In one of the more celebrated episodes of Seinfeld the permanently unfortunate George Costanza — unemployed, unloved, possessed of ghastly parents — has an epiphany. In a lightbulb moment he concludes that as every instinct he has ever had in life was wrong, the diametrically opposite course of action must logically have been correct. Thereupon he throws himself with gusto into a new personal regime, doing the converse of what he would have done in the past.
Not to compare Michael Ryan, smart and engaging and very definitely gainfully employed, with the hapless Costanza, but when the manager of the 2016 All-Ireland hurling champions set his mind to the task of retaining the MacCarthy Cup last year, he knew what not to do. For half a century Tipperary had been trying to win successive All-Irelands. For half a century they’d been failing.
Were they guilty of celebrating too long and too hard? Was it “that typical Tipperary softness”, as he termed it, creeping in every winter after an All-Ireland triumph? Was it — and how one hesitates to use the dreaded a-word here — simply a case of Tipperary arrogance? Ryan wasn’t sure. About one matter he was adamant, however. The mistakes of the past would not be repeated on his watch. Tipperary, like Costanza, would do the opposite.
The All-Ireland celebrations were hearty but not prolonged. Players were advised against tarrying in the media spotlight. When the 2017 National League began Tipperary applied the foot to the pedal and kicked off with statement wins against Dublin, Waterford and Clare. Doing the opposite. Doing it in style. Looking every inch a putative All-Ireland two-in-a-row team.
Upon which the wheels came off the apparent juggernaut. Tipperary blew an eight-point lead against Kilkenny and were embarrassed by Galway in the league final. Things were never quite the same thereafter. There would be no successive MacCarthy Cups, albeit not for the same old reasons. Instead, as a rueful Brendan Maher observed later, Tipperary had become so fixated on the dangers of allowing their standards to drop that they overcompensated, trained too hard during the spring and had lost their edge when the championship arrived. A consequence of their change in emphasis was the failure to blood enough newcomers during the league and thereby keep the pot bubbling. Come summer, Tipperary didn’t have enough aspirants putting pressure on the incumbents.
Advertisement
Ryan will not fall into the same trap again. He cannot, given that the new championship structure has provided every manager with carte blanche to experiment lavishly during the league. He would, he announced last week, be furnishing game time to up to 26 players over the next two months to prepare for the rigours of the most demanding hurling championship in history. But he didn’t overdo it against Clare in Ennis yesterday, contenting himself with handing debuts to three youngsters — Paul Maher, Tom Fox and Ger Browne — and welcoming back Conor Kenny, last seen in 2016.
There was also one noteworthy positional move in the shape of Cathal Barrett at midfield. It was on the face of it an unusual siting for a former All Star corner-back, but Barrett, being an expansive defender rather than a stopper, the gambit had a certain logic to it, and within 30 seconds he landed the opening score of the afternoon from his new domain.
At first glance Tipperary were nicely positioned at the interval, trailing by 0-13 to 0-10 with the advantage of the wind to come. But Clare, like Wexford, are one of those teams who play better against the breeze than against it; their game plan is predicated on keeping the ball low, recycling possession and getting runners through to take the offload. In this regard the most influential man in Cusack Park yesterday was Shane O’Donnell, who gave an exhibition in how to play with one’s back to goal and provided a string of assists.
Sure enough, the hosts stretched their lead to five points within ten minutes of the resumption. Tipperary were forced to dive into their reserves, bringing on Michael Breen, John McGrath, Brendan Maher and Dan McCormack, big guns indeed. Midway through the half they brought the gap back to the minimum and two frees by Jason Forde levelled matters at 0-17 apiece with 13 minutes remaining.
One would have been forgiven for assuming that Ryan’s side, the physically heftier proposition, would kick on from there. Instead it was Clare who found a new wind via two points from David Reidy and another from the hitherto inconspicuous Tony Kelly, and Reidy wrapped up matters with a goal in the third minute of injury time to secure a 1-21 to 0-19 victory.
Advertisement
Those Tipperary newcomers? Well, Maher didn’t have a shot to save until Reidy bore down on him and he couldn’t possibly have got his stick it. But Fox was summoned ashore a minute before half-time — one wonders why the management didn’t leave it till the interval — and Browne made way for McGrath. The recalled Kenny lasted 45 minutes. So no, none of them made a name for himself. Not yesterday. Yet the 2018 hurling season will not only not be a sprint, it will be more of a marathon than any in the past. The quartet will feature again, not least because Tipperary will not be over-exerting themselves trying to win matches. Developing their options is what it’s all about this time around. The opposite again, as it were.
As to whether Barrett did enough to get another run in midfield, George Costanza was unavailable for comment last night.