Colm Bonnar is singing the praises of all things Waterford, as well he might. The people love their hurling, this could be one of the best teams they’ve ever had, probably considered the best team in the country right now.
Bonnar lives in Waterford too, the Tipperary manager acutely aware of what he’s talking about as he prepares to bring his team to Walsh Park for Sunday’s opening round-robin game of the Munster hurling championship.
He’s also learned a lot from Waterford, managing Waterford Institute of Technology to six Fitzgibbon Cup titles, and team trainer with Justin McCarthy when Waterford won the 2002 Munster title.
He knows Tipperary will get absolutely nothing easy on the pitch Waterford haven’t lost on in three years.
“People are quiet enough to me here,” Bonnar says about his county of residence. “The general feeling here in Waterford is that Limerick is the only team getting the better of them over the last couple of years. The fact that then Liam Cahill [from Tipperary] is their manager makes it a bit more intriguing.
“Me living here doesn’t really matter except maybe, yeah, it would make it easier for me going to work on Monday morning if Tipp won.”
With that Bonnar starts singing some praises of his own team, hardly fancied by many to progress beyond Munster, at least not if Waterford, Limerick and Cork all play to recent form.
“As a manager, are we [a team] in a bit of a transition, yes, it does take players a while to find their feet. But it can happen so quickly too, if we hit the ground running . . . this Tipp team could gather a lot of momentum very, very quickly. We’re going to try to win every game, go as far as we can, even though the general public would have Waterford down as hot favourites, we’re not playing into that.
“I think Thomas Hargroves, our strength and conditioning person, has done a fabulous job – in terms of the endurance and the power that’s needed we won’t be found wanting. That won’t be an excuse that will be coming from Tipperary. We’ll match anyone in those stakes.
“Tipp would have played a different kind of style, hugely skilful hurlers we all know that, they were able to pinpoint balls to 40, 50, 60 yards and the more modern game now, in terms of what the likes of your Corks, Limericks and Waterfords are doing, is more of a running power game. It is about breaking the tackle and having that pace to get away and create those options.
Burn you
“I am looking at the players we have, the likes of your Ger Browne, Conor Bowe, the younger lads, Gearóid O’Connor, Jake Morris, Mark Kehoe . . . these are all lads who would burn you on their own, so we are mixing them with some of the more experienced lads and that is rubbing off on everyone.
“I wouldn’t be fearful. I think we have an exceptional bunch of players who can mix that power and pace, mix that hurling and as important as it is to be able to transition that ball out of defence, we need to be able to deliver ball to the right places at the right time.”
Still, any opening defeat brings immediate pressure, the prospect of being done with hurling by the middle of May isn’t lost on him.
“There’s no doubt there will be pressure, if you’re not picking up points. It is difficult to get your head around, because by the middle of next month there are going to be two huge teams in Munster and two in Leinster out of the championship.
“That’s going to be a big shock for a lot of the hurling world. It is a crazy time to be out of hurling, when the games should only be starting.
“Having been involved in it this year, the old style of wintering well for a lot of inter-county players, there was a bit of time off between when their own club season finished and before the national league would start up.
“It’s a vicious circle and we found with players, we have a six-week period coming to the league where we are officially allowed to train and if you are not fit coming in there, you are straight away struggling. It would be very unusual if they keep this format and it is going to be very hard to.”
Still it’s a lot better than his day, Bonnar recalling the time Tipperary went into the 1992 Munster championship as All-Ireland champions, only to lose to Cork in the opening round: “We’d trained for four or five months, and we were out after one game. Nothing happening for another six months. So we relish this format, looking forward to the four games.”
Tipperary have also lost their last three matches to Waterford, the latest being the league, hit with an unanswered 10 points toward the end, Tipperary unable to once breach the goal.
“We’ll have to raise a few green flags down there in Walsh Park. I think when we went down, we hit 21 points but didn’t raise a green flag and that took its toll. It’s not like they went to town on us either, they scored one goal but the threat is always there with Waterford.
“They really went for the jugular in the latter part of the league. But goals coming at the right time are huge in championship and can create momentum. We’ll be hoping to keep that scoreboard ticking over and not find ourselves in a position where with 15 or 20 minutes to go there’s only three points in it. But they hit us for 10 points without reply, that can’t happen. At the level we are at, we need to keep that scoreboard ticking over and it’s something we’ll be conscious of for the whole 70 minutes at Walsh Park.”
