The GAA’s recent diktat that intercounty panels would be released to the public on Friday afternoons before weekend matches was broadly welcomed by supporters and, despite grumblings from some managers, the counties have largely adhered to the new protocol.
So, when Tipperary’s take on this brave new world of team announcements emerged last week, the polarised reactions suggested they had just printed the ingredients of Marmite.
They fulfilled their obligation to the new rules by submitting a matchday panel on Friday morning, but rather than doing so in the traditional manner of a starting team followed by the subs, Tipperary submitted their 26 players in alphabetical order.
Liam Cahill then announced his actual starting team later that night, but it was too late for the match programme for their Munster SHC clash against Clare.
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When programme buyers saw the way the squad was presented on Sunday, it almost generated as much debate as the weight of the sliotar. Some folk were hugely affronted while others didn’t understand what all the fuss was about.
Either way, the Tipp players were not immune to the noise, but Bryan O’Mara says there was no Machiavellian motive behind their team-naming shenanigans.
“There is no conspiracy behind it at all, to be honest,” says a smiling O’Mara, who was listed at number 22 in the squad for the Clare game. “We hadn’t named our team before Croke Park wanted the information for the official programme. I think the management team wanted to name the team to the players first before releasing it to the press, which is fair enough.”
However, O’Mara says Tipperary might actually move training forward from Friday to Thursday nights to facilitate a smoother process.
“[It was] probably a one-off,” he says of the team list.
“Look, it might just be a case of rearranging training to Thursday, or something small. It’s no big issue.
“It’s not a massive thing at all, I know the other day it probably looked a bit weird on the programme, but it was just a case that we had planned training for the Friday.”
Last Sunday’s victory over Clare marked O’Mara’s championship debut and he is very much one of the emerging players whom Tipp hope they can mould a new team around in the years ahead. However, Premier County fans are also hoping they will see one of the county’s most experienced servants return to action in the weeks ahead as Séamus Callanan continues his recovery from a knee injury.
“From what I can see he’s good. He’s still in good spirits, as always,” says O’Mara. “Hopefully he’ll see some part of the championship, that would be the hope.
“Hopefully at some stage in the Munster Championship and if not hopefully if we progress out of Munster then we might see him then.”
Elsewhere, Limerick captain Declan Hannon could miss the rest of their provincial championship campaign as a result of the groin injury that forced him off during the early stages of their win over Waterford last Sunday. It is thought Hannon could be out for up to four weeks.
