John McGrath still in the dark about his topsy-turvy Tipperary form

Irish Examiner

11 hours ago

You'll remember it as the National League game in March between Tipperary and Kilkenny, when four players were sent off.
For John McGrath, that Division 1A encounter, which Tipp won, had an entirely different significance. It was exactly 12 months to the day since he'd previously started a competitive game for Tipp and the goal poaching inside forward was desperate to show Liam Cahill something, anything, to turn his head.
McGrath scored two points against Kilkenny but was replaced with 20 minutes to go and didn't feature at all in their last two league games, one of which was the final. Closing in on his 31st birthday, and with a couple of seasons of indifferent form behind him, a period punctuated by injuries, he was sailing close to yesterday's man territory.
Five months on from that Kilkenny game, Tipp are All-Ireland champions again and McGrath is in the conversation for the Hurler of the Year award.
Good luck trying to convince a player who has just found his missing mojo that he might be as well off bowing out on a high now.
PwC GAA/GPA Player of the Month for July in hurling, John McGrath of Tipperary, with his award at PwC offices in Dublin. Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
"After the year that's just gone by, I'd be mad to be going anywhere," smiled McGrath, the PwC Player of the Month for July in hurling.
He ended up starting all eight of Tipp's Championship games and returned 7-16, including 2-2 in the final whitewash of Cork. Getting the nod for the Munster opener against Limerick was a surprise at the time but he repaid Cahill's faith with 2-1.
"When Liam came to me and said they were going to put me in, I put a huge emphasis on that game then, just for myself," revealed McGrath, who was aware he hadn't started a Championship game since 2023.
"I probably made it out in my own head to be a lot bigger than the first round of a Munster championship. Maybe that was just what I needed at the time. I got the opportunity for the frustration I had built up, to let it off and just release it."
McGrath still has a lot of unanswered questions about it all. Like why he was jettisoned for those last two league games.
"I did okay that day against Kilkenny, without being really threatening, but I did okay," he reckoned.
And, generally, why had he suddenly struggled to do things which came so easy earlier on in his career? He was a two-time All-Ireland medallist, from 2016 and 2019, and an All-Star after all.
The Achilles injury that he picked up in the summer of 2022 was a serious one and naturally halted his gallop but, if he's honest, a rot had set in even before that.
"I've had my head wrecked thinking about stuff like this for a long time," he said. "I remember before Covid kind of started, I felt as good as I ever had. Really, really good. I enjoyed the club campaign when it kicked off that year. I remember then going back to play the inter-county championship later that year and it was like I was carrying two blocks around with me. Just for no apparent reason.
"I don't know what you can put it down to. We would have played a lot of club games but it didn't seem to affect other guys to the same extent. The trend kind of continued for a little while that I was still having quite good club campaigns but at times I felt miles off the inter-county stuff, in terms of just being a yard or two slower, chasing everything and I was just constantly under pressure."
He still isn't any the wiser about why things went south, before suddenly pivoting and trending northwards again this summer.
"I've no real sliding doors moment or any one or two things I could put it down to," he shrugged. "I wish I knew, it would be great."
He's back on the club beat now with Loughmore Castleiney, championship games in both hurling and football already under the belt since Tipp's season ended.
There'll probably be another All-Star award to pick up shortly. He wasn't sure if he'd see these days again.
He is grateful to Cahill, for trusting him as he did when there were other options available for the Limerick game. And for steering Tipp back from the brink generally over the last 12 months or so when the world and his mother were blaming the bainisteoir for apparently training his teams too hard.
"It's easy to throw different narratives out when things aren't going well," said McGrath. "I think players and management, everyone just kind of looked inside themselves first and foremost. And everyone came back with the right attitude, that there was no one blaming or second guessing anyone else. We knew we had good people and the right people to fix the wrongs of our performances in the previous few years."