This article is from page 107 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 107 JPG
THE twin towers of the Tipper- ary forwards, Lar Corbett and Eoin Kelly, slipped away from the cel- ebrations out on the field in Limerick and made for the quiet refuge of the dressing room.
Before they reached the door, they stopped in the Mackey tunnel and took a moment to reflect on the title they’s just won. It’s a stepping stone, both believed, nothing to celebrate
too intensely, but an achievement nonetheless.
For Corbett, the other Munster medal he can jangle was picked up seven years back, when he had just broken into the Tipperary team.
2001 is a long time ago,” he said. “IT probably didn’t fully realise what I had in 2001 but I really appreciate this today. I’m delighted to be part of such an honest bunch of fellas and it was a dream there today. The hon- esty of the Tipperary people is awe-
some and I’m just delighted.”
He’s reminded of the Clare rally in the second half, but says that Clare’s response was expected. Tipperary ex- pected an ambush, they just weren’t sure when it would arrive.
“Clare were always going to get a run and we didn’t know if it was going to be in the first or the sec- ond half. They got it in the second half but the difference was John O’Brien’s goal. It was inspirational. It gave us another lift and we went on
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Eoin Kelly is of a similar opinion. He knew the backlash was com- ing, but he also knew Tipperary had enough in the tank to play themselves out of trouble.
“Like Clare, we were training since last November so we knew we had the fitness to get the scores in the last 20 minutes. We all chipped in with scores and personally, I’m just delighted.
“We’re just delighted that we don’t
have to go through the qualifiers, that we have a direct route into the semi. We’ll probably enjoy this tonight and tomorrow then we’ll sit back and focus and see where we need to 1m- prove because we do need to improve if we’re to go further.”
A stepping stone, hopefully, Kelly says, to better and bigger things to Koy nates
A year to September and the Liam McCarthy Cup is all that’s left for Kelly, Corbett and co to ahieve.