Tipperary hurlers will be very wary of 'massive backlash' from Galway

Tipperary have to be ready for “a massive backlash” from Galway in this Saturday’s All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final, according to manager Liam Cahill.

“Galway were really good in the Leinster final, they will be kicking themselves that they didn’t see out the match.

“They showed all the attributes of a really good team that when the game was getting away from them against a side as formidable as Kilkenny they brought it right back. I think it was a ten-point turnaround, they were seven or eight down and went two in front.

“All those Galway players have All-Ireland medals, they’re very experienced players, they’ll be hurting”. 

Would he have learned much from the team getting caught cold when they went seven days between the Limerick and Waterford games? Now they have it again in the quarter-final, and they’ll have to be ready from the first minute?

“Forewarned is forearmed, and we’re well forewarned now with the gap from the Limerick game to the Waterford game, when things didn’t happen for us. We’d like to believe we have addressed those things. We have a short run-in again now this Saturday to Galway, and we can’t allow the same thing to happen. We have to come ready to fight”.

Speaking after his team’s easy win over Offaly in last weekend’s preliminary quarter-final, he said “There was a lot of disappointment from the last round of the Munster championship (when they were beaten by Waterford).

“We had three weeks to really look at ourselves, as players, as a management team and as a whole group, to make sure we arrived ready today to perform in knockout hurling, which is what it is from here on in. There’s no safety net and you have to be ready to perform.

“I’m glad we found that (when it was put to him that his team were ruthless against Offaly). “That will just tell you the respect we gave Offaly coming up, and it’s a respect we try to give every team. We treat every team with the utmost respect going into every game, and we’ll be doing the very same this weekend, and hopefully we’ll be able to give a good account of ourselves and get to the last four of this competition”.

Their supporters must still be asking themselves what went wrong against Waterford?

“Sure, yeah, but I’ve always said, we’re not in the business of looking back, thankfully we’re still in the championship after that performance. It was a combination of Waterford being really good and Tipperary not being to the level we spoke about and committed to.

“It’s done now, we addressed and talked about the areas that we needed to look after and improve upon, and we’re looking forward now and not back. We’re still where we want to be, in an All-Ireland quarter-final, with a real chance of progressing to the last four, and that’s our objective since the start of the year.

“We’re still alive, we’re still in with a fighting chance”.

When it was put to him that his team looked very sharp right from the start all over the pitch, and that everyone was really focused and on their game, he replied “That’s their job. We’re Tipperary senior hurlers, and the stakes are really high now and the demands are big.

“You have to come ready to play. It’s my job to have the players and Mikey (Bevans), and the lads that are with me to support these players, to have them ready for the big battles and the big fires that are going to come. And we will be putting out fires again before we can say that we’re serious All-Ireland contenders.

“That’s part of our job, we won’t dwell on it too long, we’re happy with our performance today but we’ll be right back to it again from Monday/Tuesday night on, and looking forward to the challenge of Galway”.

Cahill was also pleased that he will “nearly” have a full panel to pick from when selecting the fifteen to face Galway.

“In general we got through the day almost unscathed. Craig Morgan had a hamstring/muscle injury that cramped up.

“Cathal Barrett, Conor Bowe, ‘Bonner’ Maher, they’ll be okay for next week. That’s where the challenge is for us and the job I have here as manager is to make sure we pick the right players.

“As I said before the start of the game possession is nine tenths of the law here. The players that played today played very well, so there will be disappointed people next Thursday night when I announce the team, and that’s what happens in a competitive environment”.

When asked to comment on the seven goals that his team scored, he said “When the opportunities for goals present you take them. I suppose goals win matches and you have to keep looking for those green flags, it makes it that bit easier.

“The Tipp supporters today, again they were incredible. There were 9,500-10,000 people here today, I’d say at least 8,000 of them were Tipperary, and that’s something that doesn’t go unnoticed with us as a team and as a panel and as a management team.

“We know the support is out there and we know that these people really want something to follow and we’re going to try and commit to doing that for them as long as we can this year in the championship”.