Shouldering and accelerating and side stepping with the ball, Alan Tynan looked well at home in the chaotic mix of championship hurling. Not easy survive in that environment without conditioning and fire in the belly but for his fantastic showing last Saturday evening in Páirc Uí Chaoimh against Cork, Alan Tynan has been voted GAA.ie Hurler of the Week. The game was high tempo from the off and Tynan was in the middle of it, hurling up a storm for Tipperary.
Last week at the Dillon Quirke Foundation fundraiser launch in Clonoulty, Declan Ryan made the point to me that Liam Cahill was particularly powerful when he was hurling around the centre of the field. A veteran full forward back in the late 1990s, Declan Ryan was a rock for Liam Cahill when the Ballingarry native was a teenager making the Tipp team for the first time.
Declan said last week that Liam Cahill has now created a Tipp team in Liam Cahills own likeness, hurling full of passion. It crossed my mind in the aftermath on Leeside that - as they line out on the field - the three Tipperary midfielders bossed the game. Cork lost that sector and were chasing it til late on. Tipp bossed the sector almost for sixty out of seventy plus minutes which is a rarity.
Noel McGrath was his majestic self, hurling Zinedine Zidane like around the middle. The reading of the game and the assurance that he has the skill to get out of trouble settles those around him. He was the playmaker but Tynan made it happen. Sham Kennedy bustled about and took the chances that presented, but above all Alan Tynan showed his talent to the full.
Four classy points were slug over to loud applause by the Tipp folk who were, to a supporter, hoarse afterwards. Granted Cork supporters hit the decibel levels highest, but Tipp supporters had that giddiness that happens in big championship games. Tipp supporters love a workhorse that can hurl like Alan Tynan.
The midfield dynamo came in under the radar for a lot of people. He was a promising minor, a very good gaelic footballer and played for Tipp in both codes in Croke Park back in 2015. Beaten in two All-Irelands that year, the dual minor star then slowly drifted away to rugby when the future of a pro sport career called.
Despite the pay per view game in the Pairc last Saturday night, he didn't get a penny or a cent for his efforts. The pro sports career, playing rugby with Munster, fell away then the club jersey and county jersey came back into focus. Liam Sheedy called him into a training panel. Tynan was a Tipp football panelist at that stage and was up to the grade at that sport too, but his hurling has taken time to blossom.
Last winter I saw him hurl for Roscrea in the O'Riain cup, an 'A' Intermediate championship in Tipp. They won that championship and were narrowly beaten in the Munster final by eventual All-Ireland winners Monaleen who were coached by Toomevara native Eoin Brislane.
With his performances across that campaign, Tynan had done enough to impress Liam Cahill who sat silently watching a lot of the Roscrea games in the Kinane Stand. Tynan shone out brightly most days. A workhorse and a skill merchant. Swashbuckling sort of midfielder. Every game he improved. This year in the league the same and now in the championship the same.
The Roscrea hurler received a whopping 4, 915 votes on the GAA’s Official Instagram page which put him ahead of Dublin's Donal Burke (3, 148) and Kilkenny's Martin Keoghan (2, 419) to win the GAA.ie Hurler of the Week award this week.
When Dublin needed scores and inspiration at Croke Park against Wexford in the Leinster championship, Donal Burke hit 0-13 for them against Wexford as Micheál Donoghue's promising team kept their hopes of a knockout championship place alive.
Martin Keoghan struck 3-3 for Kilkenny as they beat an improving Antrim up north. Alan Tynan had steep competition for the weekly award, but it is another mark of the level he is getting to. More to come? We will know soon enough when Tipp take on Limerick in Thurles on Sunday fortnight. For now though, Tynan is putting his name on the hurling map.
