There’s a peculiar sense of the knife edge about this weekend’s Munster senior hurling semi-final. Maybe it’s because the provincial championship is in danger of becoming a red herring in the overall scheme of things that it appears anomalous to find the stakes here are so dramatically high.
Time has ticked by for Tipperary and the county still hasn’t added to the 2010 All-Ireland that was optimistically seen as the dawn of a new age.
They came electrifyingly close last year but ultimate defeat by Kilkenny meant that manager Eamon O’Shea who is now in his third year has yet to win a title of any sort.
That creates its own pressure and there is a common belief – maybe unverifiable for another three months – that Tipp can’t survive yet another defeat by Limerick in Munster; can’t in other words walk away from the wreckage with the insouciant intention of rebuilding in the qualifiers.
This opinion is partly based on the way the mood has been ratcheted up by various references to how Tipperary “weren’t themselves” when losing to Limerick in the past two years and uncharacteristically bullish expressions of optimism from the camp.
Crosshead
This can sound a bit like whistles echoing off tombstones given the number of players – Barrett, Corbett, McGrath, Cahill – that the team is missing, the presence of a big crowd at the Gaelic Grounds which will generate an intimidating atmosphere and the fact that Limerick already have a championship win chalked up this season.
That was an impressive eye-balling of Clare with good performances up front by gifted newcomer Cian Lynch and in the second half Graeme Mulcahy – key to half the team’s scores in the period.
But Tipperary will take encouragement from the impact even a cautiously set-up Clare managed to have on Limerick’s rearguard.
Limerick will deliver as they always do and the variable is how well Tipperary will play and how successfully they channel the evident desire to redress the balance between the counties. Without hitting the September notes they will have to be more clinical and composed than in the past two years.
The view here is that they will do enough.
THE LOWDOWN
Last meeting: 2014 Munster semi-final, Semple Stadium, Tipperary 2-16, Limerick 2-18.
Odds: Tipperary 8 to 13, Limerick 13 to 8 and 9 to 1 the draw.
Injuries: Tipperary are missing a number of players: Cathal Barrett, Lar Corbett and Noel McGrath with question marks over John McGrath and Michael Cahill. Limerick goalkeeper Nickie Quaid is out with a long-term injury.
Suspension: Seán Tobin misses the match for Limerick after his red card in the quarter-final was not overturned by the Central Appeals Committee.
Just the ticket: Stands sold out. Terrace €20 and €5 (juveniles). Concessions for OAPs and students (€5).
Verdict: Tipperary to win.
LIMERICK: Barry Hennessy; Stephen Walsh, Richie McCarthy, Séamus Hickey; Seanie O'Brien, Gavin O Mahony, Tom Condon; James Ryan, Paudie O'Brien; Donal O'Grady (Capt), Declan Hannon, David Been; Graeme Mulcahy, Shane Dowling, Cian Lynch.
TIPPERARY: Darren Gleeson; Paddy Stapleton, James Barry, Conor O'Brien; Kieran Bergin, Pádraic Maher, Ronan Maher; James Woodlock, Shane McGrath; Jason Forde, Brendan Maher (capt), Patrick Maher; John O'Dwyer, Séamus Callanan, Niall O'Meara.
