By Cian O'Connell

John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer is delighted that the Tipperary footballers have reached an All Ireland SFC semi-final.

Liam Kearns' team cruised to a surprisingly emphatic quarter-final win over Galway and O'Dwyer praised the impact made by Killenaule colleague Jimmy Feehan, who was one of the stars in the Blue and Gold success.

Killenaule have contributed hugely to Tipperary's resurgence according to O'Dwyer. “Jimmy Feehan, he’s only 20. The last four years, Paddy Codd was captain, but he finished up this year. Matthew O’Donnell used to be the goalkeeper as well.

"Jimmy’s supposed to have gone to New Zealand with college the last few months, but he’s after putting it off because he’s been playing so well.

"He was supposed to go on Tuesday, but he’s put it off for another month. He’s supposed to get six months out in New Zealand and now he’s only going to get two so he’s getting it fair handy!

"He’s playing well, he was brilliant the other day. He’s a good representative for the club."

At Dr Morris Park the Tipperary footballers and hurlers frequently train on the same evenings. “There are three pitches in Dr Morris Park, we train on one and the footballers train on another. Going up past them, they would be buzzing around.

"We’d be training beside them and to see their preparation that goes into their work it’s second to none. Some people say Tipperary are coming – Tipperary have been coming the last seven or eight years and the stuff they do would be right up there at the top with the rest of the counties."

O'Dwyer admits that it is a pity the Tipperary footballers haven't received too much support at games. "Tipperary is always going to be hurling based and hurling is always going to be number one. I missed the match on Sunday, but I would go to all the football game and the rest of the hurling lads would.

"People are saying now to try to get the support behind them for the semi-final, but I don’t think they will.

"They have their core bunch of supporters which would be 500-600 people and then you get other people who jump on the bandwagon. You’d look for more people to come out to support them, but they’re probably not going to get it.

“Whether you’re playing hurling or football to see Tipperary GAA on the upward curve is good to see. A lot of the footballers and hurlers would be friends.

"We have a few former footballers on our panel and I know a few myself. We’d only be delighted to see the footballers doing well.

"They’ve beaten Galway and that’s given us an incentive to try to beat Galway in the hurling as well. Once Tipp is winning everyone is going to be happy."

O'Dwyer is adamant that Tipperary can be competitive at the highest level in both codes. “It is big enough. The pool of players is there, but I don’t think in a county like Tipperary at senior level you can have dual players. There are plenty of lads on the senior hurling team who would be good enough to be on the football panel, but I don’t think it’s feasible.

“I don’t think dual players would be a good idea in Tipp. Hurling is always going to be number one but for some lads their number one is going to be football.

"I don’t think they’re looking for players – they’re in an All-Ireland semi-final. A couple of years ago, they might be looking for players, but they don’t need anyone. It’s going to take a good team to beat them. They’re in a good place the next couple of years."