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Pat Spillane believes Tipperary has a real chance of defeating Mayo in Sunday’s Irish semi-final, but feels they contain a weakness in their defense line.
The second semi-final of the weekend is a replay of the 2016 Ireland semi-final, when Stephen Rochford’s May team edged Tipperary by five points before leading Dublin to a replay in a dramatic Irish final.
Tipperary reached the semi-final four years ago through the back door, surprising then-Connacht champion Galway in the Irish quarter-finals.
With the championship returning to direct knockout for just one year, Tipperary pitched in this year’s semifinal after much more emotional success: claiming a first Munster soccer title in 85 years, and doing so on the weekend the GAA commemorated. the Bloody Sunday Centennial.
Speaking on the RTÉ GAA podcast, Spillane believes Tipperary faces Mayo strongly in several areas.
“They have experience. These guys have won minor medals from all over Ireland, they’ve been to a U21 final. There is probably more experience in this Tipperary team than in May. These guys aren’t afraid of Mayo, so come in confident.
“Great goalie, great midfielder line, Bill Maher, Kevin Fahey and Robbie Kiely. They have the upper hand in midfield because in terms of primary winners, O’Brien, O’Riordan and Casey, if it comes out, they are better primary ball winners. than Ruane and Loftus.
“And then you have the two guys up front. Quinlivan had had a poor Munster championship. He didn’t score against Clare, he only scored one point against Limerick and he was very good in the Munster final.
“Sweeney is brilliant. Sweeney is an outstanding forward and is destined to be an All-Star.”
“Do I have a problem? 40% of your Munster championship scores come from Conor Sweeney. Do I give you a chance? Of course there is! There is a good coach there, great experience, great character.
“If you told me at halftime at the Gaelic Grounds that this team from Tipperary would be an Irish semi-final … they were seven points behind a Division 4 team in Limerick. But they came out after the break and scored 1-06 with no response “.
However, he has reservations about them further back, but is not sure if Mayo will exploit it properly, although he eventually sees the Connacht champions breaking through “after a fight”.
“If I’m looking for a weak link on Tipperary’s side, I’d say it’s their line of defense.
“The only problem I see with Mayo is that I’m not really sure if they will use the full attack line. In the first half against Galway, they lost form. Cillian (O’Connor) got out and Aidan (O’Shea) arrived. to the center of the field, there was no exit of the ball and his performance of forward against Galway was quite poor.
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