Sean Og’s five tips for Tipp to stop five-in-a-row

All the talk has been about Kilkenny's injuries. That suits Tipp, but they need everything to go their way to stop the five-in-a-row, writes Sean Og O hAilpin in his latest exclusive column for JOE.ie.

 

I expect Kilkenny to go on and win the five-in-a-row next weekend. They’re even better than last year, demolishing teams with big scores, and I just don’t think Tipperary are reaching the same high standards as a year ago.

But I’ve always been a fan of the underdog and I’m a Munster man, so my heart wants Tipp to win. I suppose, if I’m being honest, there’s a bit of me that wants to see Kilkenny stopped. They’re Cork’s arch-enemies and every title they win is one more than Cork. Still, if they can achieve the five-in-a-row next week, it’ll be a phenomenal achievement and I’ll be the first to congratulate them.

And yet, there hasn’t been a whole lot of talk over the last week about the five-in-a-row. And there’s been none at all about Tipperary. The only thing that’s been spoken of is the injuries in the Kilkenny camp, and Henry Shefflin in particular.

Touch wood, I’ve never had a cruciate ligament injury. The worst knee injury I had was in 2001, when I ruptured my patella tendon and missed a year. The man I had to thank for getting me back right was Ger Hartmann in Limerick. I was in rehab with him for a long time and I can honestly say that without his work I wouldn’t have made as successful a recovery as I did. He’s world-renowned, the top athletes around the world are coming to him every week for specialist work. You see some of the notes the Kenyan athletes sign for him. “Thank you, daktari.”

Ger is the best in the business, so the injured Kilkenny players – Henry Shefflin and I believe John Tennyson and Richie Power have been with him as well over the last few weeks – are in the best possible hands. But if Henry gets back on the field in an All-Ireland final next Sunday, four weeks after tearing his cruciate ligament, it would be unbelievable. It would defy science.

When you think that professional sportsmen are usually out for a long time when they do their cruciate, it’s miraculous for Henry to be even close to playing so soon after the injury. The key to it might be that he didn’t go for surgery straight away. With good treatment you might be able to build up the knee, and that’s what they’re hoping for.

But if you were to ask me whether Henry Shefflin will be able to put in the kind of performance next Sunday that we know he’s capable of, I just couldn’t see it. He’s Kilkenny’s spiritual leader, and the boost of getting him on the field, even if he doesn’t touch a ball, could be worth three or four points. He won’t be thinking of it like that. He won’t want to play just for the sake of playing, he’ll want to put in a performance, but I’d have my doubts.

The crowds were out at Nowlan Park during the week when word spread that Henry was back on the field. Even when Cork were going well, preparing for All-Ireland finals, I don’t think we ever had more than 300 at a training session. They say 8000 people turned up at Nowlan Park the other night, so the atmosphere in Kilkenny must be incredible.

Taking all that into account, Tipperary are coming in under the radar. I’m sure there are people who’ve forgotten Tipp are in the final, but that’ll suit them down to the ground. They’re underdogs, but they have a chance of causing a shock. If it was any other team, I wouldn’t think they’d be within an ass’s roar of Kilkenny, but Tipp don’t fear Kilkenny like some other counties might. They have the tradition, they’ve beaten Kilkenny in more All-Ireland finals than anyone else, and that counts for something. They won’t be mentally overawed by the occasion, that’s for sure.

So how can Tipp win? Well, first off, if Kilkenny play to their potential, they’ll win. That’s all there is to it. If Tipp are to do it, everything has to go right for them.

1. It goes without saying, but they have to take every chance that’s going. They can’t squander scoreable shots, or take pot-shots from long range. They need to take everything that comes their way, and that includes goals. They can’t hope to win the game without a couple of goals.
2. At the back, they have to stop conceding goals. They conceded three to us in Munster, three to Galway in the quarter-final and even though they were coasting against Waterford the last day they still let in a soft goal. Kilkenny will approach the game the exact same way as they did against us. They’ll go for the jugular early. Tipp survived that in the first half last year, and they’ll have to do it again this time.
3. All the big guns – Eoin Kelly, Lar Corbett, Noel McGrath – have to have big games for Tipp. They had big games against Kilkenny last year, and that was one of the main reasons why they were in with a chance of winning the game. That has to happen again.
4. Breaking ball. Kilkenny killed us at the breakdown in the semi-final. I don’t know what the stats were but going back to Cork on the bus, I remember thinking that they were quicker and hungrier to every breaking ball. Their midfielders win a world of breaking ball from puck-outs, and they have a system in the forwards – a long ball will go in, just one player will contest it and you’ll have three or four others arriving at different angles for any breaks. Tipp have to be able to counteract that in all areas of the field.
5. From puck-outs, Tipperary will have to devise a plan to limit the impact of the Kilkenny half back line. It doesn’t look like Brian Hogan or John Tennyson will be playing but that doesn’t mean they’ll be a whole lot weaker in the half back line. James Ryall came in and did well in the semi-final, he’s strong under the dropping ball and has plenty of experience, and wing backs Tommy Walsh and JJ Delaney are two of the best in the business. Tipp goalkeeper Brendan Cummins worked the short puck-outs well against Waterford, they were able to get overlaps and work it forward, and they’ll have to do that well again next Sunday.

When all is said and done, though, it’s Kilkenny’s for the taking. They have the players all over the field – John Dalton is keeping Michael Kavanagh out of the team. Jackie Tyrrell, JJ Delaney, Tommy Walsh. Michael Fennelly came of age against us in the semi-final. Cha Fitzpatrick looks to be coming back into form. TJ Reid is finally getting the credit he deserves. Richie Power has been around for a few years – I marked him for a while in the 2006 All-Ireland final – but he’s close to being a superstar now. I’ve only named seven or eight of them, and I’ve no doubt they have a list of lads on the subs bench who would be key players for any other county in Ireland.

Head Kilkenny. Heart Tipp.