Tipp v Limerick: Is Resilience and Fighting Spirit Enough?
The general outline of last Sunday’s confrontation between Tipperary and Limerick is simple and clearcut. Tipperary got off to a good start, but once the Limerick halfback line assumed dominance, the supply lines to the Tipp inside men was cut off. While the introduction of Redser O’Grady succeeded to a certain extent in limiting the ascendancy of the Limerick half backs, Limerick continued to dominate with the help of a powerful second half performance from their midfielders. However, they failed to translate their outfield superiority into scores, thereby leaving themselves open to a predictable double whammy in the shape of Tipperary’s late goals.
That Limerick managed to come back from these two setbacks indicates a resilience and fighting spirit which had been noticeably absent over the last year or two. Arguably it was this spirit, rather than innate skill, which carried the county to its three under-21 titles in a row. Those teams, in An Moltóir’s view, had few players of real quality, Peter Lawlor being an outstanding exception. One is reminded of the Limerick team of 1980-81 which also compensated for its lack of skill with a tremendous commitment which carried them to two Munster titles (but no further).
What last Sunday’s game demonstrated clearly is that neither team carries much in the way of forward threat. The only players in either team who looked capable of scoring whenever they got the ball were Eoin Kelly and Niall Moran. Clare’s experience in the league final showed that there is little point in having your one scoring forward in the full forward line if there is no decent ball coming in. It took the Tipperary mentors quite a while to figure this out and move Eoin Kelly to the half forwards.
On this showing, Donncha Sheehan seemed to be all at sea when he got the ball, Donie Ryan’s only tactic seemed to be to run at the defence looking for frees, Andrew O’Shaughnessy was rather peripheral and, while working hard, Conor Fitzgerald offered little scoring threat. For Tipperary, while Lar Corbett got on the ball a little more often than is his norm, he still only managed his usual single point. Paddy O’Brien hadn’t a hope with the kind of ball that was (and wasn’t) coming in, and their original half forward line might as well have stayed at home.
An Moltóir’s tally of individual plays mirrors the trend of the game quite well. Remember, a “play” is defined as where a player plays the ball to some beneficial effect for this team. This includes knockdowns and blockdowns and deliberate deflections which work to the team’s benefit, as well as shots that go wide. It does not include situations where a player gains possession but fails to use it to effect. At times, it was difficult to determine who had made a play, partly because a lot of players look the same on the screen, and partly because Ger Canning is not very reliable in identifying players.
Canning also pronounced Francis Devanney’s name as “Devenney”, a mistake a real hurling man would not have made. This error was repeated by Pat Spillane (who presumably simply took it up from Canning’s commentary) in the ‘Sunday Game’. It is an insult to hurling folk to have this man trying to conduct a discussion on hurling. Clearly the inferior treatment of hurling which is a hallmark of the GAA has now been passed onto the national broadcaster.
In terms of overall plays, the first half was quite even, with Limerick on 61 to Tipperary’s 59. However, in the second half Limerick moved up to 78 plays against Tipp’s 61, giving an overall total of 139-120. In the first half, the Limerick half backs played the ball 22 times between them. The tally for the Tipp half backs was 12 and for their half forwards 11. However, for all their outfield dominance, the Limerick full forwards only managed eight plays in the first half compared with ten for their Tipp counterparts.
While the Limerick half backs continued to perform strongly in the second half, the real donkey work was done by the two O’Gradys in midfield, who made an amazing 22 plays (fairly equally divided) after the change of ends. Colin Morrissey, who was probably Tipperary’s most consistent performer, did his best to keep the ship afloat but, as is his wont, Paul Kelly became a largely peripheral figure as the heat was turned up. As a result of the O’Gradys’ dominance, the Tipperary wing backs were completely by-passed (just three plays between the two of them in the second half, which is extraordinary for a hurling game at this level). As a result, plays by the Limerick full forwards almost doubled, to 14.
Overall, the two busiest players on the field were the O’Gradys, with 16 plays each. On the Limerick side, they were followed by Ollie Moran (14), Niall Moran and Peter Lawlor (13) and Brian Geary (11). Tipp’s busiest player was Colin Morrissey (13) followed by Paul Curran (12), David Kennedy (11) and Eoin Kelly (10). Ollie Moran spoiled a very strong performance with two slipshod clearances which handed Tipperary their second half lifeline. The first was a loose clearance up the middle which went straight to the unmarked Colin Morrissey whose well-aimed high ball produced Redser’s goal (greatly facilitated by the fact that O’Grady was being marked by the diminutive Damian Reale). Almost immediately afterwards Moran sent a poor line ball straight to the equally unmarked Tommy Dunne who nailed a trademark point from 70 yards.
A few other notes from the game. Andrew O’Shaughnessy should have been red carded for striking Paul Kelly with his hurley. The penalty award to Limerick was ridiculous (although the referee may have got the impression that Donie Ryan played the ball on his stick halfway through his twelve steps – why aren’t better positioned linesmen allowed to flag fouls in situations like this?). Criticisms of Brendan Cummins for the first Limerick goal may be a little harsh – for a shot played off the hurley it came in quite fast and bounced up unexpectedly on the second hop, so Cummins did well to stop it at all.
An Moltóir noticed that Conor Fitzgerald went down, apparently injured, at two important junctures in the second half – just after Tipperary got their first goal and just after Limerick went back into a two-point lead. Could this be a tactic learned from his footballing brethren of preventing the opposition from getting momentum going? Certainly from the TV images it is difficult to make out what was wrong with Fitzgerald in these instances.
Finally, the decision of the referee to blow up proceedings when he did was totally premature. After the extra three minutes of play was announced, there was a 25 second delay for the second injury to Fitzgerald, while the delay following Tipperary’s second goal when the referee was penalising Redser O’Grady lasted for over a minute. Given that the referee even then blew up 15 seconds early indicates that up to two minutes more should have been played before the termination of proceedings.
Those who are seeking to draw a direct line between last Sunday’s game and next Saturday’s replay are running in the face of history. Very rarely is there much similarity between draws and replays. Two years ago, Limerick drew with Waterford in a riproaring scorefest; six days later the Déise ground out a result in a low-scoring contest of numbing mediocrity. What are the chances of a high-scoring extravaganza on Saturday with Eamonn Corcoran emerging as man of the match and Lar Corbett reaching the dizzy heights and knocking over two points?
One last word directed at those sports journalists who routinely mine this column for statistics and other information. Is there any chance that you would adhere to your journalistic code of ethics and at least acknowledge the website from which this material is drawn?
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