It has not been a good few weeks for Tipperary hurling.
A lacklustre second half collapse against Limerick in the League, and a free-taking disaster class against Clare in the League semifinal saw Liam Cahill's sides bomb out of the National Hurling League.
There is palpable unease in the Premier County weeks out from Cahill's second Championship campaign as Tipp boss.
Speaking to the media after the game, Cahill has pleaded with die-hard Tipp supporters to stay behind the county as they turn their attention to All-Ireland champions Limerick in the opening round of Munster.
“There’s great character in that room,” Cahill insisted. “We have a great mix of experienced fellas in their twilight years and some good aggressive young lads who have come in in the past few years.
“There’s a nice mix there. They’re a good, tight group, and we love working with them. We love coming to the training field with them, myself and Mikey (Bevans), and we’re not going to give up on them anytime soon.
“Because this is a new crop of Tipperary hurlers coming, not maybe for this year, but I think in the time that we’re here, the Tipp team will have transitioned fully. So, to the Tipp supporters, I would say to stick with them. They will come right. Because what I see in training is not what transpired here today. The day they do bring their training form to the pitch, they’ll be a match for anyone.”
Plenty to do ahead of the Championship
Cahill admitted after the game that his players didn’t turn up in the opening half of the game and that it's up to his management team to sort things out if the Premier County wants to improve on last year's All-Ireland quarter-final exit to Galway.
“Some of our players today when the pressure cooker was turned up fairly high, they just weren’t able to find the answers. That comes with practice. They’ll have to go away, take the lessons out of that, and work hard on it.
“We have to have quite a number of discussions as a manager and players between now and the next five weeks to really make fellas aware of where they’re at, what areas they need to improve on and give them the support to do that.
Tipp will meet the four-time reigning All-Ireland champions Limerick to start their Munster SHC campaign on 28 April.
