Tipp's top billing a lofty achievement

All-Ireland SFC Qualifier/Donegal v Tipperary: Manager Tom McGlinchey tells Keith Duggan why Tipperary won't be going to Croke Park on Saturday simply to make up the numbers.

Although the details of last Sunday evening's draw were hardly a state secret, Tom McGlinchey promises he learned of Tipperary's fate through the televised broadcast. "We don't have any special privileges down here in the sticks," he jokes.

What he saw must have made his summer. Just like that, the footballers of Tipperary were in wonderland, with an early afternoon billing on what will be a full house in Croke Park. The decision to place their match against Donegal with Dublin v Armagh has been widely praised as an enlightened move.

While Donegal were far from guaranteed a trip to the city this year, the game has a through-the-looking glass feel to it from a Tipperary perspective. With 20 minutes gone in their unfashionable qualifying game against Carlow, they had yet to score.

Now, they share a billing on the hottest ticket of the summer. It reinforces the opinion that the unpredictable nature of the qualifying round gives the more downtrodden counties a chance to shine when people might actually be watching.

"We wanted to avoid the so-called big three of Dublin, Meath and Armagh. We were happy to have done that, but, once we looked at it in a cold light, we could see this still left us with a very tough fixture.

"Donegal is a team that did well in Croke Park last year, they should have beaten Dublin the first day and are experienced and beginning to go well again."

From a general perspective, the GAA community is pleased that Tipp should experience life on Broadway for one afternoon and that a genuinely great forward like Declan Browne gets a stage worthy of him. The sportsman in McGlinchey is naturally inclined towards enthusing at the prospect, but the manager is wary.

"This is what the players want. We are accustomed to playing in front of modest crowds and obviously the scale of the game on Saturday is going to be completely new.

"And it is fabulous that two counties with absolutely no baggage should meet. Knowing the way Brian McEniff trains teams, I really think it will be a good, open game of football.

"There is practically no history between the counties, even in challenge games. But the important thing for us is not to get over-concerned with the occasion. I certainly don't want us to settle with a mere appearance in Croke Park. Donegal will be heavy favourites, but we won't allow the novelty of being there prove a distraction."

Tipperary's season has been generally portrayed a one-man show. Given the figures Browne clocks up - 0-10 against Waterford, 1-9 against Carlow - it is little wonder.

Even in the one-sided Munster semi-final loss to Kerry, he was the one consolation.

McGlinchey sighs when asked about the Browne factor.

"I think when any team has an exceptionally good player, there is a tendency to say a team is too reliant on him.

"It is the Corkery factor in Cork. Or look at Adrian Sweeney in Donegal. These players tend to put up big scores.

"We have a great talent in Declan Browne. But it is not remarked upon that in order to get the scores, Declan is dependent on good service. Players out field must be doing something right to win possession and deliver the ball inside for him to use. So that perception is not something we worry about too much."

McGlinchey's concerns are still more all encompassing. A Cork man, he faces the perennial task of trying to raise the profile of football in Tipp. A draw in Semple Stadium against his native county in the Munster final last year was a step in the right direction.

Tipperary might have been provincial champions that day. It would have been a permanent and invaluable touchstone.

Instead, Cork slithered out and invited their opponents back down Leeside and exacted total revenge in the replay. It was the drubbing that remained the abiding memory of the season as Tipperary prepared for a league that would prove mediocre.

"Yeah, the Munster final is history now. It was a good performance, but things like that are soon forgotten. The same applies with this situation. People will get behind us but until we take the next step and achieve the victory that nobody expects us to, people will tend to put us in a certain category."

This rare appearance by the less acclaimed cousins of Tipp's hurlers may inspire a unusually big following on Saturday. Either way, McGlinchey is confident of a big support.

"Well, Ulster counties are loyal so Armagh will probably cheer Donegal, which is fair enough. But the place is going to be full of Dubs and they like shouting for any team wearing blue. That's what we will be hoping anyway."