Tipperary didn’t do too much, but they did just enough.
Some of their passing was uncharacteristically sloppy, their handling was at times very poor and the flicks and tricks didn’t come off. Some of their defenders struggled out there but none of that really matters anymore.
The bottom line is that Liam Sheedy’s men got the job done, they got their scores easier than Laois and now they bound on to an All-Ireland semi-final that they are good enough to win.
They will have to be better, much better if they’re to knock Wexford out of the championship but there’s scope for improvement, there are two weeks to prepare and there is no better man to get them right than that man Liam Sheedy.
Speaking after the game, the Tipperary manager ran the rule over their up and down performance and he makes no bones about the most pressing improvement needed.
There is literally no hurler in Ireland with better vision than Noel McGrath
Takes out all of Laois with one pass
Some touch from Callanan. Class by Tipppic.twitter.com/zXmNF6g6Ym
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) July 14, 2019
“You are not going to survive against top level opposition when you conceded that many frees so that is certainly an area to work on,” he said.
Tipp conceded 13 scorable frees of which Mark Kavanagh nailed 11 but the Premier are still exactly where they want to be.
“We certainly have a few areas to work on but we have a lot of positives to take from the day as well because this is the two weeks we were looking forward to, building up to an All Ireland semi-final.”
One of the big positives for Tipp was the performance of Seamus Callanan; the Drom and Inch forward having scored a goal in every single championship game so far this year. Aside from his scoring travails though, it’s his work-rate and the example he sets that impresses his manager the most.
“Seamus is a great leader, a great guy. He definitely is doing his part and I suppose it’s the work he does when he doesn’t have the ball that we would take great kudos from. I do think He brings massive energy to the pitch, he came out and won and turned over a few balls he had no right to do.
“That’s a hugely important part of our game. As I said, loads to work on coming out of here this evening, but delighted to find ourselves in the last four and there’s a bit of hurling to be done the weekend after next.”
The impact of sub Mark Kehoe was another plus, but Sheedy maintains that the unbeaten Wexford are ‘raging hot’ favourites for the last four clash in two weeks time.
Not sure if too many are buying that.
“When you are eight or nine points up, it can be a little bit harder for subs to make an impact.
“Part of our play was good, we worked some really nice scores from time to time. But we made some errors too. I thought Mark Kehoe did well – he won two frees and we know what Mark can do.
“Getting the opportunity to put 20 lads out there today can only be a positive going forward. But look, I’m a realist too, we’re under no illusions that level of performance wouldn’t be enough. Wexford will probably go in raging hot favourites based on their performances this year, they’re unbeaten to date. But certainly we know that there’s a better level than what we got through today, but if we’re to be competitive on Sunday week, we’ll have to find a bit beyond today. But look, that’s what sport is all about, we’re delighted to get the opportunity to play in an All-Ireland semi-final.”
