Tipperary need something special to floor The Cats

Inside Track with John McIntyre

IT may be hard to believe in the context of Kilkenny’s current summer dominance over Tipperary, but there was a long time in history – from 1937 to 1967 in fact – when the Cats couldn’t get to grips with the blue and gold at all in the championship. To put it mildly, there has been a serious shift in the pendulum of power over the past 15 years.

Since 2002, Kilkenny and Tipperary have clashed in the championship nine times and the Premier county’s sole triumph came in the 2010 All-Ireland final when three goals from Lar Corbett in a swashbuckling team performance ended the ‘Cats drive for five’. In the immediate aftermath of that game, there was loose talk that Tipp could go on and win three of four titles of their own.

It hasn’t happened. Kilkenny gained revenge in the 2011 decider when they were quicker out of the blocks, annihilated their arch rivals in the following year’s semi-final before also accounting for Tipperary in a qualifier at Nowlan Park in 2013. The teams renewed final rivalry 12 months later and though John O’Dwyer was agonisingly off target with a late free to carry the day, Kilkenny came out on top in the replay by 2-17 to 2-14.

Naturally, Kilkenny’s current dominance is not sitting well with the Tipperary hurling fraternity and though long serving midfielder Michael Fennelly will be a huge loss to the champions after rupturing his Achilles tendon in their titanic replay win over Waterford, Brian Cody’s men are still going to take some removing from their lofty perch as they prepare for a staggering 16th All-Ireland final appearance in 19 years.

To put into perspective, the contrasting fortunes of both counties since 1970, Tipperary have only managed five All-Ireland titles since while Kilkenny have savoured ultimate glory on 19 occasions over the same period. The Cats have really thrived under Cody’s leadership as he plots to bring home the Liam McCarthy Cup for the 12th time. We have never seen domination like this before on the inter-county GAA fields as successive Kilkenny teams display a manic desire for battle.

Most neutrals are of the opinion that Tipperary can turn the tables in Sunday’s showdown, but Michael Ryan’s squad will have to show a big improvement on their semi-final win over Galway. The Munster champions stumbled over the line thanks to late goals from O’Dwyer and John McGrath, but for large tracts of that match they were unconvincing and the Tribesmen had them in real trouble. Their midfield struggled as the game evolved, while Tipp’s two corner backs Cathal Barrett and Michael Cahill, who admittedly were both excellent on the ball, struggled in the aerial combat.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.