​By John Harrington

Tipperary football selector, Tommy Toomey, does not think the big ball code is given the same respect within the county that hurling is.

A stirring victory over Cork has set up a Munster SFC Final against Kerry in Killarney on Sunday, but despite that achievement Toomey believes promoting football in the county is still an uphill struggle.

“We’re still not there,” he said. "You have to look at the actions of Tipperary this year alone, particularly stopping lads who played in an All-Ireland minor final last year playing football this year. You’d have to look at those actions…that was a big step for Tipperary.

“That hadn’t happened in a while but it did. You can’t go back. Once you make those steps and you decide one is above the other and you decide to stop players playing, and they’ll go back and say ‘the players consented’ and all that, that’s rubbish. I’m a Tipperary man, I know what happens.

“I was a selector when Eoin Kelly was young enough to be minor. Keith Ricken was the minor football manager and we went after Eoin Kelly to play football. He was 16 years of age, playing in trials above in Dr. Morris Park, playing in the divisional competition up there, South Tipperary against West Tipperary. The South won 3-18 to 2-16, Eoin Kelly scored 3-14.

“That was a football game and two months later, he was below in St Kieran’s and he couldn’t play any more football. We lost him. That’s reality in football in Tipperary. We are undermined from within.

“Hurling is the number one game, there’s no doubt about that and you have to look at it financially as well. The number of supporters that go to hurling games way outweighs football so we can’t have any illusions about where the best players, in the minds, need to go. But I still think there’s plenty of scope for young players to play all the way up to U21. And then make up their mind after that.”

The footballers were dealt a body-blow when key players Steven O’Brien and Seamus Kennedy decided to focus instead on hurling this year. Kennedy has nailed down a place in the Tipperary defence, but the only action that O’Brien has seen to date came as a late substitute against Clare in the League.

Toomey believes O’Brien should be allowed to also play football if he is getting little hurling game-time so he doesn’t lose his competitive edge.

“I’m with the senior operation nine years and I’ve seen all of this, I’ve seen players undervalue themselves and go playing hurling,” said Toomey. “It didn’t work out for them and we never see them again. Sean Carey was one man that stuck out in my mind – he punched the winning point with a damaged wrist against Down (League final 2009) and he never played football again.

“He won an All-Ireland U21 hurling medal, went with the seniors the following year and never played a game, ended up in Australia. He never came back to football. This is the type of issue that is the real nub of it, players valuing themselves, the county board making sure the welfare of the players is looked after, that players are not brought into the senior hurling operation without an avenue to play.

“There is a lot of controversy around it but the bottom line is that for the player himself that if the development of Steven was a long-term project, Steven should still be playing football to keep his competitive edge because that wears off very easily. And what I have noticed from players coming back from the hurling, when they haven't played competitive games, it takes them six to eight months to get the competitive edge back.

“If you are in the stands, who knows what effect that has on a player. Players want to play games. If you are not playing, you are going to deteriorate. Like Seamus Kennedy, when he came back to football, Seamus had spent 18 months with the hurling lads and never got a game, either. And he came back into football and it took him six to eight months to get back, that competitive edge, and he got it back. He was brilliant for 12 months.

“And in fairness now Seamus has gone back into hurling again and he is playing wing-back, but if football wasn't there for him, where we would he be? If he wasn't going back into a strength and conditioning programme that is top-class, top-class strength and conditioning coaches and the expertise we have in football is as good as hurling by any measure.”

Tipperary go into Sunday’s Munster Football Final as massive underdogs, but Toomey believes they can cause a shock if the players have sufficient self-belief.

“I remember we were playing Kerry in Thurles and Michael Quinlivan had a free to put us ahead with 20 minutes gone in the second-half, 14 yard free, and he put it wide,” he said. “Kerry broke off it and scored and we couldn't get out then and they kicked four points in a row. When you get opportunities against the big teams, you have to take them. Last week against Cork, we took them, Kevin O'Halloran in particular, he kicked some fantastic frees. Once you have players in that vein, quality footballers, the quality is there that is what I believe about Tipperary, the quality of footballers are in this county and they just need the opportunity.

“We may need one or two fellas who come up through the hurling ranks and have that bit of experience and that bit of belief in themselves. A hurler in Tipperary believes they can win the All-Ireland every year. They won't but they believe that. And that is what we have to move to, this word belief – our footballers have to move that into their thoughts and if you bring that into the camp, they will work on their free kicks, they will work on their kickouts and they know there is a means to an end. And that is what we have to work towards and we will keep doing it.

“We will go down to Killarney now and Kerry will be out to beat us by as many points as they can, have no doubt about that. The players have resilience and have been in those atmospheres before. Tipperary minors or under-age teams, we have never played a final in Thurles – the minor games are always away from home, they have played in Killarney more times than they have played in Thurles. Going down there is not a bad thing for us.”