2023 Tipperary county hurling team season

On 23 July 2022, Liam Cahill named former Tipperary captain Pádraic Maher as a selector with Toomevara's Michael Bevans as coach. Loughmore Castleiney's Declan Laffan and Clonoulty Rossmore's TJ Ryan were also named as selectors^[8][9]On 15 November 2022, former Waterford player Tony Browne was also named as coaching support after previously working alongside Cahill with Waterford.^[10][11]

2023 squad

On 14 November 2022, Liam Cahill announced his panel for pre-season and the upcoming National League, a total of 25 clubs were represented. Former All-Star goalkeeper Brian Hogan was not included as he is going travelling during the year. John O'Dwyer, who missed the 2022 campaign due to a knee injury was also omitted from the panel and later announced his retirement from inter-county hurling on 16 February.^[12][13]Niall O'Meara and Bryan O'Meara returned to the panel after travelling in 2022. Shane Neville, now playing for Cratloe in Clare, was the only player based outside the county to be included.The team returned to training on 24 November.^[14][15][16]

The following players made their competitive senior debut in 2023.

• Johnny Ryan against Laois on 4 February.
• Sean Ryan against Laois on 4 February.
• Cian O'Dwyer against Laois on 4 February.
• John Campion against Laois on 4 February.
• Pauric Campion against Kilkenny on 12 February.
• Alan Tynan against Kilkenny on 12 February.
• Conor McCarthy against Dublin on 25 February.
• Rhys Shelly against Waterford on 11 March.
• Joe Fogarty against Antrim on 19 March.
• Kian O'Kelly against Antrim on 19 March.
• Paddy Creedon against Antrim on 19 March.
• Jack Ryan against Galway on 24 June.

Summary

The Co-Op Superstores Munster Senior Hurling League began in early January.^[17]Tipperary played Waterford in their first match of the year on 3 January, There were first starts for Rhys Shelly in goal, Gavin Ryan, Pauric Campion, Shane Neville, Alan Tynan, Joe Fogarty, and Paddy Creedon. They lost out on a 0-21 to 1-15 scoreline.^{[18][19][20][21]}On the 8 January Liam Cahill secured his first win as Tipperary manager when they played Clare in their second match of the Munster Senior Hurling League, winning by 2-22 to 0-20.^[22]It was a first win for Tipperary since their League victory against Antrim in March 2022.^{[23][24][25][26]}Tipperary qualified for the final due to Clare defeating Waterford by 1-24 to 2-18 on 15 January.^[27]

The final against Cork was played on 21 January at Páirc Uí Rinn in front of 4,727. Tipperary had a lead of six with four minutes of regulation time remaining having previous had an eight point lead in the 52nd minute, but ended up losing by one point on a 1-19 to 3-14 scoreline after late Cork goals by Brian Hayes and Jack O’Connor. Seán Ryan got the only goal for Tipperay in the 25th minute with a low shot to the net from the left after a one-two with Conor Stakelum, they had a 1-9 to 1-6 lead at half-time. John McGrath returned for Tipperary from an achilles tendon rupture he suffered in April 2022 with his brother Brian McGrath named as the man of the match. ^[28]

Results

Summary

The National hurling league began in early February. Tipperary played Laois in the opening round on 4 February in Semple Stadium. The match saw manager Liam Cahill come up against his Ballingarry clubmate Willie Maher who is the Laois manager. The team was announced on 2 February.^[29]Liam Cahill named four league debutants in Johnny Ryan, Gearóid O’Connor, Cian O’Dwyer and Sean Ryan.^[30]In dry conditions Tipperary playing in navy jerseys had a 1-17 to 0-7 lead at half-time after dominating the first half, the goal coming from the 12th minute with a low shot to the net from Seamus Kennedy after a pass from Patrick Maher.^[31]Gearoid O'Connor got eight points in the first half and went on to get eleven points in total. Substitute Jake Morris got the second Tipperary goal near the end of the game with Tipperary going on to win by 20 points on a 2-32 to 0-18 score-line.^[32][33]In total they had 14 different scorers from play during the game with 18 wides.^[34][35]

A week later on 12 February, Tipperary played Kilkenny in the second round of the league in Nowlan Park. The match was shown live on TG4. Just six players from the previous game against Laois started with Séamus Callanan returning to the team for his first game since 2021.^[36]In dry conditions in front of a crowd of 10,458, Tipperary had a twelve point lead at half-time on a 2-13 to 0-7 scoreline.^[37]The Tipperary goals coming from Jason Forde in the 27th minute with a powerful shot to the left of the net rom the left after a hand pass from Séamus Callanan.^[38]A second goal arrived in the seven minutes of time added on in the first half, Jake Morris finishing the rebound low to the net after Conor Bowe's shot had been saved. Paddy Cadell and Cathal Barrett after colliding with his own player both went off injured in the opening twelve minutes of the match.^[39]In the second-half Kilkenny narrowed the lead to four points before Tipperary pulled away again to win by six points on 2-24 to 1-21 scoreline, it was there first win in Nowlan park in 15 years.^[40]Jason Forde was named as the man of the match after scoring 1-15.^[41][42]Paddy Cadell who had gone off injured suffered a pivot shift injury to his left knee and will miss the rest of the season. Cathal Barrett who also went off during the game will be out for at least 10 to 12 weeks with a shoulder injury.^[43]

In round three of the league on 25 February, Tipperary played an unbeaten Dublin team at Croke Park with a Saturday evening start. It was Tipperary's first appearance at Croke Park since the 2019 All-Ireland final.^[44]There was seven changes to the starting team from the previous game against Kilkenny with Conor McCarthy, Bryan O’Mara, Brian McGrath, Conor Stakelum, Gearoid O’Connor, Seamus Kennedy and Mark Kehoe all coming into the team.^[45][46]In dry conditions Tipperary had a one point lead at half-time on a 0-14 to 0-13 scoreline.^[47]In the 40th minute second-half substitute Conor Bowe got a goal for Tipperary with a finish to the net from 10 yards out after a pass from Mark Kehoe.^[48]A second goal arrived in the 52nd minute from Jason Forde when he beat the Dublin goalkeeper to a long ball in and flicked to the net to put Tipperary into a six point lead. After that Tipperary eased to a five point win on a 2-23 to 0-24 score-line to maintain their 100% record with three wins out of three.^[49][50]

On 11 March Tipperary played Waterford in round four of the league at Semple Stadium. In dry conditions, Tipperary had a 1-12 to 0-11 at half-time. Jake Morris scored a goal for Tipperary in the 8th minute and in the second half he scored two more with low shots to the net as Tipperary won by 4-23 to 0-25. Morris became the first player to score a hat-trick of league goals for Tipperary against Waterford since 1965. With this win Tipperary clinched the top spot in Division 1B and a place in the semi-finals.^[51]Seamus Callanan picked up a knee injury in the first half and will be out of action for up to eight weeks.^[52]

A week later Tipperary travelled to Corrigan Park in Belfast to play Antrim in round five of the league.^[53]In dry conditions, Tipperary had a 3-13 to 0-8 at half-time and went on to win by 4-28 to 2-16 to complete five wins out of five in Division 1B of the league.^[54]

On 25 March Tipperary played Limerick in the semi-finals of the league in the Gaelic Grounds in front of 11,812.^[55][56]There were nine changes from the team that played in the previous match against Antrim.^[57][58]Limerick had finished in second place in Division 1 Group A behind Cork with a record of four wins and one loss which was against Cork. The match was shown live on TG4. Tipperary were five points clear in the 21st minute and had a four point lead at half-time on a 0-16 to 0-12 scoreline.^[59][60]Limerick drew level and went in front in the 46th minute with a point from Aaron Gillane.^[61]In the 57th minute Limerick scored the only goal of the game when Peter Casey kicked to the net from close range to extend the lead to six points. Limerick went on to win by six points on a 1-28 to 0-25 scoreline.^[62]Tipperary were outscored 1-16 to 0-9 in the second half.With this loss, Tipperary have now failed to beat Limerick in their last seven encounters with the last win coming in the 2019 Munster round robin.^[63][64]

Results

The Munster Senior Hurling Championship started on Sunday 23 April with the first match against Clare in Ennis.^[65][66]

Round 1 (v Clare 23 April)

On Sunday 23 April Tipperary played Clare, managed by Brian Lohan in the first match of the Munster Championship at Cusack Park in Ennis.The match was televised live on GAAGO for €12, or as part of a season pass for €79. Tickets for the game cost €25 for the stand and €20 for the terrace. Commentary on the game was by Mike Finnerty. In Liam Cahill's first championship game in charge, he named a match-day squad listed in alphabetical order due to the team only being named after training on 21 April. Both Seamus Callanan and Niall O’Meara were missing from the squad due to injury. The starting team lined out with squad numbers and was named after training, the squad numbers also appeared in the match programme. All three McGrath brothers started for the first time in the championship with Brian McGrath starting for the first time alongside debutants Alan Tynan, Johnny Ryan, and Bryan O’Mara.^[67]Gearóid O'Connor also made his first start in the championship.^[68][69][70]

The match was played in front of a crowd of 17,971 on a dry day with occasional sun and rain drops. Tipperary playing with the wind into the east terrace end raced into a 1-3 lead after three minutes, the first goal coming from a Jason Forde sideline cut from the right in the 3rd minute that went all the way to the left corner of the net past Clare goalkeeper Eamonn Foudy from outside the 45-metre line. Clare then scored the next six points to be level in the 12th minute.^[71]Tipperary scored further goals when Foudy was dispossessed in possession by Jake Morris after 17 minutes who fired to the empty net.^[72]Morris got the third goal and his second after 23 minutes after another mistake by Foudy on a puck-out with Morris running in on goal from the left before firing low to the net.^[73]Mark Rodgers scored two goals for Clare before half-time, the first after catching a high ball before firing low to the left corner of the net and the second after clare ran at Tipperary before Rodgers fired to the net from close range. Tipperary had a 3-12 to 2-11 lead at half-time.^[74]In the second half, Tipperary were awarded a penalty in the 41st minute when Jake Morris was fouled by David McInerney as he ran in on goal with McInerney receiving a black card. Jason Forde scored the penalty low to the left corner of the net to put Tipperary into a six point lead. In the 63rd minute, substitute Sean Ryan, on his championship debut and with his first touch, got the fifth goal for Tipperary with a low shot from the left to the net.^[75]Clare scored a third goal in added time from Aidan McCarthy with Tipperary eventually easing to a five point win on a 5-22 to 3-23 scoreline. Jake Morris scored 2-4 during the game and was named as the man of the match.^[76][77]The win was the first in the championship for Tipperary since the win against Clare in July 2021 and ended a run of six successive defeats.^[78][79]

Round 2 (v Cork 6 May)

On Saturday 6 May Tipperary played Cork, managed by Pat Ryan in their second match of the Munster Championship at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork. It was the 90th meeting of the two teams in the Championship. The match was televised live on GAAGO for €12, or as part of a season pass for €79. The live coverage was hosted by Grainne McElwain with analysis from John O'Dwyer and Eoin Cadogan. Commentary on the game was by Mike Finnerty alongside Séamus Hickey.^[80]Tickets for the game cost €25 for the stand and €20 for the terrace. Liam Cahill named his team on 4 May with Sean Ryan and Conor Stakelum coming into the starting team ahead of Brian McGrath and John McGrath.^[81]

The match was played in front of a crowd of 36,765 in dry sunny conditions. In the 5th minute Declan Dalton scored a goal for Cork when he ran in on goal before patting the ball to the net from the right to put Cork into a 1-2 to 0-1 lead.^[82]Tipperary came back into the game and scored 11 of the next 13 scores. Jason Forde tweaked his hamstring in scoring a point and had to go off after 16 minutes and will miss the rest of the Munster Championship.^[83]Cork got a second goal in the 34th minute when Robbie O'Flynn ran in on goal and finished to the right of the net from the left to make it 2-6 to 0-13.^[84]Tipperary had a two point lead at half-time on a 2-6 to 0-14 scoreline.^[85]

Playing into the sun at the city end in the second half, Gearoid O'Connor scored a goal in the 46th minute when he cut in from the left and back out again before firing to the net to put Tipperary into a 1-16 to 2-10 lead.^[86]Cork scored a third goal when Darragh Fitzgibbon finished the ball to the empty net after a pass along the ground from the left to cut the Tipperary lead to two points on a 3-15 to 1-23 scoreline.^[87]Cork scored the next two points to level the game before Mark Kehoe got a second goal for Tipperary in the 67th minute when he ran at goal from the left before finishing to the right of the net to put Tipperary back into a four point lead.^[88]Cork came back again and Brian Hayes got a fourth goal for Cork with a close range finish after a Shane Kingston pass from the left to level the match.^[89]Late Tipperary substitute Seamus Callanan had a shot at goal blocked before scoring a point with Shane Kingston then scoring to level score again in the third minute of added time with the game finishing as a draw on a 4-19 to 2-25 scoreline. Alan Tynan with four points from play was named as the man of the match. ^{[90][91][92][93][94][95]}

Round 3 (v Limerick 21 May)

On Sunday 21 May Tipperary played All-Ireland Champions Limerick, managed by John Kiely in their third match of the Munster Championship at Semple Stadium in Thurles.^[96][97][98]The match was televised live on RTÉ 2 as part of the Sunday Game presented by Joanne Cantwell with analysis by Joe Canning, Anthony Daly and Dónal Óg Cusack. Commentary on the game was provided by Marty Morrissey alongside Michael Duignan. Tickets for the game cost €25 for the stand and €20 for the terrace. Liam Cahill named his team on 19 May with goalkeeper Rhys Shelly making his championship debut alongside fellow debutant Eoghan Connolly and Patrick Maher also coming into the team.^[99][100]

The match was played in front of a crowd of 37,459 in dry sunny conditions. Tipperary playing into the town end had the better of the first half and had a 0-15 to 0-12 lead at half-time with Gearoid O’Connor getting six points. Aaron Gillane had put Limerick into the lead in the first minute, with Noel McGrath slotting over a first-minute sideline to score for Tipperary.^[101]In the second half Limerick came back to lead by one point with four unanswered points before Tipperary again went into the lead.^[102]With the game into added time, Tom Morrissey put Limerick into the lead before substitute John McGrath who had only been on the pitch for a minute scored with a free in the 76th minute to level the match with a final scoreline of 0-25 to 0-25.^[103]Limerick were down to 14 men for the last few minutes of the match when Barry Nash was sent off. Tipperary manager Liam Cahill also received a red card late on after an incorrect line ball decision against Tipperary.^[104]Noel McGrath was named as the man of the match.^{[105][106][107][108]}

Round 4 (v Waterford 28 May)

On Sunday 28 May Tipperary played already eliminated Waterford, managed by Davy Fitzgerald in their fourth match of the Munster Championship at Semple Stadium in Thurles. A victory for Tipperary would qualify them for the Munster final against Clare.The match was televised live on GAAGO for €12, or as part of a season pass for €79. The live coverage was hosted by Grainne McElwain with analysis from John O'Dwyer and Eoin Cadogan. Commentary on the game was by Mike Finnerty alongside Séamus Hickey.Tickets for the game cost €25 for the stand and €20 for the terrace. Brian McGrath and Seamus Callanan started for Tipperary in place of Cathal Barrett and Jake Morris.^[109]

The match was played in front of a crowd of 20,832 in dry sunny conditions.^[110]Waterford led from the start against a flat Tipperary and had a 0-17 to 0-8 lead at half time (they also had eight wides in the first half) and went on to win the game by six points for their first win of the Championship.^[111]Dessie Hutchinson got the only goal of the game in the 52nd minute when he capitalized on a mistake by Rhys Shelly on a high ball to fire to the net from the right.^[112]Despite the loss Tipperary still progressed to the All-Ireland series but missed out on a place in the Munster final. Limerick defeated Cork by a point in the other match that was played at the same time, a draw in that match (the teams were level at half-time) would have eliminated Tipperary from the All-Ireland series on score difference, as anything greater that a four point loss if a draw would have eliminated Tipperary also.^[113][114]

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill speaking after the game said "I can't stress enough how disappointed we are for the Tipperary public today to witness a lot of basic errors on our behalf and it is something myself, Mikey, the management, and the players are really going to have to man up and get sorted out before we can say that we are serious All-Ireland contenders. We got rightly bet today. We got an awful hammering to be straight and honest about it."^[115]

Results

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	SF	SA	Diff	Pts	Qualification
1	Clare	4	3	0	1	8-91	10-76	+9	6	Advance to Munster Final
2	Limerick	4	2	1	1	6-88	2-98	+2	5
3	Tipperary	4	1	2	1	7-93	8-91	-1	4	Advance to All-Ireland preliminary quarter-finals
4	Cork	4	1	1	2	8-94	7-90	+7	3
5	Waterford	4	1	0	3	1-77	3-88	-17	2

After finishing in third place in the Munster Championship, Tipperary went into the All-Ireland preliminarily quarter-finals.

All-Ireland Championship Preliminary Quarter-final (v Offaly 17 June )

On Saturday 17 June, Tipperary played Joe McDonagh Cup runners-up Offaly, managed by Johnny Kelly in the All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final. The match was televised live on GAAGO for €12, or as part of a season pass for €79. The team was announced on 15 June.^[116]Tickets for the game cost €25. The match was played in warm humid conditions that turned into thundery skies and torrential rain, in front of a crowd of 9,962.^[117]Tipperary had a 3-25 to 1-11 lead at half time and went on to record the highest ever total in the senior hurling in the highest-scoring match in Championship history.^[118]Mark Kehoe scored a hat-trick and ended up with a total of 3-3.^[119]

All-Ireland Championship Quarter-final (v Galway 24 June )

On Saturday 24 June Tipperary played Galway, managed by Henry Shefflin in the All-Ireland quarter-final at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. It was the 16th meeting between the teams in the championship since the 1987 All-Ireland Semi-final. Galway were coming into the match after losing the Leinster final on 11 June to a late goal by Kilkenny.^[120]The team was announced on 22 June with just one change to the team that started the week before against Offaly, Cathal Barrett coming into the team instead of the injured Craig Morgan.^[121][122]The match was televised live on RTÉ 2 as part of the Sunday Game presented by Joanne Cantwell with analysis by Joe Canning, Brendan Cummins and Ursula Jacob. Commentary on the game was provided by Ger Canning alongside Anthony Daly. Tickets for the game cost €40 for the stand and €30 for the terrace.

The match was played in front of a crowd of 34,180 in mostly dry warm conditions with occasional showers, it was the second quarter-final played at the venue after Clare had defeated Dublin in the earlier match.^[123][124]In a close first half low on quality, Galway playing into the city end had an 0-10 to 0-7 lead at half-time.^[125]Galway scored a goal 20 seconds into the second half when Conor Whelan got past Cathal Barrett after he slipped to score with a low shot to the right corner of the net to put Galway into a six point lead.^[126]They were eight ahead in the 51st minute when Conor Whelan scored another point.^[127]Tipperary got to within four points in the 58th minute after four unanswered points. With ten minutes to go John McGrath came on as a substitute for Tipperary and within a minute he scored a goal to put just a point between the teams, running onto a breaking ball to shoot with a groundstroke high to the net.^[128]Galway responded and stayed in front before going on to win the game by 1-20 to 1-18. Galway had 18 wides during the game and Rhys Shelly kept Tipperary in the game with three saves including a late save down low from Cianan Fahy.^{[129][130][131]}

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill speaking after the game said "Bitterly disappointed, we just didn’t spark at all today, we seemed to be labouring right through the game. We gave ourselves a chance with seven or eight minutes to go and got it back to a point but continued to make unforced errors and even that aside I suppose we were still lucky to be only a point in it with eight minutes to go".^[132]

In February, two-time All-Ireland winner John O'Dwyer announced his retirement from inter-county hurling after ten years.In a released statement he said "It was a great pleasure to represent my county and win some silverware along the way, thanks to those close to me and to my club Killenaule, who without their support it wouldn't have been possible. So long."^{[133][134][135][136]}

On 6 September three-time All-Ireland winner and former All-Ireland winning captain Séamus Callanan announced his retirement from inter-county hurling after 16 years.^[137][138]In a released statement he said " I am very grateful to have had such an enjoyable career with so many great memories, the highlight of my playing career was undoubtedly captaining Tipperary to All-Ireland success in 2019". Callanan finished with a championship total of 40 goals and 226 points in 66 appearances. His last score was a goal against Offaly on 17 June, and his last appearance was against Galway on 24 June. ^{[139][140][141]}

On 3 November, two-time All-Ireland winner Niall O'Meara announced his retirement from inter-county hurling. In a released statement he said "After some thought I've decided the time is right for me to retire from inter county hurling. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to wear the blue and gold jersey and luckily since 2010 playing on the minor hurling and football teams I had the opportunity, something I will always cherish."O'Meara did not feature during the year due to ankle and groin injuries or in 2022, with his last appearance coming as a substitute in the defeat to Waterford on 31 July 2021. ^[142][143]

The PwC All-Star Awards

The nominations for the PwC All-Stars were announced on 28 September with Tipperary receiving three nominations in the 45-player shortlist, Ronan Maher, Noel McGrath, and Jake Morris.^[144]The awards ceremony took place at the RDS in Dublin on 17 November and was shown live on RTÉ television, Tipperary did not win any awards for the fourth year in a row.^[145][146]

On 19 February Tipperary played Kilkenny in the Dillon Quirke Foundation senior hurling tournament at Semple Stadium. The Dillon Quirke Foundation was established by the Quirke family in memory of Dillon Quirke who died after collapsing during a club game in August 2022. Kilkenny won the game on a 4-20 to 0-25 scoreline in front of 4,628.^[147]

On 8 April Tipperary played Wexford in a challenge fundraiser for the Ryan O'Dwyer appeal in Carrick-on-Suir.Tipperary had a 1-15 to 0-7 at the break with Conor Bowe getting the goal in the 12th minute with a low shot to the net. Further goals for Tipperary arrived in the second half from Gearoid O'Connor and John McGrath.The game was stopped a minute from time when a melee broke out with Wexford player Lee Chin being subjected to racist comments from the crowd.^[148]The score with a minute remaining was Tipperary 3-28 Wexford 1-14.^[149][150]

• Tipperary GAA Archives 2023
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