WESTSIDE 3-8-21

Some past Leaving Certificate students will be familiar with a Julian Barnes novel entitled ‘The Sense of an Ending’. That book’s title was swirling around in my head on Saturday evening last after watching Tipperary’s exit from championship 2021.

Coming in the same week as our minors also bowed out to the Deise – 1948, I’m told, was the last time Waterford did that particular double – there is an unavoidable end-of-era feel to events. At both ends of the spectrum, minor and senior, there are issues to be faced so these are testing times for Tipperary with much to mull over and, hopefully, rectify in the months ahead.

The senior exit wasn’t entirely unexpected. Performances this year have been spotty, good in patches like the curate’s egg, but not the complete deal. The league loss to Waterford was an ominous sign. Even the win over Clare was a bit fitful as we backpedalled in the final phase of the match.

Add in the second half against Limerick in the Munster final and you get the picture of a team performing in fits and starts and never quite catching the fluency of past campaigns.

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