Everyone says there are no certainties in sport, especially when it comes to an All-Ireland hurling replay. Tipperary are already convinced that nearly everything about Saturday’s replay against Kilkenny will be different, although with one important exception.

Because even with their season unexpectedly extended by three weeks there is no uncertainty whatsoever about the enduring commitment of their players, and Tipperary selector Paudie O’Neill has a little story to prove it.

As the team regrouped, the week after the drawn game, O’Neill noticed that forward Niall O’Meara was still amongst them. The same Niall O’Meara who had informed the Tipperary management, on the evening of the drawn game, that he was due to fly out to the US the following day, to begin a four-month teaching placement.

O’Meara had flown out alright, then after spending one night in the US, quickly realised there was only one place on earth he really needed to be; so he immediately booked a return flight, and was back training with Tipperary on the Thursday evening.

Big call

“And there wasn’t one bit of pressure on him to come back, it was completely voluntary,” says O’Neill. “It was a big call for him to make, but I think it just reflects the level of commitment from the whole panel. Niall just walked back into the training on the Thursday night, and said nothing.”

Part of O’Meara’s motivation was the fact he’d narrowly failed to make the 26-man match panel for the drawn final. The 21-year-old had featured prominently throughout Tipperary’s league campaign (starting the quarter-final, semi-final, and final), before injury stalled his progress over the summer (although he did play corner forward in the Munster semi-final against Limerick).

“He was looking very promising,” adds O’Neill, “although he’s been very unfortunate with injury the last few weeks. But he’s back in action now, and certainly out to make a statement with his desire to make that match-day panel.”

Both Tipperary and Kilkenny will announce their starting teams after training tomorrow evening (Kilkenny breaking with their Friday night tradition given the game is on the Saturday). There is already considerable speculation about changes in the Kilkenny team (Henry Shefflin starting this time, etc) but again, Tipperary are not expecting any certainties.

Indeed for O’Neill – whose considerable coaching experience includes a spell as Dublin minor and under-21 hurling manager, as well as time served on the GAA’s Coach Education programme – part of the process of moving on from the drawn game was parking that game completely.

“You can take all the data you want from the drawn game, but you have to put it aside, absolutely park it. No two games follow the same script, or narrative. You certainly wouldn’t want to get hung up on paralysis by analysis, by getting hung up on the minute details of the drawn game.

“And especially when it comes to the opposition. I think our approach has quite genuinely been 95 per cent-plus focused on ourselves. We really do focus on ourselves, and what we want to do. I think once you start focusing too much on the opposition, particularly when it’s in the realm of ‘maybe/what if they do’ hypothesis, you’re in trouble, because we just don’t know.”

But Tipperary are aware of certain aspects of the drawn game that will need addressing come Saturday evening – starting with the fact Kilkenny scored three goals the first day, and Tipp only scored on.

Three goals

“Any day you concede three goals you’re going to find it tough to win . . . that would be one aspect we’d be concerned about, conceding three goals, and that Kilkenny had other goal chances,” says O’Neill.

“And goals are generally needed. I don’t know what the stats are, but not many All-Irelands are won by teams that don’t score goals (Cork being the last of those, in 1999). So we have to focus on that for the replay.”

Tipperary may well have had two more goals the last day, only for two penalties to be saved (one taken by John O’Dwyer, the other by Séamus Callanan). O’Neill, while suggesting the reinforced penalty rule now clearly benefits the opposition goalkeeper, also believes the decision to shot at goal or else settle for a point will continue to come down to the player standing over the ball.

“At no stage does Eamon or any of us give them specific instructions about X, Y or Z . On the field, they have to make the decisions. Obviously the penalty-scoring ratio has dropped very significantly this year. So players will discuss it and are aware that the chances of scoring a goal have gone down. So they have to ask do they take the point, and put it in the bag?

“But there won’t be instructions, I’m certain of that . . .”

Another priority for this Tipperary team, O’Neill suggests, is ensuring they make the right tackle at the right place at the right time.

“We’ve done a lot of work on that, because one of the lessons we’ve learned is if you concede a free from anything up to 60 yards out you may as well just give a point to the opposition”