Cahill frustrated by lack of fighting spirit
By Noel Dundon
Tipperary senior hurling manager Liam Cahill cut a figure of sober realism on Saturday night, acknowledging that the National Final has drifted beyond the Premier County’s reach like a ship slipping from its moorings.
Two consecutive defeats have turned what was once a navigable path into a treacherous, near impassable climb.
Even victories over Waterford and Kilkenny—historic rivals, both—would leave Tipp clutching at mathematical straws, hoping for favours from elsewhere, and then praying that head to head quirks or scoring difference somehow tilt their way. A long shot at best, a fantasy at worst.
But the league permutations are but a footnote compared to the heavier cloud looming over the Ballingarry clubman this week. Cahill now finds himself sifting through the ashes of a performance that arrived flat, grey and lifeless—so far removed from the ferocious, combative Tipp he demands that it bordered on unrecognisable.
Preparations had hummed with purpose. Training sessions crackled with intensity. And yet, when battle commenced under the FBD Semple Stadium lights, lethargy slipped into the team’s veins like a slow poison.
“In any of these big games when the big teams come to town you have to be out of the traps early,” Cahill said, the words edged with frustration.
“And I think Limerick put together seven scores in a row in the first half and we were left chasing the game from that point on.”
It was the kind of early blitz that knocks the wind from a team’s lungs before they’ve even drawn breath. Cahill spoke with candour about his confusion, the sting of it evident.
“Our preparation had gone very well,” he insisted.
“We had trained well during the week and I am just disappointed with our lack of fighting spirit which I am sorry to have to say. We were just really outfought in the first half, and we never seemed to be able to get a foothold or a flow on the game. I think only at one stage in the first half did we get a few scores in a row.”