A victory for the collective - Maloney

Noel Maloney won four North Tipperary senior hurling championship medals as a player, but this latest success could be classed as the sweetest of the lot.

“It’s definitely up there,” admitted the Nenagh manager whose side produced a second half performance of character to win a first North title since 2014.

“Seven points down at half time, losing Barry (Heffernan), getting a red card, but bit by bit we brought it back, score by score. We were very disciplined and had to go at it,” he continued.

“It wasn’t the team we knew in the first half but by god did came out in the second half.

“It is a collective group, and we speak about the group a lot. We do emphasize we are down a lot of players from last year, senior and junior, but we still feel we have enough to compete. We showed that hunger, that bite, that determination, that want and when we do that, we can match anyone and today we were competitive to the end.”

Maloney admitted Nenagh were fortunate to be down by just seven points at half time having been completely outplayed, but were a transformed side after the break.

“We weren’t working hard enough,” Maloney said.

“They dictated the play and if you give Kiladangan time on the ball they will tear you to shreds and they did.

“It was about getting back to brass tacks and working hard. We feel we have hurlers that if we do that, we can punish teams too, but we have to have that.”

North Championships are treasured in their own right with Nenagh’s latest success bringing them to double figures with ten and gives them a great boost going into the County Championship, with a knockout in a preliminary quarter final guaranteed if they need it.

“We are under no illusion of what Clonoulty/Rossmore will bring in two weeks’ time,” Maloney added.

“We’ll take the positives from today, but we’ll have an awful lot to do to compete in the county championship.”