Cahill points to bravery on and off the ball in team improvement

By Shane Brophy

A game Tipperary could have won and came close to losing but manager Liam Cahill declared himself happy in taking a draw from Sunday’s opening round Munster Championship clash.

“It'd have to be a good point, wouldn't it?” he began.

“My God, what a gutsy performance. Four young championship debutants playing a team seasoned like Limerick, loaded with a bench of numerous All-Stars.

“We rode the punches really well, hit for a couple of sucker moments and showed real character and resistance to come back.

“So really, really proud of these fellas, they're representing the jersey really well, have shown massive bravery from last October.

He added: “This time last year when we left the same dressing room, things were fairly poor, we were on the ground. Bravery is all about making tough decisions, and there were tough decisions made with players around the preparation and ourselves as a coaching a management team.

“But all in all, I'm very proud of my players and really delighted to be the one helping them at the moment, with the honesty that's in that dressing room.”

The Tipperary manager has mentioned bravery a lot since the start of the season, after both positive performances and negative, including how they improved from the league final display against Cork.

“The biggest change from the league final was our bravery on the ball,” he added.

“I mentioned it after the match that we just went into ourselves at times. You have to be brave to play in the big cauldrons with the big crowds, and there's only small gaps to work that ball out, but you have to trust your hurling, and we should be trusting our hurling more in Tipperary because that's what we thrive ourselves on; being really good hurlers.

“Today, I thought at times we tried it, it didn't come off, but they never give up, and we'll have to continue to be brave on the ball over the next couple of weeks if we're to be one of the three to come out of Munster.”

Watching the warm-ups prior to the game, and in the greasy conditions, Tipperary were giving away a lot of physical power to a seasoned Limerick group of players but they stood up to the physical exchanges, and they’ll only bridge that gap Cahill insisted.

“There were times when some of the guys that were in the early stages of their proper strength and conditioning did labour,” he added.

“I felt at one stage it might be the one thing that might catch us on the day.

“They're savage units, obviously, Limerick, but our boys played really well, and credit to our strength & conditioning as well through Angelo Walsh. It’s his first full year in the job, really, and she's done an exceptional job with these fellas.

“But the test will lie now to see that we bring consistency, and that's what we'll be looking for now over the next couple of weeks, is bringing that consistency. We have to come to Páirc Uí Chaoimh ready to battle again in six or seven days' time.”

There was a certain amount of skepticism regarding Tipperary after the ten-point league final loss but the Cahill was confident they had a big performance in their armoury against Limerick.

“The league final we went down, obviously, to try and win the match. That goes without saying, but you know when you're in a dressing room here in the Munster Championship that the edge is there,” he added.

“We brought a certain amount of it two weeks ago, but we didn't come the way we needed to come. We need to represent that jersey with real tenacity every day we play.

“To do that, we have to be really fit, and we have to be really together and committed. There were the little areas that hurt us last year when the real squeeze came on, but as I said, fear is only a reaction. Fellas will act out of fear, but these boys have a lot of bravery and they've made a lot of tough decisions.

“All of us, everybody involved from the top table right down. When you have that, you can create something. Please God, over time, this group of players, with the addition of a couple of more young fellas that are coming behind the scenes, we will find ourselves, please God, back in a good position again to challenge for major honours.