PREVIEW: Tipperary face stern test as Cork swagger comes to town this Saturday

Tipperary’s senior hurlers will be welcoming Cork to FBD Semple Stadium this weekend, where a win will certainly be required for Liam Cahill and his team after losing to another perennial challenger in Limerick in round 3.

Tipperary’s recent record in the Munster Championship has been well documented and with that in mind, there is a great need for this team to get a victory against a Munster rival ahead of the first round in April.

It is nearly two years since Tipperary last recorded a win against a fellow Munster county in the league, with the 2023 National League win over Waterford in March on that year their last triumph.

READ MORE: https://www.tipperarylive.ie/news/1732807/i-would-say-that-im-cautiously-optimistic-says-o-donovan-ahead-of-hand-pass-motion-at-congress.html 

It is a wickedly bad run against their peers and with Cork coming to test the Premier mettle this weekend, it will be a hard record to break but one that could breathe life into the squad.

It has been a positive start to the league for Tipperary but with the relegation pressure being felt across the participating counties, a win here would essentially guarantee Division 1a status for next year and would give significant breathing room for Cahill and his players to attack the last games of the campaign and prepare for championship action.

Since the Limerick defeat, Tipperary have had challenge games, one of which was against Galway that had a few players featuring after injuries, including Joe Caesar and Conor Stakelum who had injuries coming into the campaign, and as such, they will come into contention for this game on Saturday evening.

Added to that, Noel McGrath played the full game of that challenge game, as did Jason Forde who didn’t feature against the Treaty in round 3.

Sam O’Farrell and Dylan Walsh missed the last two rounds due to minor muscle injuries and after impressing massively in the opening-round win over Galway, they should be back in the fold for this game, with management taking no chances with them in recent weeks.

The image of Cork running onto the FBD Semple Stadium will be ample motivation for the players who are less than a year departed from a bad beating in the third round of last year’s Munster Hurling Championship, and the clash the Rebels had with Limerick in round 2 would suggest that they are building nicely on their narrow All-Ireland final loss in 2024.

Speaking on Tipp FM’s Extra Time earlier this week, Tipperary manager Liam Cahill spoke about the league campaign so far and what challenges lie ahead in the final three rounds.

“The League has been good to us so far, Cahill said.

“We had a good start in Galway. We went about our change in style in a good way and I think a lot of people were positive after that.

“Some narratives out there would say that Galway took us for granted and maybe didn’t come with as strong a team as they might have had.

“We had a workman like performance the following week in Thurles (versus Wexford) and then obviously the performance against Limerick has put the building blocks in place too.

“Performances are number one to show to people that this means an awful lot to us both as players and management and a group in general.

“We are very conscious that we have to reflect what the Tipperary public want from us from a performance point of view and we feel we are starting to do that now, so we’re hoping the crowds will follow behind us,” Cahill said.

Tipp are currently in joint-first place in the Division and with Cahill highlighting in that interview his desire to attain silverware if possible this year, along with highlighting the financial benefits that would reap for a cash strapped county board, he will likely be putting out as close to his strongest team as possible, and a Rebel scalp on Sunday would go a long way to helping in that regard