Tipperary hurlers have been boosted by Cathal Barrett's return from injury

Cathal Barrett is on course for a return to the Tipperary senior hurling panel for the opening Munster Championship game against Clare in Ennis on Sunday week, April 23.

The Holycross/Ballycahill player lined out at corner back for Tipp in last Saturday’s fundraising game against Wexford at Páirc na nEalaí in Carrick-on-Suir, in what was his first appearance since injuring his shoulder against Kilkenny in the national league in February.

“It is great to get Cathal back onto the field, we got a good 50 minutes of play into him,” manager Liam Cahill stated after the game.

He was also pleased with John McGrath’s performance, as the Loughmore/Castleiney player, who scored 1-1 against Wexford, continues his recovery from a ruptured Achilles tendon sustained against Clare in last year’s championship.

“We are after, thank God, getting some regular play into John consistently over the last couple of weeks and are very happy with how he was moving today. He obviously retains all that ability he has shown for Tipperary over the years,” said Cahill.

However, the news about two more injured players, Seamus Callanan and Niall O’Meara, is not so positive.

Speaking at last week’s Munster Championship launch at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the Tipperary boss said “We are not sure about Seamie Callanan or Niall O’Meara. Niall picked up an injury in an in-house game during the week, a setback which we are monitoring at the moment.

“Regardless of the injury, Niall wouldn’t have had much game time or intensive training under his belt to put himself in the reckoning for Clare so that game will come too soon for him.

“It’s an ankle injury, which will take around three weeks before he can go back in angled running and contact.

“It’ll be three weeks to get that right and probably another two weeks to get up to match-pace hurling so we are looking at the Cork game (on Saturday May 6) at the earliest for him.

“Seamie is progressing nicely. We haven’t pressed the button on him yet to see how he is reacting. It’ll probably be a race against time for Ennis”.

In relation to the team’s last competitive game, the league semi-final defeat by eventual champions Limerick almost three weeks ago, he stated “There are lots of areas where Limerick caused us issues, especially in the second half, so we have to really address how teams change their formations in certain periods of games and how we need to work together in tandem to counteract that.

"There is a good bit of discussion to be had.

“We have to park Limerick until May and look forward to Ennis, where Clare will bring a threat in the way they play and we have to be ready for that.

“Not getting to a league final allowed us to get one or two more intense training sessions in. We are gauging it reasonably well”.