Classy Neighbours are ‘Offaly’ faithful – not so with Premier people. Questions but few answers.

By Noel Dundon (Tipperary Media)

UPMC Nowlan Park is not a favoured venue of Tipperary supporters and the weekend did not nothing to enhance its appeal amongst Premier followers who attended on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon for the U20 and  Celtic Challenge Cup All-Ireland finals respectively.

Defeat was the lot of both teams in a venue which is best remembered for that snatch-and-grab All-Ireland minor hurling final against Offaly two years ago. There was to be no such finale to the U20 decider with the Faithful County being quite a distance ahead, greater perhaps than the six point deficit might suggest.

Tipperary battled hard against the odds despite being hugely out-numbered again in the bleachers, but they chased the Offaly men around the field for most of the game with that ten minute period before half time, being their undoing – Offaly scored nine points in that period, to Tipperary’s two and that proved to be the key sequence in the game.

You know, you would just love to see Tipperary going back to normal hurling – trusting each player to take on his own man, win his position and drive on. Instead, we have sweepers in defence thereby robbing the team of an attacker. How can we expect to win an All-Ireland Final by playing one man in the full forward line against three defenders? It really is beyond my comprehension. It’s hard enough to win ball one-on-one, but winning it one-on-three???

And yet, this set-up yielded Munster and deservedly so – a big feather in the cap of the much criticised management cap. They achieved a lot with a team of which not much was expected, but the ultimate award proved a bridge too far, and eluded them.

Offaly were faster, sharper, more energetic and full of danger, even if their star player Screeney was held to one point from play. He did manage just short of a dozen from placed balls – an indication of the kind of pressure the Tipp backs were under with fouls having to be committed. Two of those Screeney points came from 65’s which seemed very preventable – both goals too could have been dealt with better and would surely have haunted the manager, one of our finest netminders in his day.

You know, there’s winning, and then there’s winning with class. Offaly showed that class on field, but not so much off-field where a cohort of their supporters did not decorate themselves in glory. The hissing, whistling, booing and jeering which greeted Darragh McCarthy as he shaped up to address placed balls, has no place in the GAA. If success is to be Offaly’s lot going forward- and let’s face it, nobody in Tipperary would begrudge them – then, they will have to get better at it, winning with a bit of class that is.

The scenes before and after the game have become all too familiar for Tipperary in recent weeks – Offaly took over Nowlan Park, just as Cork did Semple Stadium. Blue and gold colours were scarce and you would just wonder where has it all gone wrong? Why is there such a disconnect between our teams and our supporters? This was an All-Ireland final and We were giving tickets back????

On the field of play things have not been working out as rosily as we would wish, but there appears to be an even bigger issue off the field right now. Accounts are dry; attracting sponsors will be very difficult; real leadership is required; and We are criticising supporters – the very ones We will be calling upon to help raise cash? Not to mention, to back the teams from the terraces and in the stands.

A County Board meeting last week addressed nothing; no debate; no discussion; nothing. If the stakeholders are interested in raising issues and prompting debate then where are we going? Optics need to be replaced with real action. And now.

On the plus side, our footballers got a first championship win of the season and find themselves in the Tailteann Cup closing stages- a boost to morale and confidence hopefully – we wish them well.

And our minor hurlers keep the flag flying as they bid to add to the provincial silverware. Again, we wish them the very best.

More from THE VIEW anon. Don‘t miss it.