Forde ready to step it up another level at the Gaelic Grounds

Among the pretty damning statistics behind Sunday’s Munster hurling semi-final is the fact the one team, Tipperary, have won 10 of their last 11 games in the provincial competition, while the other, Limerick, have won one of the last 17.

Not that history will have any great bearing on Sunday, particularly with Limerick boasting home advantage at the Gaelic Grounds. It possibly is worth recalling too that Limerick’s last win was actually over Tipp, an extra-time victory in the 2007 semi-final second replay, also played in Limerick.

What is likely to have some bearing, however, is last Friday's first round of the Munster under-21 hurling championship, which Tipp emerged comfortable 2-18 to 2-11 winners – especially as the star of the show was 19-year-old Jason Forde, who hit 1-8 (including four frees).

Key role
Forde is now primed to play another key role with the Tipp seniors on Sunday, his transition to the senior panel under manager Eamonn O'Shea about as seamless as they come. Still young enough to play under-21 next season, he insists nonetheless that it is a different challenge, not just when it comes to performing on the bigger stage.

“Sure, the demands of it all are different,” says Forde, a first year business student at the University of Limerick, “and especially training wise. You start back earlier in the year and have gym programmes and that in senior level so it’s fairly full on. So there’s a lot more in it than under-21, then just the pace of the game itself. You’re constantly pushing yourself, the physical strength. You’d notice guys are a lot bigger because they’ve a few seasons of conditioning under them as well.”

Forde only made his senior debut in the league when he came off the bench in the opening defeat to Cork, and straightaway noticed the difference:

"Conditioning is something that's come into hurling a lot more in the last few years. One other thing you notice when you go in then is that these are you team-mates! They were my idols for so long and now they're your team-mates.

Four points
Last year Tipp just about got past Limerick, 2-20 to 1-19, in a quarter-final at Semple Stadium – a late Brian O'Meara goal helping them recover from a seven-point deficit midway through the second half to win by four points. That, more than anything, will ensure no one in Tipp gets ahead of themselves, especially not young Forde.

“We know Limerick are a coming team. So everyone’s just keeping the head down and trying to work as hard as possible. Losing to Kilkenny in the league final by three points was far from a hammering. Goals win games and we just failed to get one in that game. . . A goal at any stage could have swung it and Kilkenny are a great team so you just have to look at them and what they’ve done.”