By right, the big gig – where silverware is on the line – is on in Croke Park where Kilkenny and Dublin meet in tomorrow's Leinster final. Yet, there is a win-or-bust intrigue about this evening's All-Ireland qualifier between Tipperary and Galway at Semple Stadium that makes this duel fascinating.
Whichever team loses in the Leinster final will at least live to fight another day. There is no such safety net in Thurles where one of hurling’s big teams will exit.
The fallout for the losers of the Tipp-Galway will be serious, most likely resulting in changes of management and personnel.
The return of Lar Corbett to the Tipperary team doesn’t surprise me. If he is fit, and he’s obviously shown that fitness in training, then he is potentially Tipperary’s most dangerous forward.
Corbett must be going well and, if so, he must play. Based on what we saw last week, Galway were prone to fouling in the full back line and this might be a good match for Corbett, if he retains that pace of old, getting in behind them.
In big games, Tipperary are on a serious losing streak: they’ve lost two league finals, two big championship matches last year and one to Limerick this year. A loss here would mean their longest losing streak ever in the championship and that will surely focus their minds.
Close out
Limerick are better than people think and that defeat for Tipperary in the Munster semi-final might not be as bad as generally thought. The worrying thing for Tipperary is that the trend shown in the championship defeat to Limerick was similar to the defeat to Kilkenny in the league final.
Tipperary didn’t close out Limerick when they got the chance. They’re having opportunities to win games but not putting teams away and their anxiety levels and poor decision making in such situations is a real concern.
Against Limerick, Tipp were completely outgunned in midfield and Shane McGrath and Kieran Bergin have paid the price. There is a better shape about this Tipp team: its no surprise that Conor O’Mahony moves to centre-half back and Brendan Maher to wing-back where they are better suited and the overdue debut for Ronan Maher is a step in the right direction. He is a player with huge potential.
This is last-chance saloon for Galway. They’ll need to show considerable improvement from that defeat to Kilkenny last week if they’ve to have any chance.
The importance of Joe Canning to Galway has been emphasised these past two weeks and they struggled as he was well held last week. Their decision-making wasn’t good and they were prone to fouling. There is huge scope for improvement but it is a big ask to come back within a week. I don’t think we will be seeing Galway again.
The other qualifier between Clare and Wexford is not a foregone conclusion by any means. Wexford impressed me against Dublin and they drew with Clare at a similar stage last year.
Where Clare have got lucky is in getting a home draw. That will be a help. And if they can up the energy levels on their last outing against Cork, when they weren’t very inspiring, Clare should win.
For the Leinster final, three or four weeks ago, I would have thought Dublin would retain their provincial title but I now think Kilkenny have found a pattern that makes them hard to beat.
Kilkenny also look fresher and seem to be enjoying their hurling more than they were last year. They have a cohort of players who are performing at the very highest level, particularly Paul Murphy, Cillian Buckley, Richie Hogan, Pádraig Walsh and TJ Reid. If I was Anthony Daly, I’d be trying to limit the influence of Hogan and particularly Reid. It might be worth giving someone – perhaps Paul Schutte – a man-marking job on TJ.
Dublin will pose a greater test to Kilkenny than Galway did. Dublin are more confident that Galway, use the ball better and are going to move Kilkenny around the field much more. But with injuries to Mark Schutte and Gary Maguire and a question over Danny Sutcliffe’s fitness after injury and also lingering fitness concerns about Ryan O’Dwyer and Liam Rushe. I think Kilkenny have the edge.
