All-Ireland winner Jamesie O’Connor believes Tipperary’s route to the league final ultimately cost them a chance at championship glory.
Tipp’s defeat to Clare on Sunday confirmed they will not claim one of the three qualification spots on offer in Munster.
Michael Ryan’s side reached the Allianz Hurling League final back in April but suffered defeat against Kilkenny. And O’Connor, who watched his county Clare triumph at Thurles Park, believes Ryan may come to regret their run to the final.
“Michael Ryan probably flagged this well ahead of the championship with Tipp committing to play club championship matches in April,” O’Connor said.
“Clare didn’t play any championship matches in April. I know the guys probably played league games with their club but it’s not the same thing – particularly from players with duel-clubs.
“Tipp were in the league final and Clare were out at the quarter-final stage and had a couple of weeks of inactivity and they were able to take time off.
“Tipp went all the way to the final. And I think Michael Ryan will be thinking: was it in Tipp’s interest to go to the league final? And then to lose in the manner they did to Kilkenny was probably a big setback.
“Cathal Barrett wasn’t right for the first match, [Seamus] Callanan was just back and didn’t start, Brendan Maher didn’t start, [Patrick] Bonner [Maher] didn’t start.
“It wasn’t as if he even had his strongest team in the field and even yesterday he lost Dan McCormack early on. It wasn’t Tipp’s year.
“They never really had a fully settled back-line. Padraic Maher was in the edge of the square late on John Conlon and still they were a width of a post away from probably having an opportunity to rest for two or three weeks to get their energy levels back up. And then they are a ferociously dangerous team.”
James Hopper
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
