Latest news with #Tipperary
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
David Hyland: 'We were sick to our teeth over Leinster'
Kildare defender David Hyland is satisfied with the progress Tailteann Cup semi-finalists Kildare have made in a short space of time. The Lilywhites were beaten by Offaly in the Division 3 league final in late March and then exited the Leinster championship to Louth. But they've since blazed a trail through the Tailteann Cup and will meet Fermanagh in Sunday's semi-final at Croke Park. Hyland said Kildare's sweet quarter-final win over Offaly, turning the tables on two previous losses to the Faithful this season, proved just how much their young group has come on. "If you look at the performance we put in that day in the league final, and the performance we put in last weekend, it's chalk and cheese," said centre-back and ex-captain Hyland. "The development of the team has come a long way in the last two months or so." Kildare have clearly taken the Tailteann Cup seriously and appear desperate to win it. "We were sick to our teeth with the way Leinster turned out," continued Hyland. "We played the first two games of the Tailteann Cup and then after the Tipperary game we sat down on the Monday night and said, 'Look, we have an eight-week block now to go and win the Tailteann Cup'. "We talked about what that means for this team's development and also that it would secure Sam Maguire Cup football next year because that's ultimately why we're here, what we want to do. "After that, it was all shoulders to the wheel really. So I think it was that third game really where we knuckled down and said, 'Right, this is what we're after, four more games, let's go and win this Tailteann Cup'." Yet the experienced Athy man said that with silverware now in sight, they haven't allowed their focus to drift beyond Sunday's semi-final. "We can't because we haven't performed very well in Croke Park over the last number of years," he said. "So we need to get that off our back. And it's going to be a huge challenge obviously. It's all top teams that are left in the competition." Kildare have lost five league and championship games in a row at Croke Park since last winning a game there, a 2022 Leinster semi-final against Westmeath. And prior to that they'd lost 17 of their 24 Croke Park outings, across the league and championship, since contesting an All-Ireland semi-final in 2010. But boss Brian Flanagan has a talented bunch of young players at his disposal, many of whom contested All-Ireland U-20 finals in 2022 and 2023, winning the latter. Several more were U-20 winners in 2018. The Tailteann Cup may even be the best environment for those young players to learn their trade, though Hyland isn't sure. "I tend to disagree with that," he said. "I think the young guys we have here at the moment would be well able to mix it with the likes of a Down, a Clare, some of the teams that are in the Sam Maguire this year. We have to play the cards we were dealt obviously but I think that would have brought us on a bit more if we were in it." Attacker Jimmy Hyland looks set to miss out again with a lower leg injury and there are question marks over the fitness of Callum Bolton, Ben McCormack and Ryan Houlihan.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Andrew Ormond finding his feet in the Tipperary senior ranks
Such are the competing narratives in the Tipperary attack, the achievement of Andrew Ormond is finding space to tell and have his story heard, never mind finding space in the company of Cian Galvin and Tadhg de Búrca to torment and thrive. There is Darragh McCarthy's debut summer of red mist and razor accuracy. There is John McGrath's rejuvenated summer of relentless green. There's older brother Noel's summer of record appearances and ageless vision. And we could hardly omit Jake Morris' coming-of-age summer. And so you'd think, from that, that the Tipp forward unit was already busy enough and sufficiently stuffed with championship plotlines and performers. Think again. Andrew Ormond's story, up until 6pm on May 10, was of a decorated underage talent that failed to achieve the senior breakthrough. His story was that of a Tipp minor, a Harty Cup and Croke Cup winner with Our Lady's Templemore, all in 2017, and a Munster and All-Ireland U20 winner in 2019. From 1-2 in the 2019 U20 final victory over Cork and 1-3 in the Munster U20 final defeat to the same opposition a year later, Liam Sheedy saw enough to bring Ormond into the senior panel in 2021. It was, however, four seasons later in February 2024 before his senior competitive debut arrived. His 2024 championship involvement, meanwhile, amounted to 20 minutes at the end of a Limerick lashing and a first start for their already-eliminated final-round clash against Clare. Forgive the chronological nature of the piece thus far but it is necessary to paint the clearest picture possible of his silverware-laden teenage years, his in-the-wilderness early 20s, and his stunning senior announcement of recent weeks. He started Tipp's first two League games of 2025 and didn't start again for another 97 days until the aforementioned May 10. A fortnight earlier he was the first sub introduced against Cork in a game long gone from them. In 31 minutes on the field, the JK Brackens clubman had four possessions. A goal shot saved, a point, a handpass intercepted, and a wide. Nothing spectacular there and yet still enough felt Cahill to promote him for the must-win spin to Ennis. From centre-forward, he had six first-half possessions. Two goals, a secondary assist and defence-opening pass for John McGrath's opening goal, and an assist to Morris for a goal shot that ended as a converted 65. Arguably more important was his contribution in the first 11 minutes to a second half where Tipp, against the elements, managed only three points. Ormond assisted the first, nailed the second himself, and was fouled for the third. Fast forward to the 70th minute and Tipp's lead wobbling at the minimum, Ormond was found drawing another foul, but this time way back in his own half. Ken Hogan was invited onto the Irish Examiner Dalo's hurling show podcast the Monday after to explain the Tipp result and explain the origins of Ormond's out-of-nowhere influence. 'He's highly rated in Tipp. Has all the underage medals. Low to the ground, great centre of gravity. Probably not the greatest finisher, they would say in Tipp. But by God he got his chances on Saturday and buried two goals. That's a huge fillip; you brought in a new guy in Andrew Ormond and you brought in the old guy in John McGrath, and both contributed hugely,' said the former Premier goalkeeper. That 'not-the-greatest-finisher' perception was further punctured a week later against Waterford. The centre-forward's numbers were incredible. Between the 15th and 20th minute, he laid off the final pass for a pair of John McGrath points, clipped his second point, and was fouled for another. Across six minutes early in the second period, he was fouled on three occasions, two of which were converted, and added to his own tally with another white flag. His numbers had Anthony Daly asking Liam Sheedy in the makeshift RTÉ studio, 'where have you been hiding this fella'? Across the two starts and 28 possessions, he registered 2-4 and was directly involved in another 1-10. 'He first came in in 2021, was in around the group, but never really featured. To see where he is now; the Clare match gave him massive confidence,' said Sheedy on a recent edition of the Examiner hurling podcast. Ormond and his underage buddy Jake Morris rotate and drift in and out of the No.11 slot. A double centre-forward if you will, even if at times neither are occupying that slot. Waterford were far too slow to either press up or sit a midfielder deep during their Round 4 defeat in Thurles. If Gavin Lee is retained at centre-back for Galway and is tasked with offering protection to an injury-hit full-back line not overloaded with pace, then a David Burke or a Ronan Glennon or whichever midfielder is not obsessed with pushing forward must be obsessed with limiting the influence of a confidence-high bolter whose hit 2-7 across his three starts this summer. 'We took our learnings from last year, said at the start of the year, this is the year now, there's no better time than the present, we're not looking back, it's all about looking forward now,' Ormond remarked following his man of the match display against the Déise. He was talking about Tipp's 2025 story. He could easily have been talking about his own.
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Bonner Maher sees no summer sag in Liam Cahill's methods
It's been a nagging criticism of Liam Cahill's teams over the years, that they burn a little too brightly in winter and spring, only to fade out in the summer. Hurling pundit Brian Carroll went in hard on the issue last January after reports of Cahill's Tipperary panel engaging in spartan winter training. "This is year six of Liam Cahill doing the same thing over and over again on repeat," claimed Carroll. "It's like, dog them in the winter, take it really seriously during the league, and then they run out of steam come June." Tipp did contest this year's league final, standing up Carroll's argument somewhat, but, crucially, their form hasn't dipped in the Championship. They're even breaking new ground of sorts, stringing together three wins in a row in the Championship for the first time since winning the All-Ireland in 2019. And if they beat Galway on Saturday evening, they'll be through to a first semi-final in six years. No signs then of any summer slippage. "The way the Championship is in Munster, you're trying to peak early because Munster is so competitive," said three-time All-Ireland winner Patrick Bonner Maher who played under Cahill last year before retiring. "I wouldn't believe that (criticism) at all. I would have always thought we were in fairly good shape and I wouldn't have seen it petering out, so I can't really comment on that myself. I certainly wouldn't have seen it." Cahill addressed the criticism himself when talking to reporters after Tipp's league win over Kilkenny last March. "People say Tipperary under Liam Cahill will win matches in the spring but can they do it in the summer?" noted Cahill. In a separate interview, he said people think that Cahill 'kills them in training and has them flogged to death before the Championship' comes around. The former Tipp underage guru said the reality last year, when they failed to get out of the Munster group, was that they actually 'hadn't enough work done'. Maher noted that Tipp 'went hard at it early this year and the fruits of that are being shown now' with last weekend's preliminary quarter-final demolition of Laois setting up the Galway date. So were Tipp undercooked last year, as Cahill suggested? "I'm not 100 percent sure," shrugged Maher. "Looking back on it now, it's easy to pick out things that could possibly have gone wrong or left us short. We would have felt we were fairly fit." Tipp looked fresh and fully tuned in when putting 3-32 on the board against Laois last Saturday. Their challenge now is to maintain that high energy rate and to avoid a repeat of their 2023 quarter-final defeat to Galway. They were coming off a big preliminary quarter-final win back then too. "I remember that game down in Limerick, we were fully primed," said Maher. "One or two things just went against us, goals went against us, and it just deflated us on the day." Bonner, 35, will look on this time as an interested spectator. After 16 years as a Tipp senior, he's content with the decision he made to step away. "The body is very good thankfully," he said. "I'm playing a good bit of golf, training away, running away." He's busy at work too, with an EV charging company having finished up with the Irish Army. "I actually found out I was a coeliac," he explained of his departure from the army. "You can't serve in the army being a coeliac so I was medically discharged. I was lucky that I had my degree and masters to fall back on. It kind of pivoted my direction. That's where I'm at." * Former Tipperary hurler Patrick Bonner Maher was speaking at the launch of the 2025 Electric Ireland All-Ireland minor championships.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Times
Joe Canning: Everything is coming together for Tipperary at the right time
At other times of the year, momentum is something that you can build towards. At this time of the season, nobody wants to be looking for it. The reality with the hurling quarter finals , though, is that at least two teams arrive damaged every year, and a third team are probably licking their wounds too. This year, Tipperary are the team coming with their tails up. Even though they finished third in Munster, there's hardly a mark on them. They haven't lost a game since they were beaten by Cork at the end of April, and that game was a free hit once Darragh McCarthy was sent off in the first minute. That's the only game they've lost since the league final. In the last couple of months, everything has come together. They were very good against Limerick , good enough against Waterford , excellent against Clare and professional against Laois . Their under-20s won a brilliant All-Ireland against Kilkenny and the crowds have come back. The whole mood has changed. Liam Cahill started the season pleading with the Tipp supporters to get behind the team. The memory of them being outnumbered five-to-one by Cork supporters for a game in Thurles last summer would still have been fresh in his mind. READ MORE The embarrassment of that day is long gone. There were four teams in Portlaoise last Saturday for a hurling and football double-header and the biggest crowd was from Tipp, even though everyone knew they were going to win handy. For the first time since early in 2023, Tipperary have momentum. There's an energy about them. Half a dozen of the under-20s are on the senior panel and three of them have made a breakthrough this year: McCarthy, Sam O'Farrell and Oisín O'Donoghue. Tipp needed that injection of freshness. They have more consistency in key positions, and they needed that stability too. Ronan Maher is no longer going around putting out fires: he's their number six and that's it. Eoghan Connolly is the established full back now, even though there is a doubt about his fitness for this weekend. Jake Morris and Andrew Ormonde have been effective at centre forward at different times and both of them have been terrific. John McGrath has come back in from the margins and has had a brilliant championship at full-forward, and his brother Noel has influenced games off the bench. The only big change they've made during the championship has been with the goalie. Otherwise, the spine of the team has been settled. Tipp haven't had that for a long time. Tipp is the kind of place where confidence tends to take off. When the provincial championships were finished, I saw Tipp supporters online mapping out their path to Croke Park: Laois, Galway, then Cork. In their minds, Laois and Galway were just stepping stones. When the Tipp crowd came back, that kind of thinking was going to come with them. Micheál Donoghue made it clear that Galway didn't play in the Leinster final the way they had planned. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho Galway are not in that place at the moment. I didn't think they'd beat Kilkenny in the Leinster final , but I thought they'd bring a performance. I don't think anybody thought it would be like the game in Nowlan Park a few weeks earlier. For an hour it was just as bad. Galway have been here before, coming into a quarter final on the back of a disappointing Leinster final. The pattern, though, is that Galway have usually come up with something. The last time Galway lost at this stage of the championship was in 2013, when Clare beat us. Since then, Galway's record is five from five. I can't remember any year when we were bouncing into the quarter finals feeling great about ourselves. In 2016 we had been poor against Kilkenny in the Leinster final and were hammered in the media afterwards, but we still came out and beat Clare. Galway blew a Leinster final against Kilkenny two years ago but played very well against Tipp in the quarter-final two weeks later. When you look back at the teams from that match, Tipp have made more changes than Galway in the last two years. I've heard people say that Galway are still depending on players from the 2017 team for leadership, and it's hard to argue with that: the two Mannions, the two Burkes, Conor Whelan. [ Tipperary are back in the groove and Jake Morris admits county minors helped light the spark Opens in new window ] But how many leaders do you need on a team? It's a funny thing. Before we won the All-Ireland in 2017, people were always saying that we lacked leaders. Players from the team of the late 1980s – the last Galway team to win an All-Ireland before us – were always giving interviews, pointing out what we were lacking. It used to drive me mad. New leaders will emerge in this group too but it's hard for younger players to step into that role when results haven't been great. Since the 2017 All-Ireland final, Galway have won just one championship game in Croke Park – against Wexford in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. For the last few years Galway have been coming up short in big matches. In that environment, it's not easy for young players to flourish. I'm certain that Galway will come up with something this weekend. After the Leinster final Micheál Donoghue made it clear that Galway didn't play the way they had planned. They've had a fortnight to sort that out. They obviously need more from their forwards: not just a higher work rate, but more scores. The whole package. Cathal Mannion's form has been outstanding but whatever he scores won't be enough unless others chip in. [ Galway's Fintan Burke bullish in advance of championship quarter-final against Tipp Opens in new window ] When Galway and Tipp met in the quarter final two years ago Conor Whelan scored 1-4 from play. That year he was playing in his customary position close to goal; this year he has been playing in the half-forward line. They need him there as a target for puck-outs, but it also means Galway's threat close to goal has been reduced. That's a hard balancing act. I'm convinced that we'll see a positive response from Galway on Saturday. I hope the Galway crowd turn up, but I wouldn't be sure about that. The Tipp crowd definitely will. They're on a roll. It might not stop this weekend.
Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tipperary star says he retired knowing good times were coming again
The recent win over Waterford put a stop to a couple of troubling runs that Tipperary had been on. Firstly, it was their first home Championship win since 2019 while, when added to the win over Clare in Ennis, it meant that they had also bridged a six-year gap to when they last recorded successive Championship victories. 'It's probably a reflection of how competitive Munster is,' says Patrick 'Bonner' Maher, who retired after last year's desperately disappointing Championship campaign. 'That's just being honest. 'You look at the fact that the current All-Ireland champions are out of the Championship already. Munster is an absolute pit and it's touch and go on the teams to get out of there. 'Obviously Limerick have been so dominant in the last while but I think the rest of the group are beginning to catch up, which is good to see. But as a stat, no back-to-back wins since 2019 was a very disappointing one from a Tipp point of view." The win over Laois last Saturday was their third on the spin and a fourth against Galway in tomorrow's All-Ireland quarter-final would bridge yet another gap to 2019. There's one more too: a victory would send Tipperary into their first semi-final in six years, which is already the longest streak that they've had without reaching the last four since 1971-87. They have lost quarter-finals to tomorrow's opponents in 2020 and 2023, as well as to Waterford in 2021. Maher was injured two years ago and so didn't feature against Galway, though the game had a similar backdrop to this one as Tipp had just come through a routine preliminary quarter-final against Offaly seven days earlier. 'I remember that game down in Limerick, we were fully primed,' he recalled. 'One or two things went against us, goals went against us and it just deflated us that day. 'But I don't think it had anything to do with the Offaly game the week before, to be honest. I just think Galway were hungrier on the day and they just got over the line.' Maher was always going to call it quits regardless of how the 2024 season played out, but it still represented an inglorious end to his decorated career. The recent uplift doesn't give him any cause for regret at not giving it another year, however. 'I was happy to walk away at that stage with the body in semi-good nick and being able to walk away with a bit of pride in myself. 'Coming to the end of '24, I knew that the campaign didn't go well, but I could see the green shoots that were in there around the group. I knew Tipperary would do well moving forward. 'Another thing I said to myself was maybe the time for me to step away is now and give some younger player, one of them under-20s, an opportunity to come into the panel, take a place, and drive it on from there.' His departure left just one survivor from the 2010 All-Ireland winning side - Noel McGrath, who is still doing a job for the team. Maher added: "We can all see that Noel is a generational player. He's always had it since we were playing together at minor and I suppose under-16 level. He's always had something special about him. Fair play to him, he's some operator. 'It was a joy to play beside him for so long. You probably don't see half the work that he does away from the field to get himself into the condition. He looks after himself fierce well to still be able to operate at the level he is. 'He's up there with one of the best club hurlers in Tipperary as well. You'll see him any day lining out for Loughmore and how he can make the sliotar talk. It's great to see that he's still doing the job and it looks like there's plenty left in the tank with him too, which is great to see."
