+ Tipperary county hurling team 2014 seasonManagerEamon O'SheaCaptainBrendan MaherAll-Ireland SHCFinalistsMunster SHCSemi-FinalistsNational LeagueFinalistsWaterford Crystal CupWinnersTop scorer ChampionshipSéamus Callanan (9-50)Highest SHC attendance 82,179 (v Kilkenny 7 September)Lowest SHC attendance9,500 (v Offaly 12 July)
The 2014 season was Eamon O'Shea's second year as manager of the Tipperary senior hurling team.
In October 2013, Brendan Maher was named as the new Tipperary captain for 2014. A statement from the County board read as follows "Tipperary County Board is pleased to announce that the senior hurling management team have appointed Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh) as captain and Noel McGrath (Loughmore Castleiney) as vice captain of the Tipperary senior hurling team for 2014."
In December 2013, Skoda Ireland announced the extension of its sponsorship of Tipperary GAA another year. The new 2014 Tipperary strip was also unveiled which features an 1884 motif to commemorate 130 years of Tipperary GAA.
On 7 February Tipperary won the Waterford Crystal Cup after a 4–22 to 3–11 win against Clare in the final.
On 27 September, Tipperary were beaten by Kilkenny in the All-Ireland Final on a 2–17 to 2-14 scoreline after the initial match had finished in a draw three weeks earlier.
It was Kilkenny's 35th title and also the fifth time that they have beaten Tipperary in the last six years of the Championship.
2014 senior hurling management team
NamePositionClubEamon O'SheaManagerKilruane McDonaghsMichael RyanAssistant ManagerUpperchurch-DrombanePaudie O’NeillCoachSt Mary'sKieran McGeeneyBack room teamMullaghbawnMicheál DonoghueStatisticianClarinbridge
2014 Squad
The following players made their senior debut in 2014. Niall O'Meara Cathal Barrett Denis Maher Conor Kenny James Barry Michael Breen Ronan Maher Liam McGrath
NumberPlayerPositionLocal Club2Conor O'BrienRight corner backEire Óg, Annacarty3Paul CurranFull backMullinahone4Mickey CahillLeft corner backThurles Sarsfields5Thomas StapletonRight half backTemplederry6Conor O'MahoneyCentre half backNewport7Pádraic MaherLeft half backThurles Sarsfields8Brendan Maher(C)MidfieldBorris-Ileigh9Shane McGrathMidfieldBallinahinch10Pa BourkeRight half forwardThurles Sarsfields11Patrick 'Bonner' MaherCentre half forwardLorrha-Dorrha12Lar CorbettLeft half forwardThurles Sarsfields13Brian O'MearaRight corner forwardKilruane MacDonagh's14John O'BrienFull forwardToomevara15Noel McGrathLeft corner forwardLoughmore-Castleiney16Darren GleesonGoalkeeperPortroe17Shane BourkeLeft corner forwardJ.K. Bracken's18Séamus CallananRight half forwardDrom-Inch19Eoin KellyFull forwardMullinahone20Donagh MaherRight corner backBurgess21Shane MaherRight half backBurgess22John O'KeeffeLeft half backClonoulty-Rossmore23John O'NeillLeft corner forwardClonoulty-Rossmore24Gearóid RyanLeft half forwardTemplederry25Paddy StapletonRight corner backBorris-Ileigh26James WoodlockMidfieldDrom-Inch27Timmy HammersleyRight corner forwardClonoulty-Rossmore28Johnny RyanMidfieldDrom-Inch29Seán CurranLeft half forwardMullinahone30David YoungLeft half backToomevara31Kieran BerginHalf backKillenaule32John O'DwyerCorner forwardKillenaule33Thomas HamillHalf backKillea
Friendly Games On 7 December 2013, Tipperary defeated Westmeath in The Ragg by 3–20 to 0–13, with two goals from Patrick Maher and one from Conor Kenny. Wexford were defeated in Clonmel by 0–17 to 1–9 on 15 December. They then beat UCC on 4 January in Dr. Morris Park by 6–25 to 0–9. On 5 January, Tipperary defeated Offaly by 3–18 to 1–10 in Moneygall. Tipperary led by 2–9 to 0–6 at half-time with the goals coming from Conor Kenny and David Collins. John O’Dwyer scored Tipperary's third goal with five minutes remaining in the match.
2014 Waterford Crystal Cup
Summary
Tipperary opened their season with a 3–20 to 0–5 win against LIT in Nenagh in the preliminary round of the 2014 Waterford Crystal Cup on 12 January. Playing against the wind, Tipperary lead 2–8 to 0–1 after the first-half with Shane Bourke scoring a goal in the 5th minute and then Séamus Callanan hit a second goal from a penalty after 16 minutes. Lar Corbett got the third goal with just a few minutes left in the game. Tipperary faced holders Clare in the final for the third consecutive year on Friday 7 February in Limerick and won on a 4–22 to 3-11 scoreline. Michael Heffernan scored Tipperary's first-half goal with Denis Maher scoring two in the second-half after Conor Kenny had netted in the 38th minute. Clare had a 3–05 to 1–10 lead at half time but were outscored by 0–06 to 3–12 in the second half. Tipperary were captained in the final by James Woodlock.
Results
2014 National Hurling League
Squad
The Tipperary squad for the group stages of the National Hurling League was as follows, Cathal Barrett (Holycross-Ballycahill), James Barry (Upperchurch-Drombane), Kieran Bergin (Killenaule), Michael Cahill (Thurles Sarsfields), Séamus Callanan (Drom & Inch), Lar Corbett (Thurles Sarsfields), Darragh Egan (Kildangan), Darren Gleeson (Portroe), Tomas Hamill (Killea), Eoin Kelly (Mullinahone), Conor Kenny (Borris-Ileigh), Brendan Maher (Borris-Ileigh – Captain), Denis Maher (Thurles Sarsfields), Pádraic Maher (Thurles Sarsfields), Patrick Maher (Lorrha-Dorrha), Ronan Maher (Thurles Sarsfields), Noel McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney), Shane McGrath (Ballinahinch), Liam McGrath (Loughmore-Castleiney), Paddy Murphy (Nenagh Éire Óg), Conor O Brien (Éire Óg Annacarty), John O’Dwyer (Killenaule), Conor O’Mahony (Newport), Jason Forde (Silvermines), Paddy Stapleton (Borris-Ileigh), James Woodlock (Drom & Inch)
Summary
Tipperary began their league campaign against Waterford on Saturday 15 February at Semple Stadium. They won the match by 2–13 to 0–16 with second-half goals coming from Seamus Callanan and goalkeeper Darren Gleeson after his long-range free drifted all the way into the Waterford net.
A week later on 23 February, Tipperary traveled to Nowlan Park to face Kilkenny in round 2 of the league. Within 15 minutes of the throw-in they had three goals scored, one each from the full-forward trio of Noel McGrath, Jason Forde and Seamus Callanan. Tipperary had a 10 pint lead late in the first half and a 6-point lead at half time while playing with the wind on a 4–9 to 2-9 scoreline. Séamus Callanan scored 3–6 in the game but Kilkenny ran out winners by 6 points.
In round 3 of the league on 9 March, Tipperary were defeated by Clare on a 0–20 to 4-15 scoreline at Semple Stadium. Clare forward Conor McGrath scored two goals in the first half and one in the second with Clare having a 3–7 to 0–8 lead at half time.
On 16 March, Tipperary lost their third league game in a row after a 1–19 to 3–16 defeat to Galway at Pearse Stadium. Three goals before half-time laid the foundation for a Galway win which puts Tipperary into relegation trouble. Galway had a 3–08 to 0–09 lead at half time.
On 23 March, Tipperary defeated Dublin by 1–19 to 0–19 in their final divisional game to qualify for the quarter-finals. Tipperary needed to win by 3 points to have a chance of making the quarter-finals at the expense of Dublin and Waterford. With Tipperary leading by 3 points in the last seconds of the game, Dublin player Niall McMorrow sent in a low ball from the 45 metre line into the box instead of going for the point which would have qualified Dublin for the quarter-finals. A point by sub Ronan Maher in the 72nd minute gave Tipperary the required advantage of 3 points to qualify for a quarter-final against Cork. Speaking after the game, Tipperary manager Eamon O'Shea was happy to get the win saying ""We probably were missing one third of our team who you think might be live contenders for championship, today. That's five or six quality players – we've been missing players all through the league here and there, but our form still wasn't good. I'm not trying to take away from the common perception, which is right. We just couldn't seem to get rhythm in our play. The positive thing about this week and even last week before the Galway game ... this is why I was really annoyed that we didn't play to our potential last week ... because we've had two or three weeks of really good training, really good work. I don't disagree that our performances went through bad patches and I wouldn't criticise anybody for the criticism. This is life. Sometimes I think Tipp are a team that have to have rhythm."
In the league quarter-final on 30 March at Semple Stadium, Tipperary defeated Cork by 3–25 to 4–19. Tipperary scored 2-4 without reply in the opening eight minutes, Denis Maher with the first goal inside a minute and corner-forward Niall O’Meara with the second when he doubled on a miss-hit shot by James Woodlock. Cork recovered to lead by two points at half time on a 3–11 to 3-9 scoreline. Cork goalkeeper Anthony Nash had a late free saved which would have sent the game into extra-time but Tipperary held on to win by three points.
On 20 April, Tipperary beat Clare at the Gaelic Grounds to set up a hurling League final against Kilkenny for the second year in a row. Two goals from Patrick Maher and a haul of 0-12 from Seamus Callanan saw Tipperary win in the end by seven points. Tipperary lead by seven-points at half time.
Tipperary made it to the league final in spite of losing three of their opening four league games and conceding 12 goals and 67 points. The last time that Tipperary beat Kilkenny in a league final was in 1968.
In the final played on 4 May at Semple Stadium, Kilkenny won on a 2-25 1-27 scoreline with TJ Reid getting the winning score in the last minute after extra-time. Tipperary had led by 1–11 to 1–9 at half time, the Tipperary goal coming from John O'Dwyer when he connected with Noel McGrath's sideline cut to touch the ball to the net from the edge of the square. The game finished in a draw at 2–17 to 1-20 after 70 minutes with injury time points for Tipperary from Shane Bourke and Kieran Bergin sending the game to extra time. Both goals for Kilkenny came from penalties and both scored by TJ Reid and the sides were level 11 times.
Results
2014 Munster Senior Hurling Championship
Tipperary faced Limerick in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final on 1 June at Semple Stadium. Speaking before the match against Limerick, Tipperary manager Eamon O'Shea said "There are probably nine teams that can win the All-Ireland, It's very competitive – there's a great equality among teams. In Munster, any one of the five could have a shot at it. I think Clare are slightly ahead because they had the confidence of playing last year and playing really well, and having a system that's really good and that they know how to play."
Cathal Barrett, James Barry and Niall O'Meara were all named in the starting line-up to make his first championship appearance for Tipperary. Denis Maher also came on in the 62nd minute of the game to make his championship debut. Limerick won the game on a 2–18 to 2-16 scoreline.
With Tipperary leading by three points, Limerick's Shane Dowling scored the equalising goal in the 68th minute before substitute Thomas Ryan put Limerick a point clear in the first minute of stoppage time with Seamus Hickey landeding the insurance score at the Killinan End for a two-point win. The sides had been level at 1-8 apiece.
The defeat was a fourth straight championship defeat in three years since losing to Kilkenny in the 2012 All-Ireland semi-final.