Babs calls up old ghosts to try to puncture euphoria

After the dramatic encounter, DENIS WALSHwas on the ground in Thurles for The Irish Times to hear the views from both camps

THE HOOTING and howling evaporating, the adoring throngs excluded, Babs Keating took the centre of the dressingroom and reincarnated ghastly memories in the name of sobriety.

“Lads, remember in 1987, the hysteria was the same in Killarney . . . let me throw a few names at ye. Finnerty, Coleman, Mclnerney, Keady, Malone, Naughton, Cooney. Are we going to let them do that to us again? We are not.”

His players, showered and watered by their sponsors, had now been doused too, but still the hooting and howling was etched in their words and faces; Babs also was effused with the spirit.

“It was a game I thought was gone on us when we were nine points down . . . I didn’t think they’d recover, but the breaks came and the breaks haven’t always come our way.

“I’ve been watching Cork-Tipp games since 1952 and this game and the one a fortnight ago lived up to all the ones I’ve seen. This was a great day for Tipperary hurling,” said Babs, adding: “There has been a lot of criticism of this team for not fighting. We showed fight today.”

Babs did not have a great view of Tipperary’s third goal, but he plainly saw it as the turning point.

“Yeah, the goal from Conal Bonnar’s free, and Pat Fox before that tipping in a goal. But we were still worried when Cork came back at us.”

The goal from Conal Bonnar’s free was captain Declan Carr’s (“Yeah, and the lads were hunting me out.”). His euphoria, though, had not obliterated the fretting which it replaced.

“Things didn’t happen for us for a long time. We were lucky that they went nine points up so early in the second half because it gave us time. But we got points to come back and not lucky goals.

“We’ll have no problem coming back to earth. Galway in Croke Park. We have lessons learned from the last few years. We’ll get today and maybe tomorrow out of it,” Carr added.

Nicky English mostly sat hamstrung on the sideline, except for one spasm of activity which seemed to be prefacing his entrance: “At that stage we were nine points down and things just weren’t happening for us. It would have been just psychological if I did come on.”

He had failed a fitness test and was resigned to his fate. “Our panel is strong, there is no way you can put on a guy only at half-speed,” English said.

Gerald McCarthy, the Cork trainer, applauded in defeat the performance of their conquerors.

“They’re a great side, well balanced, and they have some beautiful forwards. The backs might need to tighten up a bit, but any backs are in trouble against good forwards. They’ll go a long way in the All-Ireland.”