By Rory Houston - @RTESundayGame
Tipperary manager Declan Ryan has warned his side that Dublin are still a dangerous opposition despite the injury-crisis that has hit Anthony Daly’s men ahead of the All-Ireland Hurling Championship semi-final in Croke Park on Sunday.
Watch Dublin and Tipperary (3.30pm), and the minor semi-final between Dublin and Waterford (1.30pm) live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ.ie/sport (Island of Ireland only).
Dublin have made fantastic progress this campaign, winning the Allianz Hurling League and reaching the last four of the All-Ireland after wins over Galway and Limerick.
The loss of Conal Keaney, Stephen Hiney, Tomás Brady, David Treacy and Oisín Gough to injury has seemingly undermined their hopes of causing an upset against the Premier.
However, Tipp boss Ryan believes there is strength in-depth for the Dubs that will make Sunday’s match extremely competitive.
He said in an interview to be broadcast on The Championship on RTÉ Radio 1 tonight: “They have a number of other very good players. Obviously Keaney is a huge loss to them. But the measure of any team is how you progress steadily through the Championship and Dublin have certainly done that.
“They have made incremental improvements all year and that is a good sign for any squad. Ryan O’Dwyer, Liam Rushe and Dotsy O’Callaghan played very well against Limerick in the quarter-finals. They have a very good squad.
“You can see Anthony Daly’s mark all over them. They are physical and determined and they never give in. That is the sign of a very good team. Obviously Dublin winning the league has given them a huge boost of confidence.
“In the last two competitive outings Dublin have beaten Tipp so there is no need for the Tipp players to think we’ll have anything other than a difficult game against Dublin.”
Tipp have arguably the strongest panel in the country with the likes of Brendan Maher struggling to get in the team and Ryan admits it is a terrific problem to have for the county ahead of Sunday’s clash.
“We’re lucky in Tipp we have a good squad of players available to us at the moment. We’re lucky to have Tommy Dunne to do the coaching and Cian O’Neill to do the physical training.
“The Tipp guys have been very hungry and have trained very hard all year. There is plenty to work on even since the Munster final. We have a lot of areas where we can improve.”
