The case of the disappearing Tipperary forwards has become one of the great mysteries of modern hurling, and Liam Sheedy must have been out scouring the back alleys of Limerick last Sunday evening trying to find out where they went in the second half of their game with Clare that afternoon.

The routine has now become quite familiar: Tipperary start like a whirlwind, penetrating opposing defences almost at will with their mixture of pace and passing movements. Scores are put on the board, and the prospect of a victory of massacre proportions presents itself.

Then things change. The scoring rate drops to negligible proportions, the lead is gradually whittled down, and the key question becomes whether Tipp will last out until the final whistle comes. The play statistics from Sunday’s game show up this trend in stark profile. Tipperary played the ball 98 times in the first half and 74 times in the second half. However, plays by the defence and midfield were much the same in both halves, so the difference was almost entirely down to a sharp reduction in the involvement of the forwards, whose number of plays fell from 45 to just 24 between the two halves.

The decline of individual Tipp players was precipitous. John O’Brien, the dominant figure in the first half with twelve plays, managed only four after the change of ends. Pat Kerwick’s eight first half plays fell to just two before he was hauled ashore in the 54th minute. Seamus Callinan’s and Eoin Kelly’s already limited contribution was reduced by half before they too were substituted. A forward line which had chalked up 3-11 in the first 46 minutes managed to eke out just four points in the remaining 27. This represents a fall in scoring rate from one point every two minutes to one every seven minutes.

That Tipperary managed to survive at all can be attributed to a number of key factors. They were gifted two soft goals by inexperience in the heart of the Clare defence, while poor marking allowed John O’Brien to dominate the airways in the midfield area throughout the first half. Their defence continued to play well despite growing pressure from the Clare forwards, with Brendan Maher proving a very able replacement for the injured Conor O’Mahony. Hugh Maloney did a good job in shoring up the midfield where Shane McGrath also did a disappearing act in the second half (eleven plays in the first half and just three before he was substituted late in the second). And James Woodlock emerged from McGrath’s shadow to become Tipperary’s most consistent player on the day with eight plays in each half. Such consistency over the course of a game has not been a notable feature of Woodlock’s career to date.

Clare will undoubtedly rue their slow start and the circumstances which forced them to field a novice in the key fullback position (although when he did get possession, James McInerney showed that he can hurl a bit). However, they will still take some pluses from the game, not least their never-say-die spirit which brought the game down to the wire. But the main positive for the Banner was the immense contribution made by Colin Ryan to their cause. An Moltóir cannot recall a more impressive debut in senior championship hurling. Ryan played the ball 15 times in open play, divided equally between both halves, and garnered 45 quality points, more than anyone else from either team. When one adds in his eight pointed frees and fabulous sideline conversion, this was a true man-of-the-match performance, notwithstanding Noel McGrath’s excellent performance for Tipperary.

As An Moltóir sees it, Clare are currently assembling what could prove to be a formidable team in the coming years. Pat Vaughan, Pat Donnellan and Brendan Bugler have emerged as top-class defenders. If Colin Ryan can consistently reproduce last Sunday’s form, their cutting edge up front will be greatly enhanced. Although a bit naïve, David Barrett is strong and showed an ability to gain possession, while John Conlon (who reportedly would have started were it not for injury) hinted that he could play a bit when introduced near the end. If minor star Conor McGrath can realise his immense potential, Clare could have an attacking unit of considerable potential.

Meanwhile, Liam Sheedy needs to figure out both why his forwards go asleep for lengthy periods in key games, and what can be done to remedy this.
It may be that it is simply impossible to maintain the kind of pace with which Tipp begin their games, but without this pace the Tipperary forwards don’t have the bottle to compete with determined opponents. Perhaps a bit more steel is needed in the central forward positions, but finding clones of Declan Ryan is easier said than done. While the emergence of Noel McGrath is a major boon for the Premier county, this is counterbalanced by further evidence that the Eoin Kelly golden era may have come to an end.

In terms of overall number of individual plays, Tipperary dominated both halves (98:79 in the first and 74:57 in the second), although this is partly attributable to a high (and sometimes needless) frequency of short passing in midfield and in the forwards. Their busiest players were James Woodlock and John O’Brien, both of whom amassed 43 quality points from 16 plays (quality points for individual plays are awarded on a scale of 1-5). Four other Tipperary players scored in excess of 30 points – Noel McGrath (35 from 12 plays), Paddy Stapleton (32/12) in his best game to date for his county, Shane McGrath (32/14) and Lar Corbett (31/12). Both O’Brien and Corbett have shown a degree of consistency this year which we have not seen before.

As mentioned already, Colin Ryan was ahead of everyone else with 45 points from 15 plays. Veteran Niall Gilligan, who had a very good second half, came next (37/14) followed by Pat Vaughan (32/11) and Diarmuid McMahon (30/14). At the other end of the scale, both sides will be concerned by the very limited contributions of Eoin Kelly (six plays) and Tony Carmody (five).

In the Munster final, Tipperary will face a Waterford team which showed last Saturday that reports of their demise have been greatly exaggerated and which will be playing on their favourite pitch (even if it is Tipperary’s home ground). Davy Fitz seems to have knitted the Déise defence into a tight unit, while they have the forwards to exploit any further Tipperary snooze periods. However, the likely loss of Stephen Molumphy, coming on top of Ken McGrath’s continued absence, is a major blow to the Waterford cause and could prove decisive in deciding the destination of this year’s Munster crown.

Play statistics (quality points in brackets):

Tipperary: Cummins B 6 (16); Stapleton P 12 (32); Curran P 7 (14); O’Brien C 10 (19); Fanning D 11 (25); O’Mahony C 9 (20); Maher P 7 (20); Woodlock J 16 (43); McGrath S 14 (32); Kerwick P 10 (24); Callinan S 9 (20); O’Brien J 16 (43); Kelly E 6 (12); Corbett L 12 (31); McGrath N 12 (35); Maher B 5 (12) Dunne B 1 (2); Ryan W 2 (4); Maloney H 6 (12); Kelly P 1 (3).

Clare: Brennan P 2 (5); Vaughan P 11 (32); McInerney J 5 (15); O’Grady G 4 (9); Donnellan P 9 (23); Bugler B 11 (27); Markham A 12 (24); O’Connell B 7 (20); Clancy J 9 925); Carmody T 5 (13); McMahon D 14 (30); Griffin T 10 (25); Gilligan N 14 (37); Barrett D 6 (17); Ryan C 15 (45); Conlon J 2 (6); O’Connell G no plays; Nugent B no plays.

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