defending; and attacking play which can certainly be improved upon as well – Tipperary coughed up a number of goal chances and could have been far more comfortable had they been more clinical.
At the other end though, Barry Hogan hadn’t a shot to block with Michael Breen doing a very good man-marking job on Galway dangerman Conor Whelan – it was the other Conor – Cooney – who proved to be their main go to man for scores from play, hitting five in a very productive hour for the St Thomas’ man.
It was interesting and somewhat uncomfortable to see Eamon O’Shea wearing the Galway tracksuit on the sideline. We know of old what he can bring to a team and if he can empower the Galway attack as he did the Tipperary ones in the Liam Sheedy regime, they could be a very powerful force. His son Donal, hurling at midfield, hit a lot of ball too for the Tribesmen – pity they had not relocated to in and around Cloughjordan so his allegiance could be revised.
Each game in the league is supposed to bring us closer to deciding on championship personnel. So, after two matches, where are we now? Well, Gearoid O’Connor would appear to have further cemented his credentials with another flawless performance; Conor Bowe has settled into the half back line with relative ease alongside Robert Byrne who probably still has a bit to do to nail down a starting fifteen position.
Craig Morgan’s return is a real boost while Willie Connors is really staking a claim for himself at midfield. Sean Kenneally won a lot of ball in attack but needs to see more coming from it, while Sean Ryan had a frustrating day, having had a good outing against Dublin.
Mark Kehoe had three points scored in six second half minutes while it was great to see Conor Stakelum coming back into the fray after injury – his brother Darragh was only on the pitch for a few minutes before he had to go off injured joining Jake Morris and Bryan O’Mara in the treatment room. Let’s hope those injuries are not very serious.
It’s fair to say that the games so far have been very encouraging from a Tipp perspective. Plenty of players have seen game-time and gotten a chance to impress. And, it is likely that there will be more experimentation over the next few games too with the next outing featuring a visit of Westmeath to Semple Stadium on Sunday 25th February – a double header with the Tipp footballers playing Laois on the same day.
In the meantime, there will be a chance for the squad to get some heavy work done with no weekend match to interrupt a block of training. After the Westmeath game Tipp will have a trip to Limerick on March 9 before finishing off on St Patrick’s Day in Antrim.
So, there is plenty to look forward to and plenty to chat about too as the squad evolves and tweaks are made. So far we have had no Cathal Barrett; no Jason Forde; no Barry Heffernan; no Noel McGrath. But, there is plenty of time for those guys to make an appearance. After all, we know of old what those lads can offer to Tipperary
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