Tipperary's Tactical Shift Pays Off in All-Ireland Hurling Final

It might not have been Einstein who said 'insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results' but the logic is undeniable.

And that informed the approach of All-Ireland champions Tipperary in yesterday's final as they took on a highly fancied Cork team who had thumped them in both the league final and Munster round-robin, scoring three goals by half-time in each game.

Something had to change. So Tipp swallowed their pride and employed an extra defender, the once-taboo ‘sweeper’, in the shape of Bryan O’Mara, at least until he was forced off injured in the 50th minute.

It worked a treat as the Rebels’ hitherto red-hot full-forward line of Brian Hayes (5-08 from play before Sunday), Alan Connolly (4-09) and Patrick Horgan (2-11) were restricted to a single point from play each.

'The dog on the street knew that you just can't leave channels for this Cork team to run through,' said winning manager Liam Cahill.

'I'm a traditionalist, I like to play 15 on 15 if I can at all. But we had to cut our cloth to measure today to make sure that we gave ourselves a chance of allowing us to express ourselves as well.

'I suppose you have to move with the times. When you get to a final, you have to try and win it.

'Brian O'Mara was superb. He's such a good hurler; so comfortable in the role today.

'We stopped a lot of that real hard aggressive running from Cork and that was a real platform for us to go on then and counter-attack hard and get it into the boys inside.

'A little concerned early on that we just weren't getting it in quality enough, especially when there was an extra man for Cork at the back and there was only a few 50-50s going in and a few balls we should have carried a bit more. You're saying ‘Jeez, I wonder should we just abandon and go at it and see what will happen?’ But, at the start of the second half, we got a bit of oxygen and we kicked on from there.'

Cork may have been encouraged to stick with their usual approach by Shane Barrett’s superbly taken major just before half-time, which left them six points up. But they didn’t create another goal opportunity until Seamus Harnedy hit the crossbar in the 63rd minute, by which time they were already 15 behind.

'The message at half-time was to stay doing what we were doing,' said Cahill. 'Into that dressing room at half-time, you could see the desire in their eyes to say that that scoreboard should be a little bit closer. And we genuinely believed, once we were within five or six of them at half-time that we'd have a great chance.

'The goal before half-time, it was a fair sucker punch. We had left a few chances behind us. Hit away the ball when we could have maybe been a little bit braver, playing maybe one more pass to make sure that we could get it inside properly.

'We had contemplated maybe after 15 minutes of the second half, it wasn't going our way, reverting to Plan B, which had been three across midfield and abandoned the plus one and try and kick on. But we got great traction in the first 15 minutes with the plus one still. And a few chances that maybe we didn't convert in the first half started to go over and gaps started to appear.

'We started the second half like a rocket. Got a bit of luck, I think, that free from Patrick Horgan on Hawk-Eye went wide and it gave you a little bit of oxygen. We got a score or two, suddenly it was back to four. And then up steps John McGrath again.'

Tipp hit the first five points after the restart and then, in the space of 14 minutes, McGrath scored two goals, and won a penalty (dispatched by Darragh McCarthy) that also resulted in the dismissal of Eoin Downey on a second yellow card. Game over after an hour.

'After 12-15 minutes of the second half, I'm looking in at a team that I see training every night with me and I'm saying ‘Now they're starting to really express themselves’. Then we got the numerical advantage, but then you could never be sure with Cork. They could cut you open in two seconds. So you never had it won.

'Looking at the watch, 55, 60 minutes, would it just get to 70 minutes, please, as soon as possible.'

Cahill commiserated with Cork boss Pat Ryan, whose team fell at the final hurdle for the second successive season, with a majority of the fans at Croke Park expecting to see them end a 20-year wait.

'I can only imagine what it has been like for Pat and his management team to try and manage that expectation. It's huge. Cork have been superb all year, league champions, Munster champions, bringing massive crowds back to the stands.

'As I said to Pat after, I wish it was anybody bar him that I was shaking hands with today, to be fair, because he's put so much into it. He's after having a difficult year as well, personally.

'But I know that Cork team will be back and I know that Cork will have their day in the sun soon. We're just proud that it wasn't today and that Tipp thankfully got over the line.'

This time last year, Tipperary had finished bottom of the group in Munster, and there were doubts whether Cahill could make a competitive team out of his 2018-19 Under-21/20 winners. Even getting back to Croke Park for the first time in six years would have been seen as progress. But Tipp have dramatically overachieved to end the year with title number 29 in the bag.

'Our coaching team, we were all questioned, rightly so maybe, over the last 12 months or more. And we've all reinvented ourselves'

'It was about bringing back a bit of identity to our play,' reflects Cahill '2024, we just didn’t contest in the jersey the way we should have.

'Our coaching team, we were all questioned, rightly so maybe, over the last 12 months or more. And we've all reinvented ourselves. The support of Declan Laffan on the field, David Herity coming more out of the goalkeeping role into the role on the field with the players. He's been a game changer, really, you know, with support to Mikey Beavans. TJ Ryan being the steady head all the time in the background that worked with me at minor, under-21, under-20. We all committed to finding more.

'We started at a very low base, all of us, management, the whole support team, players. And we just started to go game by game, bit by bit, and these younger players really started to integrate into the more seasoned players. Suddenly, you had serious options and then the momentum of our U20s winning the All-Ireland and it starts to take off.

'Okay, they're a little bit off of maybe their maturity and we did always say that was three-year-plus plan, but when they get belief and confidence in them, they mushroom into really good players. It's just testament to the ruthless mindset of the players as they gathered momentum. Fortune favours the brave, I think, and our hurlers were really brave today

'I'm really proud to have been given the honour to bring through this crop. And it's been a tough road, but just immensely proud of everybody involved, the whole collective. I'm very, very fortunate to be from Tipperary and to have the talented group of players that were there.'

Fortune also favours the man who can admit when a new approach is needed. Cahill is now a minor, U20/21 and senior All-Ireland winning manager, the latest from a position of rank outsiders at the start of the season. Maybe Tipp are fortunate he's from there too.