Tipp's fallen warrior, how to use seven subs, Westmeath hammerings, Kerry life after Moran and balancing the summer run
- Compiled by Michael Moynihan, Declan Bogue, John Fogarty, Eoghan Cormican, Alan Foley, Paul Keane, John Fallon and Mortimer Murphy
Tipp will miss Bonner’s hidden weapon.
After Saturday’s game in Thurles, Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy stood on the Semple Stadium pitch and delivered a heartfelt tribute to Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher, ruled out for the season with a serious achilles tendon injury.
Sheedy described the Lorrha man as “dictating how we want the Tipperary attitude and Tipperary spirit to be for the last 13 years” - high praise indeed, and merited by Maher’s contributions in that time to the cause. His athleticism, aggression and commitment were a huge bonus to Tipperary in big games and, as Sheedy put it, if anyone can overcome that injury successfully, Maher is a prime candidate: his return from an ACL injury suffered in 2019 is evidence of that.
In the same post-match comments Sheedy acknowledged a second week in a row when Tipperary had a high wide count - 14 against Galway, and 17 in the previous outing against Cork.
In this context the loss of ‘Bonner’ will be on Tipperary minds this week. The hard-driving forward might be synonymous with winning possession and charging directly at the opposition goal, but the ability to recycle the ball - to turn out and find a teammate in a better position - has also been a hallmark of Maher’s career.
The temptation is to assign players like him a backhanded compliment like ‘a great man to win dirty ball’, but Maher’s ability to use that ball properly was often a hidden weapon in the Tipp armoury. It’ll be missed this season.
MM.
Seven subs but in five windows. Who knew?
It seems the new rules around allowing seven substitutions are catching managers out. Both sides at the Athletic Grounds on Saturday seemed to be slightly unaware that you have five windows to get on your seven subs.
“We wanted a change, but you are not allowed to,” said Kieran McGeeney. “You are allowed seven subs but not to use them. It's five windows, it is hard to comprehend that.
I'd love to know, 'these managers, they are all wasting time.' It is ridiculous stuff, very frustrating.
“So you have to do some in twos, so if we made them in three singles as we did, you were told you have to do the rest of your subs in the next two windows.
“But some people seem to have great imaginations.”
It was the same for Brian Dooher who explained: “We had our six subs and we could have used more, but we had used up our number of occasions.
“We have a bit to go there, we have a bit to learn there too as we were caught that way, not using up our subs that way, so that was our fault on the sideline.
“It's an education for everybody.”
DB.
Kerry need to prepare for life after Moran
It would be fair to suggest David Moran has had better games against Dublin than yesterday’s outing and his 45th-minute departure was a further indication that the veteran midfielder's game-time will have to be managed this summer.
In that respect, it augurs well that the dynamism brought by Adrian Spillane alongside Diarmuid O’Connor was a factor in turning the tide in Thurles. As fulsome as Peter Keane was in his praise of O’Connor - who performed impeccably in Jack Barry’s stead - Moran remains the first choice midfielder and the team leader.
“He’d a good game today,” enthused Keane about O’Connor. “A very good second half. Quite a few of our players don’t have a lot of experience. You take him, he’s around a couple of years but he’s only 22. Still learning. Where do you want to learn? You want to learn here. That’s what it’s all about.” Giving away the late penalty to Con O’Callaghan indicated O’Connor still has a way to go but his contribution was promising as Kerry begin to consider life after Moran.
JF
Roscommon need forwards to deliver scores
Roscommon's return of 0-16 and 1-13 in their losses to Dublin and Galway is a pretty decent return but worryingly for Anthony Cunningham only six players have hit the target and three of them have nabbed just a point, with captain Enda Smith getting two. The remaining 1-24 has been scored by two players with Ciarain Murtagh getting 1-11 (0-6 frees) and Donie Smith 0-13 (10 frees).
That’s not going to be enough for an extended championship run and what was most noticeable at Pearse Stadium yesterday when they had the wind in the opening half was their reluctance to try shots, especially from distance.
They are going to need to be more adventurous and not be so dependent on Donie Smith and Ciarain Murtagh for scores, not least as championship teams won’t cough up as many frees, with Galway manager Padraic Joyce yesterday rightly querying some of the placed balls they were given.
JF
At what point is frequent exposure to hurling’s top guns counter-productive?
Three games into this season’s Allianz Hurling League Division 1 and Westmeath - who’ll operate in the second-tier come championship - have a score difference of -66.
Following their opening day 30-point hammering at home to Galway, Westmeath finished 33 points adrift of Cork on Sunday. And while they were both competitive and close to Waterford in their second outing, one has to ask what Westmeath gained from the trouncings suffered in Rounds 1 and 3.
In terms of the county’s efforts to bridge the gap to the Tier 1 counties, not to mind morale and confidence within Shane O’Brien’s camp, shipping 5-34 to Galway and 7-27 to Cork does nothing for the development of Westmeath hurling. Many would say this amounts to taking of a backward step.
And with Limerick and Tipperary to come, it’s hard to see where Westmeath will mine positives from this truncated League.
EC
Timing, and balancing, the summer run.
The conditioning of both of last year's All-Ireland finalists in Walsh Park yesterday was terrific, as evidenced by the late drive Limerick made for victory and Waterford’s ability to hold them off.
Afterwards Waterford boss Liam Cahill pointed to something many observers have missed - the challenge of getting training loads right when the championship looms so quickly after the end of the league.
“It's difficult, it's very much the case that you're watching for signs and making sure that you're not hitting the overload button.
“It's very finely tuned and we're fortunate in Waterford that the majority of the team are quite young and might be able to take that little bit more hardship than maybe an older team.
“Having said that, we have to be fierce careful because it is week after week. But we look forward to the two week break now and look forward to the last two matches, two big tests with Galway and then Tipperary the week after.”
The challenge is a complex one - get the team right physically for a mid-summer championship but also put some form together in the league. Cahill summed up that challenge neatly because it reshapes attitudes towards the last games of the national league.
Go baldheaded for victory to build that momentum for championship? Or train through to bank some valuable stamina for those championship games?
The length of the team’s summer may depend on the balancing act in the next few weeks.
MM
When we said games were coming thick and fast...
It was inevitable, I guess. With inter-county teams having lined out just twice this calendar year, and games coming “thick and fast” injurfies are forcing managers to think on their feet. And quickly.
Michael Murphy, Eoghan Ban Gallagher, Brendan McCole and Eoin McHugh all a picked up soft tissue injuries in Donegal’s 1-20 to 4-11 draw with Monaghan in Ballybofey, with Jamie Brennan having been ruled out following the 0-18 to 0-16 win over Tyrone in Omagh the weekend before.
For Donegal, thick and fast means thick and fast. A favourable result against Armagh at the Athletics Grounds will most likely lead to an Allianz League semi-final against either Dublin or Kerry, then there’s the Ulster SFC preliminary round fixture at Down in Newry on Sunday, June 27, where a win will see Derry visit Ballybofey in the quarter-final.
The winner of that tie will take on either current champions Cavan, or Tyrone, and that’s only at the provincial championship semi-final – a stage where others won’t even have to flex a muscle to get to.
AF
Experimentation is the name of the game - though not for all.
A flick through the personnel stats with two games to go in the Allianz Hurling League makes for interesting reading. By effectively picking two different teams for the Round 1 and 2 games against Cork and Westmeath, Waterford shot to the top of the league of experimentation.
Even ahead of yesterday's game against Limerick, Liam Cahill had handed game time to 31 different players. It's in stark contrast to how Antrim have gone about their business, using just 22 players so far in three games. Aside from Domhnall Nugent's late addition to the team on Saturday, it's the same Antrim team for all three games.
Wexford’s Davy Fitzgerald typically works off a slimmer core group of players than their rivals and has used 24 players so far in the campaign. He has still managed to experiment with Seamus Casey starting in goals against Laois while Gavin Bailey, Conal Flood and Mike Dwyer have lined out in their two games so far.
With seven subs temporarily permitted, a number of managers have taken full advantage including Dublin's Mattie Kenny who has made seven changes in all three of their games so far, looking at 27 players in total. Robert Byrne's debut for Tipperary against Galway on Saturday brought them up to 27 also.
PK.
O’Mahony making all the right moves in Cork defence
There’s a bit of road to travel before Cork’s Munster SFC opener (49 days in fact), but barring injury, there’s a likelihood that Daniel O’Mahony will make his first championship start, against Limerick/ Waterford, on July 10.
Full-back on last year’s Cork U20 team, O’Mahony’s was a quick graduation to the senior ranks, the Knocknagree youngster thrown in at full-back for his League debut against Kildare. And while that result was one to forget, O’Mahony was one of Cork’s brightest performers during Saturday's get-back-up-on-the-horse win over Laois. Time and again he disrupted Laois attacks and dislodged possession.
“He plays the game with the right attitude, plays on the front foot, and attacks the ball,” said Cork manager Ronan McCarthy.
There are a few contenders to join Sean Meehan and Kevin Flahive in the Cork full-back line, but at the moment, O’Mahony is the man in possession.
EC
Early days, and, as we feared, lots of injuries.
It could have been in Portlaoise or Pearse Stadium. This time it’s Tralee, and Kerry hurling manager Fintan O’Connor after their win over Meath, counting the cost of the zero-to-sixty nature of this inter-county season: “In the football on Saturday, I saw Michael Murphy on the ground for Donegal injured. Before we came back, we knew Michael O’Leary was out for the season. It’s a tough season and every night you go back training after a game, you hear of another injury. Jordan Conway tore his hamstring the first week, out for the year, Brandon Barrett tore his hamstring the second week, gone for the year and last week against Offaly, John Buckley tore a hamstring and his scan on Friday revealed it’s serious - and he is out for the season.
“So that is hard for a group as small as ours and fingers crossed that Fionán Mackessy is ok or I might have to play myself. Shane and Brendan O’Leary were back today but we have still eight maybe ten players injured and that is too many. I would think a lot of teams are suffering.”
MM
