Daunting task ahead as Tipperary footballers face All-Ireland champions Kerry

“There is no point saying we are going to beat Kerry. We are not. We have to prepare for the Tailteann Cup. But we have to get as much as we can out of these couple of weeks”. So said Tipperary selector, Declan Browne, after last Sunday week’s Munster Championship win over Waterford at FBD Semple Stadium.

It was matter-of-fact honesty, from arguably Tipperary’s greatest-ever footballer, as to the size of the task facing David Power’s side in Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney on Saturday afternoon next, delivered without the all-too-common self-serving spin you tend to hear from many managers and coaches these days. Tipperary have a mountain to climb and the highest mountain in Ireland, Carrauntoohil, visible from the Upper Lewis Road on a clear day, is an indicative reminder of the size of the task facing Tipperary.

In this country over the past number of years we have been celebrating centenaries of many and varied events from a troubled time in history. And we are also fast approaching the centenary of the last time a Tipperary side defeated Kerry in the Munster Championship. That took place on July 8, 1928 when Tipp ambushed Kerry in Tipperary Town by 1-7 to 2-3 in a semi-final.

The report in The Nationalist the following week stated: “Form and reputations have been rudely shattered to the four winds, the latest rather astounding result being the knock-out of the prospective champions, Kerry, by Tipperary, in the Munster semi-final played on Sunday in Pat McGrath’s enclosure at Tipperary”.

ONE WIN IN 100 YEARS
In the intervening 95 years since that day, the sides have met 44 times in the championship, each and every one of them resulting in victory for The Kingdom. Indeed, since the sides first met in 1894, Tipperary have only ever beaten Kerry five times on the field of play in 68 contests - and only once have they achieved this inside the last 100 years. Rest assured, it won’t be happening this coming Saturday either for the 33/1 outsiders.

In more relevant recent years the sides have met in the provincial championship on four occasions - 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2021.

The closest Tipperary came to causing an upset was in the 2015 semi-final at Semple Stadium, when the Peter Creedon-managed side led 1-1 to 0-0 after four minutes - and Tipps dared to dream momentarily - before, somewhat flatteringly, losing by six points in the end, 2-14 to 2-8.
The following year, 2016, saw the first provincial decider between the sides since 1998, this time Kerry winning well in Killarney by 3-17 to 2-10 - Tipperary, then managed by the recently- deceased Liam Kearns, had earlier beaten Cork in Thurles, a first win over The Rebels since 1944.

But all those statistics, simply to demonstrate the enormity of the challenge facing Tipperary, will count for nothing once the ball is thrown in on Saturday. Like so many teams gone before them, this group will give it their all. It will be a rare but welcome opportunity for a Tipp football team to pit themselves against the All-Ireland champions, with Kerry now back on top again after eight years. It will be the first time a Tipperary team has met the reigning All-Ireland champions since they lost to Kerry in the Munster semi-final of 2005.

Declan Browne, again commenting after the Waterford game, said:
“As a player, even at the worst times, I loved going down to Killarney and taking them on. From my own times playing, and I got hockeyed more times, you have to embrace it. What will be, will be,” he said.

“I won’t say it is a free shot but there is no expectation. We will get ready. We will train. We will give it a go,” he said.

WE WON’T BE LINING UP MAN-ON-MAN
Tipperary manager, David Power, commenting before the Waterford game, cautiously looked beyond the Déise when asked about the prospect of facing Kerry in a semi-final.

“Honestly, and realistically, we are preparing for the Tailteann Cup now and hoping for a run in it. Going to Killarney is not going to be simple but if we are to face Kerry it will be all about trying to get a performance on the day. We won’t be lining up man-on-man or anything like that, and the result won’t make or break our season in any way. We will get ourselves ready as best we can, set up properly for the task in hand and make it as hard as we are capable of for Kerry. That’s all any manager can do, prepare his side as best he can,” he said.

Calamity after calamity but yet Tipperary footballers dethroned mighty Kerry

Last year’s championship run for the sides couldn’t have been more of a contrast. Tipperary lost a provincial semi-final to Limerick and exited the Tailteann Cup in their first outing when losing to Carlow. Kerry swept all aside in Munster and went through the latter stages of the All-Ireland series with wins over Mayo, Dublin and Galway in the final; the one-point semi-final win over Dublin removing a monkey from their backs after some painful defeats to the Dubs in previous years.

That success was greeted like a first-ever by Kerry folk far and wide. It eradicated the overbearing pain of having to look on as their archrivals clocked up their six-in-a-row. Having “finally” (in Kerry terms) managed to get their hands on the Sam Maguire Cup, Jack O’Connor’s charges will be hell bent on its retention this year, and Tipperary on Saturday will be the first step in that mission.

How Kerry will approach the challenge from Tipperary will be interesting to see, even if the end result will be the same either way. With seven All-Stars harvested at the end of last year’s championship, will Kerry go with their best 15, will the game be used as part of a training programme knowing that there are bigger fish to fry later in the summer, or will it be used to give some of the “very many others” an opportunity to gain championship experience. Either route is fraught with danger for Tipperary, as the hunger for a green and gold jersey is insatiable for all young footballers in Kerry.

The prospect for the Tipperary defence in facing a Kerry forward line with the Clifford brothers and Sean Ó Sé in full flow is hugely challenging. On his day, the 2022 Footballer of the Year, David Clifford, is unmarkable, the highly decorated 24- year-old already with four All-Stars to his name, the same number as the combined total of all Tipperary footballers in 51 years of the awards.

Tipperary forwards have been struggling as a unit throughout the league - hitting just three goals in seven games (two of them by Kerry’s own Teddy Doyle). The Kerry defence is star-studded with Jason Foley, Tadhg Morley and Gavin White outstanding throughout last year so there’ll be little change there either, and a side who couldn’t win in Longford in the league can’t expect to be taking down the All-Ireland champions on their home patch. Now can they?

So all that said, there is no expectation for the shock of a century in Killarney on Saturday but that doesn’t take from the pride of wearing the blue and gold jersey. They’ll give it their best shot, no one can ask for anything more than that.