logo
Ashamed to be seen in public just one year ago, Tipperary's redemption story defies belief

Ashamed to be seen in public just one year ago, Tipperary's redemption story defies belief

Irish Times4 days ago
After
Cork
eviscerated
Tipperary
by 18 points in last year's Munster championship, Liam Cahill fronted up to reporters, as he always does. He ended his press conference by saying Tipperary were 'officially going into a real rebuild job.'
Limerick
beat them by 15 points three weeks earlier, so by a process of humiliation, they had arrived at ground zero.
Cahill also said that he might be laying a foundation for whoever succeeded him and that was a reasonable forecast. Nobody had any grasp of a timeline for Tipp's rehabilitation, though everyone accepted that it would involve pain and patience. Everybody was thinking about worst-case scenarios. As Tipp know from the 1970s and 1980s, time can disappear into a black hole.
For Tipp to win an All-Ireland
14 months after that demolition by Cork in Thurles has no precedent in the modern history of the championship. When they won the 2019 All-Ireland, it was only a year after they had failed to win a match in Munster. However, that 2019 team included nine players who had started the 2016 final, which Tipp won.
When Liam Sheedy came back for his second stint as manager for the 2019 season, he faced a refurbishment job. To start again, Cahill had to knock down walls and rewire the place. Dermot Bannon might have taken it on, but he'd have blown the budget and fallen out with everyone on site.
READ MORE
During the off-season, there were 16 changes to the panel, which was more churn than any other elite team. Between the match-day 26 for the Cork game in the round-robin series last summer and the All-Ireland final on Sunday, there were 10 changes to the squad, including seven changes to the starting team.
Tipperary's Conor Stakelum savours the moment at the end of Sunday's All-Ireland SHC final. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
That was an extraordinary through-put of players in such a short space of time. Even between the first round this year against Limerick and the final on Sunday, there were four changes in personnel and a change at goalkeeper, full back, centre back, centre field and centre forward. Andrew Ormond didn't play a minute against Limerick, neither did Willie Connors.
Michael Breen spoke after the match about how 'intense' training had been in January and February. Cahill finished last year listening to complaints that Tipp had trained too hard in the first part of the season and had nothing left for the championship. A similar charge had been levelled at him in his final season with Waterford.
Cahill accepted that they had made mistakes in their conditioning programme last year but that didn't mean they were going to ease up. In January, nine days before their first league game against Galway, Tipp played Sarsfields in a challenge match in Riverstown. Sarsfields were building up to the All-Ireland club final and expected to get a hiding, but in the event, they didn't lose by much.
Tipperary hurling captain Ronan Maher with Oisín Crowe during the All-Ireland champions' visit to Children's Health Ireland at Crumlin today. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Cahill was so exasperated by the performance that when the game was over, the Tipp players were made to do a block of running before they left the field. By that stage, they had already lost a challenge match against Dublin. Nobody had them tagged as dark horses. Before the quarter-finals, when there were only six teams remaining, they were still 10/1 shots for the All-Ireland with the bookies.
'I remember meeting Jake Morris a couple of weeks after [Tipp were eliminated in Munster last year] and you're nearly ashamed going around to show your face because the manner in which we went out,' said Jason Forde. 'And we said as a group all year, there's nobody going to come and save us. We had to go back and put in the work and drag ourselves up out of it and thank God we did.'
Much has been made of the contribution of
Darragh McCarthy
, Sam O'Farrell and Oisín O'Donoghue from the Tipp under-20s squad. It flew in the face of all modern trends for players of that age to make such an impactful breakthrough at senior level. On the biggest day of all, McCarthy had his best game of the season.
But just as critical was the reinvigoration of Jason Forde and John McGrath. At the end of last season, there was no guarantee that either of them would carry on. Forde met Cahill for a conversation during the off-season and maybe he didn't know which way it would go.
Tipperary's Ronan Maher and Bryan O'Mara were both on hand to collect after Cork's Brian Hayes failed to block the sliotar during the All-Ireland SHC final. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
'He wasn't talking me around anyway,' said Forde. 'It was a very honest conversation. After the season finished, you were meeting people and they were saying were you going to bother going back, nearly writing you off that you were finished. When I met Liam, I just said we couldn't leave things like that, the year that we had. Having played for Tipp for 13 seasons and winning All-Irelands and things like that, to leave it on that note, it just wouldn't have felt right.'
Forde, though, had been a regular starter on the team last year. McGrath had appeared just twice in the championship for a combined total of 40 minutes. The last time he had started a championship game for Tipp was in 2022; the last time he had started and finished a championship match was in 2020. Injuries played a part in that, but form was a greater reason.
This year, McGrath was reborn. He finished the championship with 7-16, making him the joint top scorer from play alongside Dublin's Cian O'Sullivan. Nobody else scored seven goals. Not only that, but all his goals were consequential: two against Limerick, two against Clare, one against Kilkenny when Tipp were bailing water, and two in the All-Ireland final, when he plunged the dagger into Cork.
In 14 months, their world had gone from night to day. In the second half in Thurles last year, Cork outscored them by 3-15 to 0-7; on Sunday, Tipp won the second half by 3-14 to 0-2. Redemption can never have tasted so sweet.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'It still haunts you' - Donegal star Ryan McHugh on 2014 All-Ireland defeat to Kerry
'It still haunts you' - Donegal star Ryan McHugh on 2014 All-Ireland defeat to Kerry

The 42

time24 minutes ago

  • The 42

'It still haunts you' - Donegal star Ryan McHugh on 2014 All-Ireland defeat to Kerry

RYAN MCHUGH HAS never watched the 2014 All-Ireland football final back. 11 years on, the scars remain. Sunday offers a shot at redemption against Kerry, who won on a scoreline of 2-9 to 0-12 to deny Donegal a second title in three years. It also brings another crack at a first Celtic Cross for McHugh, who joined the panel the year after 2012 success. 'I watch every game back. With 2014, I never took it upon myself to sit down and watch it back,' two-time All-Star McHugh says. 'I don't think I played well that day. Just could never bring myself to get it. Maybe it was the inexperience of the whole thing. 'It was a tough one, there's no point in lying. It still haunts you. You go into the game on such a high and after such a huge performance against Dublin. We did everything so right against Dublin and then not to click against Kerry. Obviously Kerry had a good performance, but it was such a disappointment for us. Advertisement 'You move on, but you don't get over defeats like that. Even if we won this one, it wouldn't get over 2014. We were in a position to win the All-Ireland final and we didn't do it.' The 31-year-old defender is in a reflective mood as he recalls the highs and lows, ups and downs, trials and tribulations of over a decade in inter-county football. 'I thought those days would be around all the time,' McHugh continues. 'With the team winning in 2012 and getting to finals and semi-finals, you thought that you'd get a chance to get back to another one. That didn't happen, but to get back here 11 years later is great. McHugh (right) and Eamonn McGee dejected after the 2014 final. Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO 'It'll mean nothing if we can't get over the line. Kerry are a top, top team with top, top players and arguably, in my opinion anyway, the best player to play the game. It will be massive, but we're relishing it. This is where you want to be as a player, getting ready for an All-Ireland final. I've been fortunate enough to be in one before in 2014 and now we have another opportunity.' The Kilcar man has been a mainstay for Donegal since his arrival in 2013, bar a necessary break in 2023. He announced himself with 2-2 to dethrone Dublin on his All-Ireland semi-final debut, two years after captaining the minor team in 2012. That period was a whirlwind. 'It's crazy, but at the time you're so engrossed, it takes over your life. You're training five, six days a week and you don't know any different. 'I have been extremely fortunate to be born in an era of Donegal football where we have been competitive. I came into a team of my heroes and role models. I remember one of the first meetings I was in, Jim [McGuinness] has touched on it that he tries to bring the best minor up, and fortunately he felt that was me. 'I was extremely lucky to come into a dressing room with all the players I looked up to. Karl Lacey was my hero growing up. To get to follow him around, work off him and see how he lived his life, improved me . . . 'It's been football, football, football — but I wouldn't have it any other way.' Michael Murphy with Jim McGuinness. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Like Lacey on McHugh, another player who has similar effect is Michael Murphy. The 2012 All-Ireland winning captain and five-time All-Star made a sensational retirement U-turn to rejoin the Donegal panel this season. He has been instrumental on their road back to a first final since '14. 'It hasn't surprised me. There isn't a lot more that you can say about Michael. He is a phenomenal footballer, but it's the way he lives his life outside of football. He lives like a professional person and the way he conducts himself, he's a real role model and an unbelievable ambassador for our county. 'For him to come back in the shape he was in didn't surprise me. I knew he would keep himself in good shape and we saw him in the club championship. There are no words. People from all over Ireland are starting to get it now. He's a phenomenal person and a phenomenal leader and a phenomenal footballer.' Related Reads 'One of my early years, I had the match played in my head a thousand times beforehand' David Clifford 'could be the best player that has ever played the game' - McGuinness 'It's challenging but it's adding to the entertainment' - Goalkeeper view on new rules Murphy was on punditry duty when Donegal bowed out in the semi-final last year. McHugh was in the half-back line as Galway came strong at the finish. He circled the Croke Park field on his own afterwards, a familiar feeling setting in. 'We really thought that we had a huge chance of winning the All-Ireland last year. We thought that we were a good enough team and a good enough squad. With Jim back, we knew we had a top-class manager on the line. It was sheer and utter disappointment.' While still haunting, 2024 and 2014 are in the rear-view mirror. It's all about 2025 for Ryan McHugh and Donegal. *****

Familiar look to Cork football as county championship throws in
Familiar look to Cork football as county championship throws in

Irish Examiner

timean hour ago

  • Irish Examiner

Familiar look to Cork football as county championship throws in

Throw-in time for the Cork football championship. The conversation remains unchanged from the 2024 edition. Forgive the repetition, but repetition is unavoidable. Castlehaven again begin as champions. Nemo and the Barrs again are prioritised by unseating the men from the west. Everyone else, bar one or two at the bottom of the ladder, are again prioritised with breaking the latter-end stranglehold of the big three. In essence, as you were, this time 12 months ago. But of course, it isn't as you were given the game is largely unrecognisable from last summer. The new rules could lend to an interruption of the big three. They could also serve to push the Haven, the Barrs, and Nemo further clear from a chasing pack that hasn't managed to get in amongst them since Clonakilty contested and came up short of the Barrs by the minimum in the 2021 county final. Clon again appeared best placed to push through and break through. They brought the Barrs to extra-time in the recent Division 1 League final, coming up short on this occasion by two. The fixture was the latest piece of evidence of how the 2025 Cork football championship could be sung to Steven Sherlock's tune. On the opening weekend of the League, Sherlock, who opted out of the Cork set-up this year, kicked 0-15, including four two-pointers. On the final weekend of the League, and in steering St Finbarr's to early-season silverware, he kicked 0-18, including three orange flags. Mark Collins of three-in-a-row chasing Castlehaven said the champions still have to calibrate their orange flag radar. According to the former Cork footballer, their two-point conversion rate was as low as 20% during the League. The return of Cork captain Brian Hurley should help improve that particular figure, the 33-year-old having registered five of them across the Munster and All-Ireland championship. 'Our percentage was shocking, and it's something we're looking at. I think it's a lot about right option-taking. When the rules came in first, there was kind of a freshness to it and everyone was maybe looking to have a go or have a pot. Trying to nail that as the year goes on, is something we'll look at,' said Collins. The top-tier championship throws-in with a familiar pairing. Nemo versus Ballincollig (Ballygarvan, 7.30pm). They met on the opening weekend last year, Nemo winning 0-11 to 0-6. They were even more comfortable winners on the opening weekend the year previous, Nemo taking that fixture 2-11 to 0-6. Throw in the one-sided 2022 semi-final and this is the fourth consecutive year they are crossing paths. Ballincollig have yet to walk in front of the men from Trabeg during that time. Where Ballincollig finished mid-table in Division 2, Nemo were a point off making the Division 1 League decider. And so the expectation is that Nemo will again be a step or two ahead.

Paul Flynn's All-Ireland final preview
Paul Flynn's All-Ireland final preview

RTÉ News​

timean hour ago

  • RTÉ News​

Paul Flynn's All-Ireland final preview

The biggest day in the Gaelic football calendar is here – the All-Ireland football final. What a showdown we have in store: Donegal versus Kerry, two of the finest teams in the championship, going head-to-head for the Sam Maguire. At its heart, this is a battle of philosophies. Donegal bring a game built on structure – a team that thrives on their running power and seamless transitions from defence to attack. Kerry, on the other hand, are all about expression – fluid, creative, and unpredictable. The big question is: which approach will prevail? Can Kerry's flair and movement break down Donegal's defensive organisation, or will Donegal's discipline and efficiency stifle Kerry's creativity? The you have the characters – Jack v Jim, Murphy v Clifford. The individual match-ups could define the game. Brendan McCole faces the unenviable task of marking David Clifford, arguably the most dangerous forward in the game. Can McCole contain him? He'll need support from Donegal's zonal defence. In midfield, Michael Langan will go toe-to-toe with Joe O'Connor – or perhaps Diarmuid O'Connor, if he returns. And then there's Paudie Clifford, the link man for Kerry's attack. Will Ryan McHugh track him and nullify his influence? And of course, the ultimate battle of captains: Clifford versus Murphy. Two leaders, two icons, and two players capable of turning the game in a heartbeat. Both teams will need to play the moment. This is a final, and risk management will be crucial. Whose game plan carries the least amount of risk? Donegal's structure might give them the edge in control, but Kerry's ability to transition quickly could expose any gaps in Donegal's defence. It's a delicate balance – one mistake, one lapse, could be the difference. Physically, this will be a war of attrition. Donegal's running power is unmatched. Their ability to transition from attack to defence is a key strength. The question is: can Kerry match that intensity? Tyrone exposed Kerry's midfield earlier in the championship but couldn't capitalise. Donegal won't let that opportunity slip. If they dominate the middle third, Kerry could find themselves in real trouble. Kerry biggest challenge will be to unlock Donegal's zonal defence. The Tir Chonaill men are masters at protecting the arc, but can Kerry find a way through? Paudie Clifford will be key here – cutting through the D, creating overloads, and finding space for David Clifford to do what he does best. If Kerry can penetrate that defence, they'll be very hard to stop. Both teams come into this final with a siege mentality. Donegal have built a fortress-like mindset, thriving on the idea of being the underdog against the traditional powers. Kerry, meanwhile, have had to deal with internal criticism earlier in the year, and they've used that as fuel for their campaign. Neither team will give an inch, and both have the quality to dig themselves out of any tough patches during the game. There really is so little to choose between the teams. It's a clash of styles, a clash of stars, and a clash of wills. I genuinely can't split them. Extra time? Maybe. A replay? Don't rule it out. One thing's for sure – this has all the ingredients of a classic. And who knows, we might not be done with predictions just yet.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store