THE TIPPERARY manager, Fr Tom Fogarty, will at least face Limerick in Sunday's Munster Senior Hurling final at the Gaelic Grounds in the knowledge that he possesses. one of the most high-powered substitutes' bench ever assembled.
Nicky English, Pat Fox and Aidan Ryan - men who have won All-Stars and All-Irelands - are all part of the Tipperary back-up for the match, but team chief Fogarty said: "We just couldn't risk starting any of them."
"We had a good look at Nicky at training on Monday night, but he just hadn't managed to put in as much work since sustaining the injury against Kerry as we would have liked. It would have been too big a risk to start him," said Fogarty.
"Pat had also missed some training, but Aidan Ryan was very close and I certainly wouldn't have any fears about throwing him on at some stage of the match," he added.
In the past, Fogarty has described Ryan as the "engine" of the Tipperary team. But the versatile player has been troubled with injury since the National League resumed after Christmas and made only a brief appearance in the defeat to Galway in the final.
Fogarty insisted, however, that Ryan "is probably one of the best midfielders in championship hurling. He covers a tremendous amount of ground". All of which suggests that, if the going gets particularly tough on Sunday, Ryan could be making a swift appearance.
Tipperary actually trained on the Gaelic Grounds pitch last Saturday, although such a move is seen as psychological as much as anything. "Sure our players probably know the ground as well as Limerick players. Liam Cahill, for instance, told me he has played there at least half a dozen times," said Fogarty.
And what of the positional changes in the Tipperary team? "I'm happy that we are able to make such changes. Raymie Ryan's return from injury frees Conal Bonnar to move to midfield which, in turn, allows Michael Cleary to return to the half-forward line, which I think is his best position.
"Likewise, Brian O'Meara played at midfield throughout the National League but he wasn't fully fit for the Kerry match so we said `why risk him?' and it is good, to be able to bring him back now.
Fogarty concluded: "Limerick rightly go into Sunday's match as favourites. They are a very good team. But I'm happy with our fitness and approach. We were involved in the League to the end and we had a tough enough match in our opening championship encounter with Waterford, probably a tougher opener than Clare had against Cork."
Limerick, meanwhile, are keeping their fingers crossed that there will be no recurrence of Gary Kirby's achilles tendon injury. The centre-half forward picked up the injury in the win over Clare - "I can't even remember when, how ever," he said - but he did not become aware of its serious nature until training the following Tuesday. Kirby is expected to be put through his paces again at training tomorrow night.
Galway, seeking to retain a Connacht title which was revived last year after a lapse of 76 years, name their side tonight for the provincial final with Roscommon at Hyde Park on Saturday evening. The match has been brought forward to facilitate hurling fans who wish to see the Munster final live on television.
The winners of the Galway-Roscommon match will face either New York or Derry in the All-Ireland quarter-final. New York and Derry meet in the All-Ireland B final (which doubles as a preliminary round quarter-final) at the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday.
Former Meath star Terry Ferguson has resigned as Fermanagh football manager after less than two years in the job.
Ferguson informed the Fermanagh County Board of his decision on Monday night, claiming he had not received enough commitment from the players in the run-up to last month's Ulster championship quarter-final with Tyrone. On some occasions, he claimed, only 11 players had turned up for training sessions.
A five man sub-committee has been set up to select a new manager, but it remains to be seen if John McElroy, who was assistant to Ferguson, will be interested in the position.
