Talking hurling with Tipp’s Eoin Kelly

In an exclusive interview with JOE, lethal Tipperary forward Eoin Kelly talks about the Cork defeat, Davy Fitzgerald and looks forward to the All-Ireland semi-final.

By Conor Hogan

Tipperary played outstandingly in the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny last season, and were extremely unlucky to come out on the losing side. Many a Tipperary fan will point to a contentious 63rd minute penalty, but it’s not something that’s acting as a motivating factor for Eoin Kelly and the Premier hurlers at the moment. “It’s in the past,” says Kelly. “It isn’t something any of us think about.”

Semi-final

Tipperary aren’t thinking of Kilkenny at the moment; they aren’t thinking past Waterford. Tipp are massive favourites going into the All-Ireland semi-final and are quoted at 4/11 with certain bookmakers. Kelly doesn’t agree with this at all and thinks it would be a grave error to take the match for granted. Especially in a championship season that has been notable for its irregularity.

“I don’t take any heed in what the bookies are saying. More than often they are wrong. They were wrong in 2008 when they had us strong favourites for the semi-final and we got stung by Waterford.

“Cork beat us convincingly and Waterford beat them so I don’t know how they can justify those odds really. We’ve improved since the Cork loss, but I’d probably make it a 50/50 game.

“It’s difficult to predict any result this year. People expected Galway to put it up to Kilkenny after such a great league campaign. Dublin had a big win against Clare, before themselves losing to Antrim. While, Waterford’s match against Clare was very close.”

Following their epic victory over Galway in the All-Ireland quarter-final, the Deise are all that stand in the way of a repeat of last year’s All-Ireland final and given Kelly’s knowledge of the man in the opposition dugout, he knows that Tipp won’t have it easy on Sunday.

Waterford’s manager is, of course, Davy Fitzgerald. Kelly knows all too well what the Clare man will bring to the table, as Kelly played Fitzgibbon Cup hurling under Fitzgerald in his student days at Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT).

“He’s a great motivator and organiser and shows tremendous attention to detail,” Kelly says of his ex-mentor.

“I’ve been very impressed with Waterford. They are well-organised and their level of fitness is second to none. Just look at Tony Browne, 37 years old and playing 70 minutes and extra-time.”

Recovery

Tipperary have come a long way since the start of the championship campaign, when they suffered at the hands of Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The first round loss to Cork was a bit of a shock to the system. Few people expected the Rebels to be victorious, never mind win by ten points, but Kelly admits that the Premier were outclassed on the day.

“I don’t know if we were complacent, but there is no doubt that Cork were simply better than us on the day. They got their tactics spot on, and were better than us in probably 13 of the 15 positions.”

In the aftermath, Babs Keating launched an attack on Liam Sheedy, and you could forgive some people for completely writing them off. But to their absolute credit, Tipperary have recovered greatly in the qualifiers, with convincing wins against Offaly and Wexford, and a victory over Galway in the quarter finals in an absolute classic and Kelly acknowledges that going down the back-door route has done Tipperary no harm.

“We simply knew we had to improve, we knuckled down and trained hard and it has paid off. In some ways coming through the back-door has helped us as we’ve had more matches and certain players have gotten the chances to play in games, where they might not have if we’d gone the traditional route.”

With only days to go now, the mood in the Tipp camp is very good and Kelly can’t wait for the Waterford game. Although a back injury that has been plaguing him for two seasons has made him a slight doubt, he told JOE that it is very unlikely that he’ll miss the match.

Though Kelly refuses to look past Waterford, the figure of Kilkenny must loom large in the background. The eventual winners of that match will be seen by some as fodder for the Cats as they close in on their unprecedented five-a-row. People shouldn’t forget, however, just how close Tipp went to beating Kilkenny in last year’s final. And in a year of shocks, who is to say that the Premier County can’t go one step further this time.

The match will commence at 3.30pm in Croke Park this Sunday. JOE will be covering the game live in our GAA matchtracker.