ALL-IRELAND SFC QUALIFIER ROUND THREE Tipperary 0-10 Antrim 0-8:IT'S THE nature of the qualifiers. One manager left considering his future – the other contemplating at least one more championship fixture.
And so it was for the respective managers in Thurles on Saturday, namely Antrim’s Liam “Baker” Bradley and Tipperary’s Peter Creedon.
For Bradley, the inevitable speculation will begin. The Derry native has been in charge since October 2008 but insisted that the immediate aftermath of a championship exit was not the time to ruminate. Bradley, father of Derry stars Eoin and Paddy, said: “It’s not the time or the place for that. I’m very, very disappointed.
“We’ve been working hard with the lads. They started on weights programmes in October last year and while they’re improving steadily, this is not the time or the place for me to be making any decisions.
“At the end of the day, football is all about the players. It’s not about managers – managers come and go. I’ve no doubt that whether I’m there or not next year, Antrim will still be a force.”
Creedon, meanwhile, was plotting yesterday’s recovery session and a training spin in Thurles tomorrow evening. This is the summer that keeps on giving for Tipperary GAA. Already Munster minor and senior hurling champions, under-21 and intermediate provincial finals have yet to be contested. The minor footballers are Munster champions again and now, for the first time since 1998, three championship victories have been achieved by the senior footballers in the same season.
Creedon admitted: “We’d be pinching ourselves if you told us that we’d win three qualifier games. But we’ve beaten three Division Three teams really – we should be capable of doing that.”
Down will up the ante next weekend but should Tipperary really fear a team coming to terms with a provincial final defeat?
Antrim had arrived in Thurles high on confidence having shocked Galway in their previous outing. They had the majority of the backing too from the 2,563 attendance, with Tipperary’s home support shamefully outnumbered.
But the midweek withdrawal of captain Aodhán Gallagher for personal reasons had affected Antrim’s preparations.
And for the opening 15 minutes, it seemed that their heads were still on the team bus as they fell 0-4 to 0-0 behind, with Tipperary’s leading scorer Alan Maloney in super form. By half-time, Antrim had registered seven wides but were in touch – trailing by 0-4 to 0-6. They were level three times in the second half but crucially, could never get ahead.
Five minutes from time, Tipp substitute Brian Mulvihill rewarded brilliant fielding by Peter Acheson to shoot the lead score.
And when Maloney lobbed over his sixth point two minutes from time, Tipperary were almost home. Almost. In the final minute, Michael McCann surged forward but shot narrowly wide as Antrim chased a winning goal.
Bradley mused afterwards: “Probably maybe he had more time than he thought and he scuffed his shot and it went wide. It just wasn’t to be our day. Tipperary on the day were the better side and we can have no complaints.”
Bradley then swatted away questions about his own future, leaving them for another day.
TIPPERARY: P Fitzgerald; A Morrissey, P Codd, C McDonald; B Fox, R Kiely, A Campbell; G Hannigan (0-1), H Coghlan; R Ryan, A Maloney (0-6, three frees), D Leahy (0-1); M Quinlivan (0-1, free), P Acheson, P Austin. Subs: B Mulvihill (0-1) for Ryan (half-time), C Sweeney for Austin (64 mins).
ANTRIM: C Kerr; J Crozier, K O'Boyle, R Johnson; T Scullion, M Sweeney, A Healey; S McDonagh (0-1), M McCann (0-1); J Loughrey (0-2), K Brady (0-1), C Murray; K Niblock, M Johnson, T McCann (0-2, one 45). Subs: M Armstrong for R Johnson (half-time), M Magill (0-1) for Niblock (55 mins), R Murray for C Murray (60 mins), O Gallagher for T McCann (69 mins).
Referee: E Kinsella(Laois).
