Looking at Jim Furyk with his Limerick jersey on, we’re really piling it on down here ahead of the Ryder Cup.
You had the USA team captain at the Gaelic Grounds. A huge tent pitched for the corporates. Tom Ryan’s name wasn’t on any invite list, I can say that much. And that’s fine by me.
In the swing: US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk tries out hurling in Limerick
If we’re controlled by the billionaires, who goes where and who goes to what corporate box, then that’s an awful road to be going down.
Given what passed for Munster championship hurling last weekend, the world is in an awful state of chassis, as Joxer once said.
If you thought Clare’s non-performance against Cork was bad in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Tipperary didn’t show up either against Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds. I was never a supporter of dead rubber matches but looking at both teams, it’s hard to believe that they are training since last November.
Too easy: Limerick manager John Kiely (left) greets Tipp boss Liam Cahill
That they went to Portugal or wherever the latest foreign training camp exodus is. That the players and management are putting in 25 hours a week. That it’s about gyms, swimming pools and bonding weekends as much as hurling.
To come out and give that type of performance – it would make you wonder what it’s all about.
It seems to be all about the training schedules and the sacrifices and demands.
Chasing game: Despite all their training, Tipperary were way off this year
Tipperary manager Liam Cahill came out before their last two games and said they had a good three-week training block done. It seems to be all about the training. Nobody seems to look at the result of all the training.
Clare have been beaten badly twice now and they’re still in the All-Ireland series – when they should be gone out the door. But that’s the system. If you saw them against Limerick or Cork – if you went around after mass and got a crowd into a car, they couldn’t be any worse.
So what is the measurement of all this training?
All this concentration on strength and conditioning, sports psychology, opposition analysis, not to mention the players having to wear GPS on their backs.
Does anyone stand back and say, well what is the result of all this?
Tipperary were a disgrace in Limerick. And this, from last year’s All-Ireland champions.
Legends of the fall: Tipperary’s hurlers run out at Semple Stadium to play Clare
Clare too. You had more than 75,000 people paying in to see two non-performances. What is the purpose of all of this?
First, there’s the cost factor. You’re talking, not just hundreds of thousands of euros in team preparation but sometimes up to a million. You have managers with frozen faces who look like the weight of the world is on their shoulders. I don’t want to criticise any player who goes through the tortuous route of training but surely it’s about match performance.
It’s all a real mess when you have all this pressure and players can’t perform.
When we played and I managed Limerick, there was always enjoyment. Now it’s more about lads trying to be clever and naming dummy teams. How that could be to your advantage, Lord only knows. Asking people to pay €5 for a programme only be duped.
Maybe I’m out of the loop. But our Limerick team was named every Tuesday night for the following Sunday. No secrecy. No midnight on Friday or late in the evening announcement – and then some more late changes.
There are so many sideshows nowadays that the main product is being lost.
We had Furyk in Limerick; there was more talk about him than the match.
Time for a change: Liam Cahill led Tipp to the All-Ireland last year but the collapse since has been spectacular and they need a change in management to bring in freshness
Clare are still in the championship so Brian Lohan is going nowhere.
In Tipperary’s case, they need a change of management. They need a freshness there, someone who is just going to concentrate on hurling.
The team that won the All-Ireland last year – I fancied them to win. I was one of the few who tipped them.
But to see their collapse this year. Their whole ethos through the league and championship. Liam Cahill and his coach Mikey Bevans have to shoulder the blame. Cahill is a great hurling man – this isn’t personal. But look at what a wasted year it was.
I firmly believe that a change is needed. Cahill can always say he won an All-Ireland – and that’s a fair achievement. But they made a total mess of this year.
Last Sunday, they might as well have stayed in Cashel looking up at the Rock. They didn’t win their individual battles, break a hurley, get stuck in.
Same with Clare in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. After all the training, you have to be able to perform.
There’s two ways of losing. You can throw in the towel before you start, or go down fighting.
Can any one of the Tipp management team who exited the Gaelic Grounds really think ‘we’re okay to go again for next year’? Especially when you look at the quality of players.
Aaron Gillane got a goal inside 30 seconds. I could have scored it myself with the ease of how he won the ball and turned inside to score.
They’re a super hurling team but that doesn’t mean giving the opposition a free hand.
Same with Clare down in Cork.
Compare the two teams to Waterford who tried their hearts out – and they’re gone.
The Sisters of Mercy would have beaten the other two last weekend.
By any standards, that’s not good enough.
