With an experimental hue to their format if not line-up, it’s unusual that Tipperary travel as favourites to face All-Ireland runners-up Kilkenny at a venue they haven’t beaten their neighbours in 15 years.
That Michael Breen and Seamus Kennedy at the heart of this trial are two-time All-Ireland winners offers some comfort but there are risks, especially in the former’s case when he has operated a good 30 metres up the field for the last seven seasons.
The consensus is Breen’s return to a full-back role he played at minor level and a line he debuted as a senior in 2015 has been promising but it is not yet Lent. “I suppose it’s about injecting pace into every line in the field,” says former Tipperary star Michael Cleary. “Some people would say he’s a bit cavalier for a full-back but I just like the idea of it.
“Us older players have to reassess how we view the games when they’re now played in a very different way. It’s almost become basketball now, offence and defence. I would still be saying the full-back can’t stray too much from goals.”
All-Ireland winning defender and selector Declan Fanning believes Liam Cahill has given 28-year-old Breen fresh impetus after a couple of topsy-turvy seasons. “I feel over the last couple of years he has been struggling for consistency. He was either an eight out of 10 or below par and taken off. For Mikey, it’s just a new lease of life to be back there and facing the ball.
“He has massive amount of pace and power and the more exposure he gets there, the better he will get. Early doors have shown he’s going in the right direction and he’s very strong in the air.
“I suppose it’s about reading the game now, knowing when to go out in front and stay back. Maybe realising it’s better to concede a point instead of not being there when a goal goes in, but that will come. Even if he has a below-par game, it’s something they’re going to stick with for the foreseeable future, which is important.”
As interchangeable as positions in the half-backs and half-forwards have become, Kennedy’s move to wing forward was one that surprised his fellow south Tipperary man Fanning.
“That’s a change I didn’t see coming. I would have seen Seamus playing in the forwards for Mary’s regularly but to be able to transfer that to the county game, you need to be a very good hurler. He has a turn of pace and he is very clever on the ball. He’s playing a running game and interlinking and he doesn’t waste ball.”
After a horrendous 2022, Tipperary are beginning from a low base but the word from the camp is positive and tells of renewed intensity, as had been expected from Messrs Cahill and Bevans. For Tipperary to become less predictable, vigour is essential. Tactically, Colm Bonnar realised there had to be change and it’s the conviction of the pair that is beginning to execute it.
“I think overall supporters would feel there needs to be a slight change just because of the way other teams are setting up,” says Fanning, who coached Na Piaraigh in Limerick the past four years.
“If anything, in hurling now you have to be very comfortable with changing your style of play even mid-game depending on what your opponents are doing.
“Traditionally, we have stuck to what we know best and a lot of that has been going direct, but I think teams will read you too easily doing that. They can set themselves to counter that, so variety is the word now, which Tipp at this early time seem to be doing. The more of that, the more you keep the other team guessing.”
Pace remains a work-on but speed of thought and timing of action, as Eamon O’Shea used to stress, is another thing. “They could possibly do a little more pace,” acknowledges Fanning, “but I don’t think that will bother Liam and the lads.
“They will get the players to play to their strengths. If they don’t have that bit of pace up front then they will put the ball into hand or space and not taking their men on as much, runners instead coming from midfield. If there is a lack of pace, it’s not going to deter Tipp from trying to win something.”
Watched by 3,000 people, a crowd he hadn’t seen at his home pitch since 1970s, Cleary felt a little too much was made of Tipperary’s Munster HL win over Clare in Nenagh last month.
”By the time championship comes, we’ll be back to short passing and playing through the lines.
“You have to put the asterisk before what we’re seeing as it’s early in the season. Excitement would be too strong a word but there is a nice air of expectation about Tipp. They’re moving alright and there’s an energy about them.
“I don’t think anyone is saying Tipp are going to win the All-Ireland but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say Tipp won’t lose four championship games this year.”
