Morris is not getting carried away
By Shane Brophy
Jake Morris is not getting too carried away by Tipperary’s bright start to 2023 as they prepare to take on Dublin round three of the National Hurling League on Saturday evening.
It will be the first time since the 2019 All-Ireland final win that Tipperary will have played at Croke Park and the Nenagh Eire Og clubman is hoping the squad continues the momentum from the wins over Laois and Kilkenny.
“We are going okay,” he said.
“We won our first two games last year as well, but we are not getting ahead of ourselves, we have a nice bit of training done, are training hard so we’ll keep our head down for Dublin on Saturday night.”
Morris scored 1-2 in each of the league game so far, including off the bench against Laois, and such are the options open to Liam Cahill in the forward line, he cannot take his place for granted.
“It keeps everyone sharp and on their toes,” he added.
“Gearoid O’Connor, John McGrath, Bonner, didn’t play in the last game, so you need that, every good team has strong competition within a squad so we are happy with how that is growing.”
Morris was speaking after being presented with the North Tipperary Senior Hurler of the Year award last Friday after playing a key role in helping Nenagh win the North final last July.
“It is a nice award to get,” he admitted.
“It is on behalf of the group really after the comeback in the second half of the North final. I had the easy job of trying to score. Our backs came out with some great ball that day and got us back into the game.”
He is already looking forward to the upcoming club campaign, with former club great Michael Cleary coming in as coach with Morris looking forward to working under the 2-time All-Ireland winner for the first time.
“He is the best hurler our club has ever produced,” Jake said of Cleary.
“He has great respect within the group already. He will bring in fresh ideas and will be looking to kick on this year.
“We would be disappointed with our early exit (county) last year but we had a lot of injuries, especially in our backs so we’ll be hoping to get some of them back and have a good crack at it this year.”