COLUMN: How worried should Tipperary be about dismal record in the Munster club competitions?

Tipperary’s fortunes in provincial competitions across all codes and grades continued its luckless and porous nature last weekend, with Shannon Rovers and Drom & Inch succumbing to provincial final defeats, while Clonmel Commercials also made their exit at the Munster semi-final stage at the hands of Dingle last Sunday afternoon.

Those results wrapped up what has been a dismal provincial series for Tipperary representatives this year, especially so when it comes to the GAA competitions with only one win being notched in six attempts across the grades; which came in Clonmel Commercials’ win over Newcastle West a few weeks ago.

Kiladangan, Lorrha, Ballinahinch, Grangemockler Ballyneale and Sean Treacys all fell at the first hurdle in their games, and you could even argue that only Kiladangan put their opponents to the pin of their collar in their narrow loss to Clonlara a few weeks ago.

The women’s competition in the camogie and Ladies football didn’t fare much better either, with Drom & Inch losing their Munster title after a tight battle with a strong Sarsfields team, while Shannon Rovers lost their final after extra time to Clanmaurice.

In fairness to Drom & Inch in particular, they have been very competitive on the provincial stage over the past number of years, while Shannon Rovers did come very close in their final, albeit they got there by virtue of the draw which saw them go straight to the decider.

The ladies football teams had a very disappointing run out in Munster, with Fethard, Boherlahan Dualla, and Clonmel Commercials all suffered heavy losses in their respective grades.

In essence, it makes for very grim viewing from a Tipperary perspective and it is worrying to a degree too, when you consider that the county teams are hardly pulling up trees in any code and it is something that all the associations will surely be cognisant of at the moment.

While the form or quality of club teams doesn’t always translate to on-field success in a countywide sense, there is no doubt that a county following a successful club team going on a run in the provincial and All-Ireland competitions can give a psychological boost; a case of a rising tide lifts all boats.

Whatever the case, it isn’t ideal for the county, and it doesn’t reflect well on the standard of the club game in comparison to other Munster counties, and while some would dismiss that argument and tell you that clubs couldn’t care after winning a county championship, we need only look at this year’s Munster championship as an example.

Clonlara of Clare for starters, beat Kiladangan recently after clinching only their third-ever county title and their first since 2008, while their Intermediate counterparts Corofin also made little of that notion with their thumping win over Lorrha which they doled out after winning the second tier in Clare for the first time since 2002.

Also, their final opponents, Castlelyons of Cork, are in a similar boat as they won their first-ever Premier Intermediate crown at the third time of asking after losing the previous two finals.

There’s no getting away from it, we as a county have a dismal record at club level given the amount of success we have had at an intercounty level in recent years, but it is a historical issue that has been present since the formation of the provincial and All-Ireland championships way back in the 1970s.

The reason for it is hard to discern and it is even harder to try and conjure a solution to the problem, but it certainly is one that requires addressing in the coming years.

While it may not matter to clubs in the grand scheme of things, a solution to the problem will do Tipperary Gaelic Games no harm across the board, that’s for sure.