By John Harrington
Missed goal-chances were uppermost on Colm Bonnar’s mind after his Tipperary team were defeated by Waterford in the first round of the Munster SHC.
The Premier County led by four points at half-time after dominating the first half, but would have been in an even better position had Shaun O’Brien not saved brilliantly from Jason Forde.
The Waterford goalkeeper made another crucial save from Jake Morris in the second-half and in a match of fine margins those interventions were ultimately crucial.
“Initially disappointed not to come away with something,” said Bonnar.
“There's four championship games here and you need to bring a big game in all of these games and just looking back on the game and not having had much time to reflect I think possibly we had a very, very good start and by half-time we could have been seven or eight points up. We missed one or two very good goal chances. It would have helped us a small bit for the onslaught they brought in the second-half.
“Even after their onslaught I looked at the scoreboard and there was still only two points in it and I said, like, we're not going to go away from this Championship. We've done too much work, we've worked so hard with this bunch of lads and they weren't going to lie down.
“In fairness they came back and we had a couple of chances to draw level again at the end. I know they had a couple of wides too. They were a bit more clinical with the two goal chances they had. I think we carried a good goal threat there and that's something we'll just have to build on.
Despite the defeat, Tipperary can take a lot of positives from the match.
Inexperienced players like Craig Morgan, James Quigley, Dillon Quirke, Conor Bowe, and Conor Stakelum all impressed, so Bonnar is definitely building a promising new team.
“A lot of people forget that these are not 18 and 19 year olds,” he said. “Craig Morgan and Quigley are 23/24. They waited a long time for this opportunity. They were replacing huge players that had played for Tipp for the last 10 years but they've huge belief in what they can bring and what they're about and there's more players in that dressing-room who are only waiting for a chance.
“Today was hugely disappointing but we have to regroup very quickly and set our sights now on Clare. No doubt Brian Lohan was looking at that and sizing up what we're about. Look, we have to get the boys recovered, we have to get back in to it. We feel we can still have a say in this Championship.”
