Don’t whisper it too loud, but Tipp might be back. Their momentum has grown again tonight after they overturned last year's 18-point hammering in the Munster championship to All-Ireland finalists Cork by winning 2-22 to 1-21 in Thurles.
It’s the first win over a Munster opponent in the League since beating Waterford in 2023.
Speaking to RTÉ after the game, Jake Morris was delighted to win as they are looking to right the wrongs from last year.
Look, all we can do is put our best foot forward this year,” Morris said.
“We have tried our best to address last year. It’s not easy. We know we weren’t up to scratch or up to the level. It’s a big honour to represent that Tipperary jersey; we felt we had let it down. All we can do now is rectify it by talking on the field. It's not perfect, but we're working on it hard, and that’s a decent result tonight.
I think, to be fair, the backs have been superb since the start of the league. They have been brilliant. I felt it was really up front where we had to pull the slack a bit more, but sure, it helps when you have lads like Darragh McCarthy and Oisín O’Donoghue pushing there after giving us a big boost of energy up there.”
Anthony Daly asked Morris how Tipp was dealing with the hurt from last year's heavy championship exit with the Nenagh sharpshooter using advice from his former manager, standing to his right, Liam Sheedy, in dealing with the pressure.
“You don’t need to tell us we're the ones out here feeling hurt,” Morris said
“Like I said, we can't stay looking back in the rearview mirror. We need to keep looking forward and start trying to rectify things. We're talking on the field, and that’s what we're trying to do at the moment.
We're down in the trenches. The GAA players are in the trenches. We're out there every day working and listening to it so it's hard to hide away from it, but as Liam (Sheedy) used to say when he was in with us, the Double Dutch, you have to block it out and focus on what’s going on in the dressing room inside.”
With the old enemy in Kilkenny and Munster rivals Clare left to play, Tipp will now look to push for a final spot in the league as they look to win the title for the first time since 2008. However, this win comes with a strong caution of previous scars, as a good league and Munster collapse under Cahill has become a far too common sight.
It’s better to save the Tipp are back catchphrase until they can muster a challenge in Munster.
