Tipperary boss admits his side have work to do as Clare storm into League final
THIS WAS a no-show Liam Cahill did not see coming.
His Tipperary team were buzzing in training all week but got devoured by a Clare side that brought all the intensity and accuracy to this League semi-final.
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The Bannermen opened with eight unanswered points before Tipp knew where they were. And even when it got close, they finished by outscoring their battered opponents 0-8 to 0-2 in the final 25 minutes to ease into the final against Kilkenny.
The manner of the defeat leaves the Premier with some head-scratching to do before their Munster Championship opener against Limerick next month.
Cahill conceded: “We’ve a fair bit of work ahead of us for the next five weeks.
“When the stakes go up, different players react differently. Some of our players today when the pressure cooker was turned up fairly high just weren’t able to find the answers.
“That comes with practice. They’ll have to go away, take the lessons out of that, and work hard on it.
“We’ve to have quite a number of discussions as a manager and players between now and the next five weeks to really make fellas aware of where they’re at, what areas they need to improve on, and give them the support to do that.
“I have to really get behind these players now. They don’t become bad hurlers after one 70 minutes in the middle of March. Our goal was always the 28th of April. That’s what we’re aiming for.”
While Clare had perfect free-taking from Aidan McCarthy (0-8) and Mark Rodgers (0-3), Tipp had 19 wides including an incredible nine from frees.
Jason Forde had four misses, Gearóid O’Connor and Seán Ryan two each, and Willie Connors one as they never found their range.
WORK TO DO
Cahill said: “The narrative coming into today was who will take the frees. We still have plenty of options there, we just struck a day where everybody decided to be off on the one day.
“I still have massive belief in all my players. I can’t say that enough. It’s a difficult day out there. Conditions for the last couple of weeks and months have been horrendous but still, you can’t be leaving them chances after you.
“I’m not going to make excuses either. We’re disappointed we’re not in the League final. That’s the long and short of it really.”
All of Clare’s League games had been decided by no more than one score and there was no hint beforehand that this semi-final should be any different. What transpired on the field was poles apart.
With the wind at their backs, Clare stormed out of the traps. Rising star Keith Smyth had two points inside 60 seconds and they were 0-8 ahead before Tipp had mustered their first shot from play.
Brian Lohan said: “It wasn’t an eight-point breeze but it was a difficult breeze to shoot into. We got a bit of momentum, our turnover figures were pretty good, and we were able to build up that eight-point lead.”
Rodgers almost added a goal but his shot skittled wide, while Forde fired a snapshot over at the other end.
GETTING BACK
Before long, there were two goals in the space of a minute. Tipp were back in touch as Dan McCormack’s superb pass picked out Jake Morris for his fifth major in five games.
But he was the only starting forward to do real damage and Fitzgerald responded by rippling the roof of the net straight from the puck-out.
They led 1-14 to 1-7 at half-time, although John Conlon appeared lucky to avoid a second yellow card for a foul on Forde.
Cahill had no complaints, adding: “Clare started the match like a rocket and we didn’t seem to have the answers.
“It was 8-nil before we knew where we were. We were struggling in a lot of areas, struggling to get to the pitch of it, and outbattled in the physical stakes.
“The start is the most disappointing thing about it all. If I envisioned anything going wrong, I didn’t envision us being eight points down and waiting until 11, 12 minutes for our first score.
“I wouldn’t have said that was on the cards coming today, with the way these fellas trained during the week.
“The day they do bring their training form to the pitch, they’ll be a match for anyone.”
INSTANT IMPACT
Substitute Seán Hayes hadn’t even heard his name announced over the public address before he had a goal within 13 seconds of the throw-in, created by Conor Bowe’s driving run.
His fellow subs Alan Tynan and Seán Kenneally helped to cut the deficit to two but Tipp would only land two further points in the final 25 minutes.
Clare had earlier lost their free-taker Rodgers for a concussion assessment but McCarthy took over in a seamless transition and made light of a strong wind. All the while, Tipp kept on missing the target.
They ended with Morris sent off for a second yellow card deep in stoppage time.
While Tipp go back to the drawing board, Lohan is hoping to have Tony Kelly and Shane O’Donnell available for the decider against Kilkenny.
THE SIDES
CLARE: É Quilligan; C Leen, C Cleary, A Hogan 0-1; D Ryan 0-1, J Conlon, C Galvin 0-1; C Malone 0-1, D Lohan 0-1; D Fitzgerald 1-3, D Reidy 0-3, P Duggan; K Smyth 0-2, M Rodgers 0-3, 3f, I Galvin.
Subs: A McCarthy 0-8, 6f, 1 65 for Rodgers 22 mins (temp), S Morey for Lohan 47-54 (temp), S Meehan for Smyth 52, Morey for Conlon 56, S Rynne for I Galvin 63, Rory Hayes for Hogan 66, P Crotty for Reidy 70+2.
TIPPERARY: B Hogan; C Morgan, R Maher, B O’Mara; D McCormack 0-1, R Byrne, M Breen; W Connors 0-1, C Bowe; C Stakelum, G O’Connor, D Stakelum; J Morris 1-2, P Maher, J Forde 0-6, 5f.
Subs: A Tynan 0-1 for D Stakelum h-t, S Hayes 1-0 for P Maher h-t, S Kenneally 0-1 for C Stakelum 43 mins, Johnny Ryan for Bowe 55, S Ryan 0-1f for O’Connor 61.
Referee: L Gordon (Galway).
