Craig Morgan relieved to lift monkey off Tipp's back
Saturday evening in Ennis bridged a gap of two years, two weeks, and three days to the county's most recent Munster championship victory. The interim period, as Morgan hinted at, was not particularly kind.
There were nine provincial outings and not one win. There was a 15-point hammering away to Limerick. There was an 18-point humiliation at home to Cork. There were another four goals conceded and another double-digit hammering at the hands of Cork this year.
Throw in their brief involvement in the 2023 All-Ireland series and Tipp boasted a solitary win, over then Joe McDonagh-card holders Offaly, from 11 championship outings.
It is despite all these results that Tipperary, winless in the province for 748 days, were able to go to the home of the All-Ireland champions and secure a victory that gives their own championship campaign a pulse. It is despite all these results that winless Tipperary were able to summon a winning four-point response, into the wind, when Clare successfully wiped out an earlier 12-point deficit to restore parity on 63 minutes.
'We have huge belief in ourselves and huge belief in the players in the team. We have had a few setbacks, a lot of setbacks, over the last two years, and we knew that we'd be in a tough situation against the All-Ireland champions in their home ground.
'We knew they'd come back at us in the second half, but we showed great character to dig deep in the last five minutes. Even the subs that came on really showed the character and belief that's in this team,' said Morgan, who started at centre-back at Cusack Park as Ronan Maher went to right half-back to stand beside Clare puckout target Peter Duggan.
'In the Munster championship, every team, on any given day, can beat any other team, so we knew that Clare were going to come back and that not to panic, stay brave, stay hurling the way we can, and execute our game-plan, and that's what we did.'
Morgan made his championship debut in 2022. Started all four games of that year's Munster round-robin. Subsequent cruciate ligament rupture rendered him unavailable for the 2023 round-robin.
Saturday was Morgan's 11th Munster championship start and first win. A box ticked for him personally and a monkey off the back collectively.
'Of course it is,' he says with regard to the latter. 'A draw or loss wouldn't do there today. We knew that was knockout hurling. It was only a win that was in our minds, that is what we went after, and that is what we achieved. We knew that win kept us in the championship and obviously we were showing emotion after the game.
'I wasn't playing that day in 2023, so this is my first win in Munster. To get that win there was great for me, personally. 100%, I'll remember that one. Probably is a monkey off the back.'
The 4-18 to 2-21 triumph in the backyard of the champions returns Tipp to the championship conversation. A first championship win over Waterford in six years this Sunday will secure them a top three spot ahead of the final round of games the weekend after. A draw could also prove sufficient, but that would leave their fate in the hands of others on that final weekend. And after wrestling back control of their own narrative in Ennis, they're of no mind to let it go again.
'This doesn't matter if we don't reproduce next week, that's all we are focused on now.'
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