
Tipping back to big time after spell in wilderness
Last summer, the talk was of how they had displaced Waterford as the sick man of the Munster hurling championship. Perennially aggrieved Leinster hurling folk were demanding to know why they weren't forced to partake in a relegation play-off with Carlow.
Liam Cahill's first campaign had tailed off badly and the second was adjudged to be a full disaster.
Even in real time, their annihilation at home to Cork last May felt like one of those landmark beatings that would be etched in the memory for a long time.
Worse again, the supporters had more or less abandoned the team. "You'd have to wonder - is the fight gone out of Tipp?" Donal Óg Cusack said on that evening's Sunday Game.
"Even their supporters. Where were all their supporters today? Tipp's a hurling county. Cork outnumbered them, it looked like 10 to 1."
Things had gotten so bad that when Pat Horgan had a perfectly good goal - Cork's fifth - mysteriously disallowed late in the game, the instinctive suspicion of many watching at home was that it was done out of sympathy (Cusack bluntly labelled it a "sympathy vote").
And yet, a year later, here they are, the only team standing in the way of Horgan and Cork's long-awaited All-Ireland title.
Tipp have had lulls before, most infamously the nine championship campaigns without a win from 1974 to 1982.
They mustered just one Munster title between 1994 and 2007, albeit that came accompanied with an All-Ireland title during Nicky English's stint in charge in 2001. They previously became the first team to reach an All-Ireland final via the backdoor in 1997 but lost to Clare.
The early 2020s weren't as drawn out as the 70s slump but there were plenty of bitter days, with just two Munster championship wins in five years. This included those two winless round robin campaigns in 2022 and 2024.
It was a lean time, not least for the many Tipp-owned and managed hostelries in the capital.
During the first half of the 2020s, the only place you could watch Tipperary play in Croke Park was in Ryan's on Camden Street where they've been showing the 2010, 2016 and 2019 All-Ireland finals on a more or less constant loop for some years now.
Ireland could be playing in a World Cup semi-final and the game could have gone to penalties but in Ryan's, you'd still be watching Lar whip in his hat-trick goal or Bubbles declaring that "we're the champions of f****n' Ireland!"
GAA HQ no longer resounded to a staccato drumbeat of 'TIPP! TIPP! TIPP!', a familiar soundtrack for the previous decade and a bit.
Tipperary had been a mainstay at the latter stages of the All-Ireland for most of the 2010s.
After Babs Keating's turbulent and ill-fated second stint in charge ended in 2007, Liam Sheedy stepped into the senior job, with Eamon O'Shea arriving in as coach. It was a propitious time, with an infusion of talent coming from the underage ranks.
In retrospect, Tipp's All-Ireland winning minor team of 2006, who halted Joe Canning's bid for a three-in-a row at the grade, has to be considered one of the most successful minor teams of all time. It provided no fewer than eight players who would go on to win senior All-Irelands, including Padraic Maher, Brendan Maher, Seamus Callanan and Noel McGrath.
They featured in six All-Ireland finals in 11 years, winning three and losing three. The trio of finals between 2009 and 2011 was the bluebloods' nirvana, a time when the traditionalists still ruled the roost and the term 'sweeper' put people in mind of Franz Beckenbauer rather than Tadhg de Burca.
In 2009, they fell just short against a Kilkenny side operating at close to their peak, the 'Did ya think it was a penalty yourself, Marty' final. The following year, Corbett rifled home his famous hat-trick in the teeming rain as they halted the five-in-a-row, claiming a first All-Ireland in nine years. Then Kilkenny got their own back in 2011, aka the John Mulhall final.
After a two-year hiatus, the drawn 2014 decider provided us with what most neutrals regarded as the greatest final of all. Brian Cody, unsurprisingly, was far more enamoured of the comparatively dour replay when his defenders succeeded in putting manners on the stylish Tipp forward line. At the All-Stars night that year, Bubbles Dwyer was still inclined to call into question the infallibility of Hawkeye and he had his reasons. This take would age better than people thought at the time.
As Kilkenny's imperial phase finally drew to a close, Tipperary beat them comfortably in All-Ireland deciders in '16 and '19, Callanan delivering one of the great final displays in the former. As usual in those years, Tipp were rarely content to win a game by three or four points when the chance was there to stretch the margin out towards double digits.
Tipp's bitter rivals, a grouping which incorporates almost every other serious hurling county, taunted them about their 'one-in-a-rows' and failure to defend an All-Ireland title since 1965. Only being able to win periodic 'one-in-a-rows' is an exceptionally first-world hurling problem, though their erstwhile privileged compadres in the 'Big Three' don't tend to let them forget it.
But the recession, when it finally came, hit hard. Ger Loughnane prematurely called time on the 2010s generation during their unsuccessful 2018 Munster round-robin campaign. Though like many a doom-mongering economist before him, he was right eventually.
In his second spell in charge, Sheedy delivered an All-Ireland title but was accused by some critics of postponing a necessary transitional period too long. After successive quarter-final losses to Galway and Waterford in the Covid years, Sheedy departed and the lean times had really begun.
What changed this year? There seems to be no magic formula anyway, no sudden discovery.
The players from Cahill's back-to-back U21 winning teams in 2018 and 2019 have come of age, the likes of Robert Doyle, Bryan O'Mara, Andrew Ormond, Eoghan Connolly and Conor Stakelum. Jake Morris had already had done so.
Added to that, they've had an infusion from the present Under-20 side, with Darragh McCarthy the most celebrated graduate but Sam O'Farrell and Oisín O'Donoghue nailing down their place in the team/squad.
Cahill is a subscriber to the Cody philosophy of management, at all times stressing the importance of "honesty", "fight" and "workrate". He evidently has also adopted the Cody tactic of only firing back at critics from a position of strength.
In the same way that the Kikenny manager used to wait until after the All-Ireland final was won to get stuff off his chest, Cahill had largely held his tongue regarding his critics until Tipperary's recovery was officially complete.
Speaking since the semi-final win over Kilkenny, Cahill spoke of the "hurt" he felt at the criticism that was levied during his first two seasons in charge.
"The ones that Cahill flogs his teams, his excruciating training sessions. I felt it was disingenuous," The Tipp manager said, when asked to expand. "Liam Cahill doesn't make it up as he goes along."
That narrative had gained traction largely due to the recent trend of Cahill's teams over-performing in the league relative to the championship, which also explained why few were initially persuaded by their appearance in the league final.
During the last two summers, the tendency was for pundits to stress his disappointing last championship campaign with Waterford, rather than the first two seasons, in which he led them to an All-Ireland final and then a semi-final.
Early in this year's league, Cahill drew a pointed distinction between the "knowledgeable" Tipp fans who understood it was a transitional phase and the "less knowledgeable" ones for whom that message wouldn't resonate. At least now, the less knowledgeable Tipperary crowd must like what they're seeing.
They go into Sunday as clear underdogs though given where they started, the season will be counted as a success anyway. And Cahill has delighted in proving people wrong.
"The reality of it is at the time I came in in 2023 most people in Tipperary knew that there was a big change coming. We had a number of really top-class players for the last decade who were just coming towards the end of their inter-county careers.
"Unfortunately, when you're in a county as demanding as Tipperary not everybody sees that and understands that, and expectedly so.
"In fairness to the county board as well they stood by me... They had patience, look, we find ourselves where we are, thank God."

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Well capable of scoring and now a proper hard nosed defender. 6 Mike Breen - 7 The fact he missed the emphatic Armagh win and was still brought straight back in to start the semi-final says a lot. Hugely athletic and quick enough to mark and drive forward. Plagued by injury in recent years, otherwise he would have been an established regular for a season or two now. 7 Gavin White - 8 Kerry's Gavin White ahead of the All-Ireland SFC semi-final (Image: ©INPHO/James Crombie) One of Kerry's very best. Has that relentlessness and pace to match anything Donegal have. His face has the cut of a serious athlete. His ability to pass and go makes him a serious goal threat. Often cuts the holes for the Cliffords and co to exploit. The skipper's hard runs have to be watched. 8 Seán O'Brien - 7 A relative unknown to most outside Kerry but they don't let many shrinking violets into the Kerry midfield. The Beaufort man, like Mark O'Shea, has taken full advantage of the absence of midfield duo Diarmuid O'Connor and Barry Dan O'Sullivan to claim a starting place. Gives that engine Kerry need to purr. 9 Mark O'Shea - 7 Only made his first Kerry Championship start in June, against Meath. His towering presence on kickouts has proven a weapon in the new game, breaking and catching ball. Will probably jump with Michael Langan. He's come out of nowhere, relatively speaking. A former basketball player, he is a nephew of coaching legend and former Kerry boss, Pat. 10 Joe O'Connor - 9 If there wasn't a David Clifford, O'Connor would be right in the hunt for Footballer of the Year. A nightmare to play against. Never stops, going box to box. It's clear how badly he wants it. All Star in waiting. Also a serious goal threat. Hit a stunning goal against Cork in the Munster semi-final. 11 Seán O'Shea - 9 Incredible attitude to go with his incredible accuracy from dead balls and play. Wasn't naturally physically, but brings that now - along with serious energy. Does the donkey work. His nine scores from nine shots against Armagh, for 0-12, was off the charts stuff. Jack O'Connor says he's the spiritual leader of the side. 12 Graham O'Sullivan - 7 O'Sullivan was outstanding in the 2022 All-Ireland Final victory over Galway so the occasion will hold no fears for him. You need a lot of football, brains and the right attitude to switch from wing back to wing forward, especially in a county like Kerry where this type of move is scrutinised heavily. Works all day and can score too. 13 David Clifford - 10 Kerry's David Clifford (Image: Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Tom O'Hanlon) The three-up rule means he has no real weakness now. Teams can't run him up and down. Occasionally has pot shots but his range and back catalogue means he's allowed them more than anyone else. Attracts attention for others to shine. A 6' 4' Gooch built like a brick outhouse with searing pace in tight areas. His sheer power is frightening. 14 Paudie Clifford - 9 What a footballer and he brings that ruthless competitive edge with it. Doesn't mind letting lads know about it either. The ultimate heads-up football. Always looking to kick forward, and as good a foot passer as there is in the country - quantity and quality. Coupled with huge mobility, pace and silky ball carrying it make him a nightmare to tag. 15 Dylan Geaney - 7 A clever footballer who has slotted in well to the Kerry attack and can score goals. He's in his third year on the panel. Conor Geaney, who started against Armagh, is his brother and Paul Geaney is his cousin. They all play for Dingle. Paul's injury has helped him start and he's taken full advantage. Kerry Bench - 8 Paul Geaney and Diarmuid O'Connor are two big guns to have on any bench, but how fit they are is another question. Donegal will be fully prepped for the entry of both. Micheál Burns is capable of a big impact. Killian Spillane remains a dangerous scorer and Tony Brosnan is a proven option. Total: 127 Donegal 1 Shaun Patton - 9 Endured a nightmare first half in the quarter-final against Monaghan and while that is very much an outlier, it may give Kerry encouragement to go after him. But Patton, with the speed at which he gets the ball on the tee and accuracy from there, is arguably the best in the business. 2 Finbarr Roarty - 8 Donegal's Finnbarr Roarty makes a superb block to deny Louth's Peter Lynch (Image: ©INPHO/Lorcan Doherty) The 19-year-old has taken to inter-county football seamlessly having only made his debut this year - and it would have come a year earlier if Jim McGuinness had his way. A strong tackler and hard runner, he has also chipped in at the other end, scoring 1-5 en route to the final. 3 Brendan McCole - 9 It's a virtual certainty that he will be assigned the man-marking job on David Clifford, and it's a duel that will likely be crucial to the outcome of the final. His task is so gargantuan that McCole will need cover from his defensive colleagues, but he is the best-equipped defender in the game to take it on. 4 Peadar Mogan - 8 An All Star last year as Donegal reached the semi-final but while he has arguably not scaled the same heights this year, his black card against Mayo being a low point, he is still performing to a high level and has got upfield to telling effect with 0-12 to his name in 10 Championship games. 5 Ryan McHugh - 7 He has been one of the greatest players across a very successful era for Donegal with five Ulster Championships to his name but, having arrived onto the scene in 2013, the All-Ireland is still elusive. Arguably no Donegal player deserves it more than the dashing wing-back, who may be asked to pick up Paudie Clifford. 6 Eoghan Ban Gallagher - 7 Has found his home on the half-back line at this stage having been employed at corner-back for much of his Donegal career, which has been hampered by injury episodes. Experienced player and a strong ball-carrier but may be vulnerable to being benched if McGuinness plumps for Caolan McGonagle. 7 Caolan McColgan - 7 Yet another speed merchant in a side teeming with them, McColgan broke into the side following the group stage loss to Tyrone, scoring a goal against Cavan. May have been down the pecking order after his club, Naomh Pádraig Uisce Chaoin (Muff), reached the All-Ireland junior final but kept hold of the jersey once he got his chance. 8 Hugh McFadden - 7 One of the survivors from Donegal's last All-Ireland final in 2014, his debut season, though he didn't see action in the defeat to Kerry. At 31, not quite the force he was but will be entrusted by Jim McGuinness to do a job before inevitably being hauled ashore midway through the second half. 9 Michael Langan - 9 Comes into the final on the crest of a wave after a series of big performances, not least in the semi-final win over Meath, when he notched 0-4 to bring his season's total to 1-25. A huge talent who has settled at midfield this year having played much of his football from wing-forward. 10 Shane O'Donnell - 8 Not a prolific scorer but his best attributes bring a nice blend to the Donegal attack as his fingerprints are on the scores of so many others, both in terms of giving the final pass and his ability to break defensive lines with his ball-carrying ability. A player who has blossomed under McGuinness. 11 Ciaran Thompson - 7 His huge left boot has proven a very useful weapon in the new game, with his ability to kick two-pointers augmenting a tally of 1-22 in this Championship campaign. The only player to have been on the field for every minute of Donegal's 10-game run to this final. 12 Ciaran Moore - 8 Scored a brilliant goal in the semi-final win over Meath to go with his crucial strike in the Ulster final win over Armagh, while he also came up with the dramatic late winner against Mayo which showcased his athleticism and accuracy, not to mention his ability to come up with big moments. 13 Conor O'Donnell - 8 If Donegal needed something more after last year's All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway, then O'Donnell has provided much of it having upped his game and become much more of a scoring threat with the 3-21 that he has notched across this campaign making him their top scorer from play. 14 Michael Murphy - 9 Donegal's Michael Murphy takes a free (Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne) Albeit he may have retired a bit too prematurely for most people's liking, not least McGuinness's, Murphy's legacy as an all-time great was already assured when he stepped aside in 2022. But now, given what he has brought to the team after two seasons away, he is embellishing it with one of the great comeback stories. 15 Oisin Gallen - 7 Looked poised for a big summer but made a slow start to the Championship and wasn't always on the starting team, though he is finding his best form as the Championship reaches its climax. The quality of his finish from a tight angle against Meath spoke of a man whose confidence is surging. Donegal bench - 9 McGuinness will keep us all guessing on what his starting team will be right up to the throw-in, and there's every chance that the likes of Caolan McGonagle will be in the first 15 yet. Whatever the combination, McGuinness will have strong options over his shoulder, led by captain Paddy McBrearty, Daire Ó Baoill and Jason McGee, with the bench contributing 0-28 across their 10 Championship games. Total: 127 The squads cannot be separated, even if the bookies have Kerry as marginal favourites. The draw is priced at 13/2 for those interested. Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.