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Tipperary's Lar Corbett and Pa Bourke with Kilkenny's Tommy Walsh. INPHO/James Crombie

Corbett and Ryan back Tipperary's attacking ploy

Tipperary’s tactics up front in Croke Park yesterday have sparked plenty reaction but their key attacker believes it was correct to employ them.

TIPPERARY ATTACKER LAR Corbett has defended the tactics that they employed in yesterday’s All-Ireland hurling semi-final with their bizarre attacking philosophy of getting the Thurles Sarsfields player to trail Tommy Walsh during their clash with Kilkenny, having created much debate.

Tipperary crashed to a massive 18-point defeat against Brian Cody’s side with the Premier county’s strategy of getting Corbett and Pa Bourke to follow Walsh and fellow Kilkenny defender Jackie Tyrrell provoking a huge response.

Yet Corbett believes the ploy worked successfully in the first-half as they created space in the Premier frontline.

“They came with a game-plan and so did we. What we were doing was working up to half-time. As regards who was right and who was wrong, I suppose when you lose you have to say that maybe their system was a bit better than ours.

“We just have to deal with what Kilkenny are going to throw in front of us. It’s up to us to counteract it and what have we to say about it? What we had to say about it brought us a long way in the first half. We believed in the system and it was working for us. There were a few chances that came off it and that was good.”

“If you look at my game, my game is getting on the ball and getting scores. I won’t tell lies – I didn’t score 12 months ago and I didn’t score today. Last year I couldn’t offer much because I was isolated, but this year I thought I got a little better ball and created space for the movement of other players. That’s what we were trying today – to create space for other players.”

Tipperary boss Declan Ryan concurred with Corbett’s assessment of Tipperary’s tactics.

“It seemed to work out alright in the first half.  We had a little bit of room inside in the full-forward line. The second half then didn’t give us the kind of room inside we were looking for, particularly when we brought on Shane Bourke. We know the kind of pace Shane has and he can do damage.

“Lar was picked at number 12 and Tommy was playing at number five.  For ideal match ups that was the plan that Lar would pick up Tommy and obviously Jackie Tyrrell didn’t agree and he wanted a piece of it as well.”

Corbett also explained what happened when he was late emerging after half-time as it was not until the 37th minute of the game when he joined the action after Henry Shefflin had already notched the first score of the second-half.

“I just had a few things to tidy up to just get ready and just got caught for 20 seconds. That was my own fault there. I was just doing whatever had to be done to get right for the second half. There was nothing to it really.”

The attacker also insisted he had no regrets about his decision to return to the inter-county game this year after previously announcing his retirement in early February.

“I’ve no regrets in life today at 31 years of age, thank God. I don’t know about coming back. I have to wait and see. No one wants to go out like that. It’s hard to know what to do. Look, we’ll just have to deal with today. Tipperary have to go back and rebuild.”

As It Happened: Kilkenny v Tipperary, All-Ireland SHC semi-final

Cats crush Premier to reach All-Ireland hurling decider

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9 Comments
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    Mute Gallagher Martin
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    Aug 20th 2012, 7:32 AM

    sad day for tip hurling….15 on 15 might of been a better tactic mayb????.

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    Mute Jason Doyle
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    Aug 20th 2012, 11:17 AM

    So Lar and Ryan think it was correct to basically take one of the best full forwards out of the game just to mark a defender, what crap. All I can say is Tipp seemed to be so busy putting it up to Kilkenny physically and getting involved in silly scuffles that they forgot what they were there for, to play bloody hurling.

    And, as Lar and Ryan so “wisely” say, the game plan didn’t work in the first half like they believe. The Tipp forward line never looked threatening, not once through the whole game. The goal they scored only came about by fluke. Some serious questions need answering here, Tipp have a huge pool of talented hurlers to pick from yet since the unfortunate departure on Sheedy it seems to be all going to waste

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    Mute Philip Kennedy
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    Aug 20th 2012, 12:46 PM

    It was fairly even in the putting it up to each other physically stakes I would say. Nobody took a backwards step.

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    Mute Donal Marah
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    Aug 20th 2012, 8:25 AM

    It worked to an extent in the first half but it was comical to look at, Walsh was following Pa Bourke, Lar was following Walsh and then Tyrell was following Lar. Walsh didn’t touch the ball in the 1st half and Tipp went in one up. I was expecting see normal service resume in second half 15v15 but Pa Borke seemed to go in corner forward and Walsh followed with Lar and Tyrell close behind. It totally lobsided the whole Tipp attack Lar started getting frustrated and started gesturing to the bench etc and Walsh showed how great a reader of the game he is by coming out of the full back line to claim some great catches. It was totally bizarre.

    One other thing of note from both teams was the amount of fist pumping for the first 20 mins every time they won a free. KK seemed to keep theirs restricted to players off the ball fir example Shefflin did a dance if frobt if us when his defenders won a free but Tipp the guy who was fouled use to give a dance, if they let in early ball instead they might have created more from the space they mentioned. Instead KK backs were in place and ready to clear by the time the free was taken.

    It was just a bizarre gane to watch but KK showed they can beat anything put in front of them.

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    Mute Rob
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    Aug 20th 2012, 10:22 AM

    Basically Tipp looked back and saw that Shefflin and Tommy Walsh pretty much won the All Ireland last year – so they decided that step 1 this year would be to stop them. and to be fair Shefflin only scored from play in last minute and tommy walsh was very quiet compared to normal! congrats to the Tipp management – maybe next year they’ll figure our what went wrong this year etc etc…..

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    Mute Cian Walsh
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    Aug 20th 2012, 7:18 PM

    I would hope you are not from Tipp with that comment or it was a sarcastic dig… The Tipp management oozed cluelessness yesterday and it wasnt only evident in the embarrassing carry on that Lar went at… Our first substitute was Buggy probably the best forward we had, when Noel McGrath didn’t hurl for the umpteen time this year. Next was the shocking decision to leave Bonner Maher at full forward for the majority of the game… I could continue but id rather forget about the humiliation we suffered yesterday to the history books never to be looked at again… We will come back stronger in the next few years with the right management and character from certain players who might take pride in the blue and gold jersey…

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    Mute G
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    Aug 20th 2012, 1:13 PM

    Surely it is time to put a stop to the thuggery that is the GAA. If people on the street carried on like this it would be a criminal offense. The macho culture that is abundant within the GAA is not only childish and cowardly, it is at the root of a lot of the pub/street brawl culture in small towns across the country. It would not make these players less of a man if they played by the rules and in a sporting manner. If the endemic culture of violence and thuggery is not dealt with by the GAA, then the law of the land should step in.

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    Mute emmomac
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    Aug 20th 2012, 1:32 PM

    get a grip G

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    Mute Stephen Barry
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    Aug 24th 2012, 4:59 PM

    I was a neutral when this game started but not very long into the game i started shouting for kilkenny as they seemed to be the only team who came out and actually wanted to play a game of hurling. i have never seen the likes of the cynical disgraceful tactics of tipp especially that of lar who had no intention of playing the game. there were numerous dangerous pulling which should have resulted in red cards this is not the first time tipp have resorted to this nonsense of bullying and harrassment and taken the beauty and skill of the game out. there is a culture of dirty tactics emerging in the game and it has to be stamped out. o yea and shame on you mr corbet disgraceful

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