Tipp Match Preview

by louthandproud on July 10, 2015

The Big Game is nearly upon us.

This potentially could be one of the shocks of the summer !

Theam: Their Team

Tipperary named their team late in the day and here it is.

Evan Comerford;
Ciarán McDonald, Paddy Codd, Jimmy Feehan;
Seamus Kennedy, Peter Acheson, Alan Campbell;
Colin O’Riordan, Ian Fahey;
Brian Fox, Conor Sweeney, Liam Casey;
Kevin O’Halloran, Michael Quinlivan, Philip Austin.

5 changes from the team that beat us in Drogheda.
My, oh my, they’ve drafted in some serious quality.

As hinted earlier on in the week in my scouting report they will start with Quinlavin up front and McDonald at the back.

Look out for:
Corner back Jimmy Feehan, U21 full back for them raw and whole hearted defender Ronan Holdcroft you have been warned!
Switches
Conor Sweeney will swap with Philip Austin meaning Pop will renew his rivalry wit him.

Middle of the Field
The most interesting thing we can take from the Tipp team is the new midfield they’ve named.
Regular midfielders Hannigan(injured) and O’Brien (no clue) are out. They were one of the biggest and physical midfield partnerships around. They’ve been replaced by the much talked about Colin O’Riordan and fellow Under 21 Ian Fahy who played on the wing against us in the league.
They are both excellent ball players and mobile on the ground but it now means we will have a massive height advantage for the kick-outs.

Hang on a minute, advantage!? Midfiel!? to us!?
Yes I know! this is very exciting and at least gives us a platform in the game.

McKeever and Bevan’s industry will be key too and they played the role really well the last day and will need to do even better again on Saturday especially covering O’Riordan.
Steven O’Brien could come in right before the game but regardless we will still have the height to compete at all times.

All about Us

The starting point this season for us was the Leitrim game, our approach and more importantly our game plan was spot on and is now the base and it will have to be.

We need to work just as hard as we did in that game and more much more, Tipp will have a greater intensity to their play and more bite in their attack and the tackle.

Their two strongest lines are their full back line and full forward line. that will suit us.
If we funnel men back like we did in Drogheda and deny their full forward line space to work in it will frustrate them.
Semple stadium is a hurling field wide and spacious. Perfect for our running game from defence and our mobile forwards to pull their full back line all over the place.

Verdict

We can do it. We really can.

We’ve nothing to lose and if we set up the right way and just focus on working ferociously hard we have a chance.

They are over whelming favourites in their home venue but they play a very open game, they won’t think to shut up shop due to the fact they are a young, full of confidence and naivety.
They could be complacent and why shouldn’t they be? they beat us by 7 the last day away and they’ve now added 2 of their best players back into the team.

Perfect combination needed for an upset, if you ask me!