Four questions we need answering from hurling league final
Seamus Callanan hit 8-34 en-route to today’s decider but doesn’t feature because of injury. In four of the five games he started this spring, he finished as Tipperary’s top-scorer,
That is his value on the edge of the square to this team. He is the de facto centre-point of this Tipperary attack. Fair enough, he wasn’t there for the round-robin games against Clare or Waterford and still, Michael Ryan’s charges came out on top on both occasions. Neither, though, were a league final.
John O’Dwyer comes in in his place and while the quality of the attack certainly isn’t diminished by this enforced switch, Bubbles is more comfortable in the corner. It is questionable if he can wield the same influence as Callanan had in previous games, especially with Galway’s Daithí Burke reverting to full-back.
Burke held Callanan scoreless from play when these two counties last met. Others in the Tipperary forward unit stepped up to the plate during that All-Ireland semi-final to compensate for Callanan’s limited involvement, namely O’Dwyer and John McGrath. The same will be required this afternoon.
When Joe Canning split the posts at the Hill 16 End to bring the 2012 All-Ireland final to a replay, it was the fifth consecutive game where the Tribesmen had gone unbeaten. Their run to this league final has also seen them go five games unbeaten. Fair enough, two of those games were against second-tier opposition – Kerry and Laois – but the Tribesmen still went to Limerick twice in the space of a month and came away with a result both times. They also hauled back a 10-point deficit in the closing half hour of their quarter-final win at home to Waterford.
Inconsistency, rather than consistency, has traditionally been associated with the hurlers out west. What you get one Sunday tends to be worlds apart from what they’ll give you the following Sunday. A sixth consecutive victory and, in the process, a first league title since 2010 would go some way to shedding this tag.
2010 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Sheedy admitted during the week that the county isn’t much good at holding onto titles. His reference was in relation to the appalling stat showing the county hasn’t successfully defended an All-Ireland title since 1965. Now, they aren’t league holders at present, but they are top of the hurling mountain. That they were the sole Division 1A team who weren’t in danger of relegation during the final round of league games is proof positive they’ve continued to drive on following last September’s win.
It was made very clear at the outset of 2017 that Tipperary wanted to win the league. It made sure there was no delay in pressing the reset button. If they want to reach Kilkenny levels of ruthlessness and relentlessness and move away from the failings of previous Tipperary teams who didn’t do the business in the 12 months after championship glory, then they must win today. It was 2001 when last they held both league and championship titles at the one time.
A more match specific question, this one. The 22-year old has been in scintillating form this spring. He’s clipped 5-21 already, including 2-2 in their Nowlan Park dismantlement of Wexford. With Callanan out, he becomes the forward which requires most focus from the Galway rearguard. The Galway management have made a change in their defence with Paul Killeen coming in for John Hanbury. The former is named at corner-back, but doesn’t have a significant amount of game-time under his belt this year, particularly not against top opposition – he didn’t feature against Wexford and was introduced as a sub on the two prior visits to the Gaelic Grouds. Adrian Tuohy is in the other corner and would look a safer option. Or, might Micheál Donoghue take Daithí Burke out of full-back and send him into the corner to shadow the younger of the Loughmore-Castleiney brothers.
