Most eyes will be focused on Tipperary-Galway on Saturday afternoon. It’s an appetising match between two teams who have shown flaws in their campaigns to date. Tipp’s performance against Waterford raised question marks but Waterford are capable of beating anyone on their day so maybe that wasn’t as bad as it looked.
How much beating Offaly by a cricket score does for anyone, I’m not sure, but Tipperary have shown a significant scoring prowess throughout the championship since hitting Clare for 5-22 on the opening day, which set them up for a competitive campaign, drawing with Limerick and Cork.
Then we saw it again against Offaly with a record total. Up front, Jake Morris and Mark Kehoe have developed very well this year and Jason Forde, after missing a number of matches, is back and is a key scorer as well as a leader.
Séamus Kennedy has been playing that box-to-box role and they have good balance in the forwards. It will be interesting to see if Gearóid O’Connor comes back in, as he was impressive before injury.
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That aspect of Tipperary – scoring – is their strength. Jake Morris consistently threatens goals and his ability to turn back for easy points is much improved, as is his physical strength.
Tipperary’s Achilles heel has been how easily they concede, from the 3-23 against Clare and then the 4-19 against Cork. Even against Offaly they conceded 3-18.
That’s a theme. When they score a lot, they concede a lot – way too much.
I was impressed by Galway’s attack in the Leinster final against Kilkenny. Conor Whelan was in the best form I’ve seen him for a while. He looked fit and strong and was outstanding. Evan Niland’s free-taking was top-class but I was also impressed by how easily he found space for himself.
Kevin Cooney has serious potential. He may have frittered away a lot of scoring chances in Kilkenny but the reason Galway were winning the Leinster final down the stretch was because of him, fielding ball and shooting at will. He has great pace and is a player who I think we will hear a good deal about in future.
Both Galway and Tipperary have vulnerabilities at the back. I believe we’ll see a high-scoring game. The teams have met three years’ running in All-Ireland semi-finals in the last decade. One year Pádraic Maher was knocking back Joe Canning and the next, Gearóid McInerney was knocking back Maher but there was never more than a point in it.
That rivalry had a transcendent quality down the years but they haven’t met that often recently, even in the league, so it’s hard to get a fix on where they are, especially as the relativities between the provinces haven’t been explored this year.
The team that comes out will have a turbo charge because either is a significant scalp. Limerick may fear Galway more because the Leinster final performance – until the late calamity – had a lot to recommend it and they did enough to win.
I’m still not sure what to make of them, though. Tipp are predictable: score plenty and concede plenty, but I think they’ll score enough. The teams’ styles complement each other and I think it will be another great match.
As I said, the relative merits of Munster and Leinster have yet to be seen and I’m not making any assumptions about it. This year’s Munster final wasn’t anywhere near the intensity of last year’s so Clare won’t be as wiped out, but they have injury problems with Conor Cleary and Aidan McCarthy unavailable.
The game against Carlow was very dangerous for Dublin – with it being in Carlow, with tight surrounds and the opponents being perceived as a better draw than Galway. They came through it. I don’t think they’re to be underestimated. Micheál Donoghue is a very smart coach and they look improved and nearly – should have – put Galway out of the Leinster final.
Their defence is still strong, particularly in the full-back line with Paddy Smyth and Eoghan O’Donnell, and they have pace up front. Cian O’Sullivan and Dónal Burke have been in good form. Danny Sutcliffe has been playing better this year than for a couple of seasons.
Clare won’t carry the same sort of fear for Dublin, which makes it interesting. Clare have to be favourites but their shooting in the Munster final was mediocre – either long potshots that fell for the goalkeeper or simple wides. That’s been a trend with them.
They could do with Tony Kelly stepping it up a bit, and other forwards aren’t scoring consistently. I think they’ll win but they need improvement up front if they plan on going farther.
