The reason for Tipp's Semple return

Niall Fitzgerald has explained that Tipperary's decision to return their Allianz Football League fixtures to Semple Stadium followed an assessment of recent performances.

Last season was the Premier’s first since 2008 operating outside of Thurles for the majority of their home fixtures.

Clonmel Sportsfield hosted three inter-county games, while a request to switch the Munster quarter-final against Waterford to the southern venue was refused by the provincial council.

New manager Fitzgerald has chosen to return to Semple Stadium for their four Division 4 home league fixtures, beginning with the visit of Antrim on Sunday, 1 February, after examining the metrics underlying their performances last year.

"You're measuring in terms of getting the ball into the opposition half, in terms of how many turnovers, what your unforced turnovers number is, how we did on kick-outs, all those things, and that formed part of our decision," said Fitzgerald.

"It's very simple. The metrics were better in Semple Stadium, and that's why. While they picked up one or two results, the actual metrics in terms of performance were better in the stadium, so we took that into consideration.

"Look, we're not going to be the biggest physical team. We're going to be a young team, and we will have a lot of pace, so we're going to try and play to our strengths."

The argument for bringing games away from Thurles centred around the bounce given to opposition teams playing at the 45,000-capacity stadium versus the tighter confines of club grounds in the county’s football heartlands.

"Semple Stadium is where you want to play. It's not like you're going down to Clonmel and you're having four or five thousand people there. You're not," said Fitzgerald.

"At the end of the day, we want to play a brand of football where we're going to go at teams, and we're in a better place to do it at Semple Stadium."

Tipp’s upcoming Division 4 campaign starts a week earlier with a trip to London on Sunday, 25 January.

"The league 100% is the priority. That's where Tipp are at the moment," said Fitzgerald.

"You can talk about the championship and all that, but the National League and Tailteann Cup, that's our level at the moment, so that's where we're setting our targets.

"It's not simple. Every other team there will fancy their chances of getting promoted. There's no easy games.

"You saw London came over and they drew with Sligo, so they look to be stronger than they were last year. Don't forget, the last two years, Tipp haven't got results against London. We have to go away there in our first league game, so that's going to be a really, really tough task."

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