PREVIEW: 'Galway are going to be a serious test' - Bill Mullaney

Tipperary claimed their third win in a row against Dublin last weekend, and in the process, have set up a mouthwatering and what will likely be a winner takes all tie against Galway in the final game of Group 1 this Saturday.

With Tipp having claimed three wins from three, Galway will be welcome the Premier to their patch with two wins from their games to date, and should their final game against Offaly go along expected form lines, this game on Saturday will be the decisive one in deciding who reaches to league final to face Cork in April.

Lots of names have impressed like Caoimhe McCarthy, Claire Hogan, Jenny Grace, Sarah Delaney, and Karin Blair which is welcomed for squad depth going forward into the rest of the campaign.

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Mary Ryan, Aoife McGrath and Cáit Devane made their first starts of the year against Dublin, and Devane’s six points, allied to an early Casey Hennessy goal were the key scoring contributions. When Kerrie Finnegan goaled for Dublin however, the visitors were buoyed and it was nip and tuck all the way from there to the final whistle.

“We got the result we wanted but I thought we made very hard work of it,” was the assessment of Tipp boss Bill Mullaney afterwards. “The conditions were atrocious but they were atrocious for both teams. We worked very hard to get the result but we knew it was gonna be a tough task with Dublin. They weren’t far off Galway and we probably hadn’t been tested up to this point.”

“Dublin were honest, committed, made it very hard for us. They stacked the backs, we couldn’t break through. We had a couple of scoring chances we didn’t tap over the bar when it was on either to put that gap between us. Fair play to Dublin, they made us work hard for everything but I was delighted with our work rate too. But there’s more in us.”

And Mullaney conceded that they would need to produce it if they were to overcome Galway and set-up a first national final appearance in 13 years.

“I’ve a bit more to think about after today. Galway are going to be a serious test. We’ll have to step up but I think we’re going okay, we’re going in the right direction.”

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