GAELIC GAMES MUNSTER HURLING:HISTORY IS against Tipperary significantly recovering from Sunday's heavy defeat in Cork. Although the county was the first to reach an All-Ireland final after losing in the provincial championship, back in 1997, it has fared less well since the qualifiers format was introduced eight seasons ago.

Asked whether Liam Sheedy’s men could bounce back from losing their Munster title, Michael Cleary, Tipperary’s double AllIreland medallist and a successful coach, is pessimistic about his county’s prospects.

“History would suggest ‘no’. The qualifiers haven’t been good to Tipp and when they’ve got a bad defeat like that, they’ve yet to turn it around and become a better team in the qualifiers.”

Despite having felt Tipp could edge the encounter against Cork, the former All Star says there had been troubling evidence this season that the outgoing provincial champions could struggle.

“It’s like Jack Nicklaus said, ‘if you don’t bring it with you, you won’t find it there’. I know hindsight is 20-20, but Cork, although they had a poor final, gave notice during the league that they were back up to some level.

“We should have known enough to realise that a team that loses an All-Ireland final, if they don’t show something in the following league, seldom produce it in the championship.

“My two main “buts” were that Pádraic Maher is well below where he was last year and Conor O’Mahony isn’t where he needs to be. That’s numbers three and six.”

According to Cleary, April’s league tie between the counties, also in Páirc Uí­ Chaoimh, carried strong indications of what Tipp might have expected as well as evidence of Cork manager Denis Walsh’s astuteness in relation to the performance of Aisake Ó hAilpín, whose hand in all three goals earned him RTÉ’s man-of-the-match award.

“When you think back to the league match you’ve got to give Denis Walsh 10 out of 10. For the first 10 minutes, Aisake caught three balls off Pádraic Maher.

“Nothing came from them and Cork immediately brought him out to centre forward. I thought, ‘well, fair play – you have the beating of him, but you’re not going to make it blatantly obvious. Just keep it for the championship’.

“I suppose after the league final you’d have said Aisake isn’t a finisher, Cussen looks the real deal but is injured and Seán Óg is wilting and too many of the team are old because of all the hurling they’ve played, but they threw that to the wind on Sunday.

“They were fresh, enthusiastic and zippy – everything that they were supposed not to be.”

Cork move on to a semi-final against Limerick for which they are quoted as 1/50 favourites, whereas Tipp face the uncertain byways of the qualifiers.

The scale of the defeat, according to Cleary, was such as to alter fundamentally the county’s standing despite the widespread belief that the runners-up in last year’s high-drama All-Ireland final were best positioned to spike Kilkenny’s bid for five-in-a-row.

“I would think it is a significant setback. They set out their stall to win it. Some teams have injuries, form mightn’t be quite there or they might be blooding a couple of new players, but Tipp were there ready to go, so I think it’s a body blow for them; not something that’s easily fixed or just a bad day at the office.”

He also believes the championship needs to re-think its current structure, as the impact on the traditional sudden-death format is affecting the championship.

He does agree, however, with the concept of allowing teams more than one match in the championship, but thinks that there is a less radical way of giving effect to that. “I’m a traditionalist in that I don’t like the back door. But I think that first round matches should be played over two legs, home and away with aggregate scores deciding.

“You’re guaranteeing everyone two games and also if, for instance, you’ve Wexford and Offaly two full houses in Wexford Park and Tullamore. After that, it would be knock-out all the way.”

Another issue about which he feels strongly is the relentless demand on players, particularly at club level, but also within the inter-county game. “I know it’s very serious and preparation is important, but it’s sport at the same time and it has to be enjoyable. But you get more and more players at club level falling out of the field two or three nights a week the training is so hard.

“They’re going to weddings and having to come away before the speeches to go and play in a Mickey Mouse challenge match. Sport isn’t supposed to be like that.

“I know the counties are spending big money on teams and it has to be serious and professional, but yet it has to be enjoyable for the players and I question whether having training weekends three or four times a year is actually enjoyable given the level of intensity. I wonder, I absolutely wonder about that.”

Former manager Michael ‘Babs’ Keating has written off Tipperary’s All-Ireland prospects° for this season and launched another blistering attack on the current players, many of whom he managed prior to Liam Sheedy’s appointment.

“If Tipp are to come through, they could have to meet Waterford, Galway and Kilkenny along the way,” said Keating yesterday.

“I don’t think the players that have failed Tipperary over the last number of years will relish meeting them all and beating them all. Having to face a couple of them will make life very tough for Tipperary.

“Denis Walsh has a history of winning All-Irelands – he has that advantage over Liam Sheedy.”