PREVIEW: 'It’s a medal we’d all love to have' said Tipperary captain Ronan Maher ahead of final

“The league final is another opportunity for us to learn more about ourselves and improve the team.”
That is the view of Tipperary senior hurling captain Ronan Maher who spoke ahead of the crunch National Hurling League final against Cork this Sunday.

The 65-year wait for the traditional Munster aristocrats of hurling to face off in a league final will end in Supervalu Pairc Uí Chaoimh on Sunday, with Tipperary travelling to Cork’s home patch and, despite some contention over the venue, Maher highlighted that the team are more than happy with the fixture.

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“It would be great to play in a league final in Semple Stadium as well but that’s obviously not happening.

“But it’ll be great preparation for the Munster Championship. We played there two years ago and the place was rocking. It’s a great stadium and I think it’s a sell-out already, so there’ll be a great crowd.

“It’s perfect preparation for the Munster Championship, which is only three or four weeks away,” he said with certainty.

Tipperary will be hoping the end a 17-year famine to get their hands on the National League trophy on Sunday - the last title coming in 2008 - and with Maher, Noel McGrath, Michael Breen, Willie Connors, Seamus Kennedy, John McGrath, and Jason Forde the only survivors from the beaten final teams in 2017 and 2018, Maher insists that he and his teammates are not taking this opportunity for granted.

“League finals have proven to be very difficult to win in Tipperary, and 2008 was the last one, and we’ve been beaten in a few as well,” Maher pointed out.

“It’s a medal we’d all love to have. There is silverware on the line, so we’ll go out and prep ourselves really well for the final, we’ll train really hard.

“Down the line, championship is what were looking at. This is great prep for the championship.

“For everybody involved in the squad, it’s our first league final together, so we’ll attack it with everything we have.”
Despite already besting Pat Ryan’s Cork in the league group stages, Tipperary will go into this game as ranked underdogs with some bookmakers installing Cork as 4/1 favourites to end their own famine - 27 years to be precise.

In the aftermath of Cork’s loss to Tipp in FBD Semple Stadium in March, Cork have gone on a blistering run of form scoring 10 goals in beating Clare and Galway, with their forward division hitting form at the perfect time ahead of the championship in a fortnight’s time.

The pressure is off Tipperary in that regard with the hurling public and the Cork support expectant - especially with the tie down on the banks of the Lee - but the lessons of league finals lost will be in the back of Premier minds ahead of the game.
The last two league final defeats in 2017 and 2018 have led to disappointing championship years and a strong showing here would be the minimum requirement.

Cork will be without Brian Hayes through injury, but with Tipperary looking like they have a full deck to choose from, it could be a final to savour for the sell-out double header on Sunday.

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