Question mark still over Tipp's consistency

THIS MIGHTN’T have been the greatest Munster hurling final of all time, but it is still a great achievement for Tipperary to put together back-to-back titles for the first time in 20 years, and to win it in Thurles for the first time in 18 years.

The only problem is we got most of the good hurling, most of the good scores, and most of the excitement in the first half, and the level of interest probably did fade after that. Overall the second half was disappointing, and the game petered out really after Lar Corbett’s second goal, which more or less killed off the whole thing.

Obviously the big concern for Tipperary in the end was that they showed the same tendency to drift out of the game as they did against Cork and Clare. It’s clearly still an issue for them, although they are still winning. But they can’t keep taking the foot off the pedal like they did in the second half. Some day they will pay the price.

It was said before the game Tipp were expected to win, but I didn’t expect all their consistency problems to just disappear. It turned out that way. Much of the problem stems from the half-forward line, and their inability to keep winning primary possession. For the last 15 minutes of that second half the likes of Michael “Brick” Walsh and Declan Prendergast were sailing up the field, setting up for score after score for Waterford but they couldn’t finish them to the net. They needed a goal towards the end to put them back in contention. John Mullane missed a few scoring chances, and so did Maurice Shanahan, who sent it badly wide, but other than that they hardly came close.

A lot of that went down to some good defending, particular from Pádraic Maher, who had an outstanding game. Tipp were also re-energised overall by the return to form of Shane McGrath and Conor O’Mahony, who up to now had been curtailed by the illnesses of earlier in the year.

Waterford got off to a very good start. And despite the goals they conceded they made life very awkward for Tipp in the end. But again they played some fantastic hurling at times. Their interplay was impressive, and we saw that in the way John O’Brien sprayed ball to Lar Corbett.

There was some very good hurling too from Noel McGrath and Séamus Callanan. These are two very young players who will only improve as they continue to gain experience. They did drift out of the game, and at times you’d be wondering where Callanan was, but they should improve on that.

Brendan Cummins was also key to them early on when making a couple of big saves from Eoin Kelly. Kelly and Mullane put Tipp under pressure early on, but couldn’t sustain it. They also lacked a little more class up front which might have helped keep the pressure on Tipp. The over-reliance on Mullane and Kelly was evident once again.

At times I felt Waterford looked a little out of control, in that they didn’t look as unified a team as Tipperary. Having said that, they got back into a match they should have been buried in. That was a combination of Tipp slacking off, and Waterford keeping going.

Overall I feel Waterford are a team in decline. You never know with them, they could bounce back again, but I feel those days are less likely to happen, and they do have a hill to climb to get back to where they were last year.

It all brings Tipp one step closer to an All-Ireland, and I think they have to be considered contenders, and have been at all times. They have the players, they just have to find a little more consistency. The strength and depth of the panel is there. They displayed that by bringing in the likes of Benny Dunne, and also showed up the lack of depth in Waterford.

There is still a lot more left in Tipperary’s tank. They have five weeks to get ready for an All-Ireland semi-final, and I don’t think we’ve seen them play their best game of hurling this year. There is still that big question mark over their consistency – or more specifically, their inconsistency – but that gives Liam Sheedy something to work on and overall I’d say he’ll be quite happy with the way their season has gone so far.

There is still a bit more meat on the bone yet. They’re still a young team, overall, but gaining in experience, and that’s what you need going into a semi-final. I think they’ve won the Munster title easier than last year, so they should kick on and that means making an All-Ireland final.