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Tipperary must keep vision clear for challenge of Limerick

Seamus Callanan has adapted to a number of different playing styles with Tipperary  
Seamus Callanan has adapted to a number of different playing styles with Tipperary   Seamus Callanan has adapted to a number of different playing styles with Tipperary  

DURING his presentation at the GAA coaching conference in January, Eamon O’Shea told a story from Tipperary’s league game against Kilkenny in 2014.

Tipp led by six points at the break, but O’Shea changed course at half-time and decided to try and hold what they had. Tipp played the second-half with five forwards and a rotating sweeper. O’Shea had never played that card before and it didn’t work. Kilkenny outscored Tipp 3-11 to 1-5 and won by six.

Switching into defensive mode had never been part of Tipp’s identity under O’Shea and the fallout carried into the following weeks. When Tipp lost a third successive league game, the players vented some of their frustration at the manager.

“They said to me,” said O’Shea, “‘You told us about your vision, that we would never, ever defend, that we would always attack. Why didn’t you trust us against Kilkenny?’ It was a legitimate question from players who had a manager who told them, ‘This is the way we play’.

“Because I got giddy and felt we could beat Kilkenny, I decided to go defensive. I made a mistake. We never did it again in that context. If we had a view of ourselves as a team, that’s the way we wanted to play. As a manager or coach, you have to have your eye firmly fixed on your vision. There is no point in wobbling.”

The attacking system Tipp developed under O’Shea was all about inter-changing and the exploitation of space, governed by heads-up, short-to-medium-length stick passing. Michael Ryan was O’Shea’s right-hand man, but he was a completely different type of player, an uncompromising, tough, direct defender.

Similar to O’Shea, his personality and coaching philosophy will be reflected in his team, in his vision of how he wants Tipp to play. In the early months of his management this season, it clearly was. In their opening league game against Dublin, Tipp aerially bombarded their attack with 49 long balls, winning 27 (56 per cent). They mined 14 points from that possession.

Tipp’s forwards had never fed off so much long, breaking ball under their previous manager, but Ryan wanted to create a new identity for Tipp. Privately, he felt the shorter, more precise game needed a greater proportion of time and work to polish compared to the more direct style.

And he went looking for bigger and more physical men to try and adapt to, and carry out, that style. It worked against Dublin, but that was never an accurate gauge. Liam Rushe was missing. Dublin were defensively wide open. They brought no physicality.

Going to Kilkenny in their next league match was always going to be the true barometer of a new style and the stats reflected as much. Tipp played 44 long balls into their attack and won just 12 (27 per cent). Their scoring return (seven scores) from that possession was also halved. They played just 10 short stick-passes over the 70 minutes.

Tipp had been down this road before. After O’Shea left in 2010, Declan Ryan and Tommy Dunne developed and tweaked his system to become more direct. That long-ball tactic yielded a dividend of 4-13 in the 2011 Munster final, but Waterford were defensively naive and Tipp’s longball tactic didn’t work afterwards against a compact Dublin defence and an aggressive Kilkenny rearguard.

When O’Shea returned in 2013, it took Tipp 18 months before fully becoming comfortable again with a more measured passing and movement style. Yet after being almost over-protective of the ball in last year’s Munster final, Tipp loaded Seamus Callanan with long, direct ball against an orthodox Galway defence and he cut loose. His three goals (and the penalty Callanan won) stemmed from high balls lamped on top of the square, all of which he won cleanly. Callanan was injured for most of the league.

New, young players were part of a new journey, but finding a happy medium between O’Shea and Ryan’s styles was still always going to be hugely important in not restricting the expressive personality O’Shea cultivated and which is still of this group’s DNA.

Some Tipp players were never going to be fully comfortable with always driving long ball forward. Certain Tipp forwards didn’t want long ball continually bombed on top of them all day either. Although Ryan’s direct route was a basic style, there were times during the league when players privately admitted to being “confused”.

That game was also very predictable. In the league quarter-final, Clare sat Cian Dillon back as a sweeper in front of Callanan. Of the seven balls Tipp played into Callanan, he picked up the scraps of just one. During the 52 minutes Callanan was on the field, he had possession just twice.

Tipp created just one decent goalscoring chance. They only scored 0-18 and lost by one point. Two senior players went to Ryan afterwards. They wanted a change from the more direct style. The coach Declan Fanning changed the nature of his training to adapt more to that style. O’Shea’s philosophy was about finding space, but honing that style is a fusion of natural attacking ability with the required workrate to create that space for others.

In the Munster quarter-final last month, Cork were atrocious. Tipp only had one half goal chance, but they still created 37 scoring chances. Cork sat William Egan too deep as a sweeper in front of Callanan and Tipp just played their way around him.

Tipp were more measured in how they involved Callanan. He won seven of the 13 balls played into him, but he translated that possession into four points from play, while he set up another point and was fouled for a converted free.

Of the 50 balls Tipp played into their attack, they won 32. Most of that possession, though, was measured as opposed to just being launched forward. Tipp are still searching for that new identity under Ryan but they are getting there.

In the concluding slide of O’Shea’s presentation in January, the first line read: ‘Believe in your brand while constantly seeking improvement’. That is the challenge now for Ryan and his players against Limerick on Sunday. Eyes firmly fixed on the vision. No point in wobbling.