This article is from page 108 of the 2008-07-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 108 JPG
AT TIMES on Sunday, Tipperary re- sembled surgeons. They were swift, incisive, they produced what was needed when it was needed.
Just take the two goals.
The first, from Seamus Callinan, came with seven minutes left in the first half. By then, Tipperary were ahead by five but the break was in sight and at the least, it offered Clare an opportunity to re-group. When Callinan took the ball at pace, the
goal didn’t seem the obvious target but he dipped his shoulder, left Conor Plunkett in his slipstream and struck off his left hand side. Frank Lohan, standing between Philip Brennan and Callinan, didn’t get any contact on the shot or the man and the net rattled. That goal gave the game a different story and from there, Clare were forced to chase, which they did effectively in the second-half.
But once more, Tipperary took the scalpel from the sideboard and in- flicted another wound. This time, it
seemed to be with even less effort but as much conviction. Clare had played themselves into touching distance and had chipped away at the Tipper- ary lead to leave just five between them once more.
Then, Brendan Cummins whipped the puckout from Jonathon Clancy’s point into the paw of John O’Brien and seconds later, Tipp had their sec- ond goal and the game by the neck. It was the perfect response.
In contrast, Clare were sloppy and indecisive. The first half wides and
those balls dropped into the grasp of Cummins were the stand out memo- ries for Clare from those opening 35 minutes but on Sunday, surrounded by his daughters Aisling and Gemma, Clare’s sloven play didn’t concern Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy and even with a fine haul from open play and a semi-final place already booked, he had the appearance of a man still unsatisfied.
“All but two points from play is pretty impressive, but if the forwards are working hard they should be winning a few more frees from pos- session as well. That’s the plus and the minus of it. We only won one scorable free in each half so in that sense, we really struggled.
“Clare, in fairness in the second half, they played well and we strug- gled to get the ball to our full-for- ward line and half-forward line. We made a few swicthes where we just tried to get our hands on the ball. But really, it was John O’Brien’s goal that was vital for us. It gave us an eight point cushion again.”
He’s reminded that Tipperary are now just two games away from win- ning an All Ireland final, but Sheedy stands resolute. He refuses to get drawn into a commentary on what might yet be.
“We can’t think about an All Ire- land final. These lads are very level headed. They’ll go back and they’ve serious club championship games to play over the next two or three weeks and in between we’ll be working like tigers to get up to Croke Park. In re-
cent years, Croke Park hasn’t been a happy hunting ground but we’ll try to change that.
“It’s nice to be in an All Ireland semi final but we’ve got to re-focus again. It’s five weeks and there’s work to be done on the back of two very tough games. But in fairness to the lads, they deserve this. I couldn’t speak highly enough of them and the work they’ve done. It’s great for them be- cause their attitude is great. They’re amatuers, they love what they do and I’m delighted with them.”
He poses some questions himself. Can Tipperary match the perform- ance shown by Kilkenny in last Sun- day week’s Leinster Final? He says he doubts it.
“But the bottom line is we’re still in there. It’s a first semi-final since 2003, so we’ll look forward to that and the lads will give it a right go.
‘Being unbeaten isn’t something we talk about here. We just take it game to game but these lads are competi- tive and they just want to be the best when they take to the field. But I’m under no illusions, we won’t win an All Ireland on today’s performance.”
Strong but sombre. Work to do and five weeks to do it. That’s the cold but accomplished attitude of a side and a manager with bigger things on WeToJPMB BODE NTORSE