There are no quick fixes to Tipperary hurling's rebuilding phase

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Watching, as dispassionate neutrals, the latter stages of the All-Ireland championship play out allowed us to reflect more calmly on our own travails in the series. Some weeks on now from our exit, the dust has settled and we can take a more balanced perspective on events.

Mind you, it won’t lessen the pain of defeat but time often helps to soothe the hurt. As a county prone to giddiness, we often need a reality check, so it’s no harm sometimes to sharpen the focus. Certainly, Galway’s inadequacy against Limerick at the weekend can only serve to underline our own shortcomings, however unpalatable that message may be.

Any review of Tipperary’s year will have to start with an acknowledgement of the progress that was made. Admittedly we were coming from a low base. Our 2022 season was bookended by a defeat to Kerry in the Munster league and an embarrassment to Cork in the final championship game. In between there was the odd flicker of life but, overall, the pulse was weak and fluttery.

2023 saw a lifting of spirits. The league was promising, a clear run in the group stages before a semi-final bow-out to Limerick. The championship too brought some cheer, beginning with that Ennis win over an admittedly benevolent Clare. The draws with Limerick and Cork displayed encouraging spirit before the first sign of real problems surfaced in the Waterford game.

Explaining how the team’s season petered out so tamely against Waterford and then Galway is something, I’m sure, that will have occupied the minds of Liam Cahill and company in the intervening weeks. Rationalising events, though, won’t be so easy. Form is a nebulous concept at the best of times so explaining the mood of players is never an exact science.

Was the season mistimed, the team peaking too early and then failing to sustain the effort? Perhaps. Remember Liam Cahill inherited a scene where an immediate impact was necessary to lift morale. That meant putting focus on the league where instant results were necessary. Others were probably operating at a more graduated tempo.

Once the league was over then the effort had to be sustained into the championship, where every game was a crunch. The side coped well before eventually the strain seemed to impact and the effort wasn’t sustained when most required.

It must be remembered that we were operating with a new team. Many of the players were in their first championship season and the demands just seemed to catch up with them. Stepping up to this level is hugely challenging and it takes most players several seasons to adjust.

Limerick’s bench is often praised for its quality with upcoming players like Cathal O’Neill, Adam English, Shane O’Brien and others chafing at the bit to get into the team. Yet John Kiely uses them very sparingly. The tried and trusted remain his first port of call, the others used only as absolutely necessary.

An oft-repeated criticism of Liam Sheedy in his final years as manager was that he failed to integrate the newer and younger players into the team and then when the older element retired a gaping gap was left to fill. Yet Sheedy’s assessment was probably that a fading Brendan Maher, for example, was still a far better option than anything he had on the bench.

Besides, the former manager did give other players their chance at times but too often they were shown to be lacking. And here’s the crux of the issue, I think, for Liam Cahill. For the past decade and more we’ve been accustomed to a certain standard of player. However, the newer wave of talent now being called upon is not of the same quality.

Harsh-sounding, I know, but the Tipperary public needs to be realistic on this. We’re into a rebuilding phase and there are no quick fixes.

The coming autumn will be interesting in terms of players committing to another season. The intentions of Seamie Callanan and ‘Bonner’ Maher, for instance, will be queried. Likewise for others in the thirtysomething bracket such as Dan McCormack and Noel McGrath, the latter showing amazing durability, it must be said.

Some might argue that Seamie and ‘Bonner’ have little to offer at this stage, apart from cameo roles perhaps coming in as subs. However, when they do step aside who’s there to fill their places? Look around. I don’t see a wealth of talent bubbling under the surface.

Liam Cahill has said he’ll be on a hunt for new players during the county championship. That in itself is an acknowledgement that what’s there needs supplementing. His best hope is that all injuries fully clear over the coming months and that he’ll have a full hand to play with in the New Year. Thereafter it’s down to making the best of what he has but we’re some distance off requirements. I couldn’t see us coping with Limerick last Saturday.

The situation is challenging so don’t expect instant solutions. Our last bit of action in the game against Galway will have worried the management. Remember Rhys Shelly dropped a huge delivery into the goal area but no Tipperary player even contested the ball. Daithi Burke was unchallenged under the drop and even when he lost possession there was still time for the Galway defence to scramble the ball out for the final whistle.

By then Tipperary had retreated into their shell. All the vim and vigour that was evident earlier in the campaign had dissipated. We can’t ignore the positives from the season but that little cameo was a sorry end to it all, especially against a Galway team that showed its own frailty at the weekend.

Henry Shefflin cut a forlorn figure at the end of that match with Limerick. I liked the raw honesty of his interview afterwards. There was none of the usual blather that some managers spout on these occasions. No excuses, no trying to minimise what had just happened, no talk about positives. This was bleak and he didn’t hide it.

Coming from the Kilkenny culture, I suspect Henry finds the Galway mentality hard to stomach. How can you do everything right for 25 minutes or so, put yourself in a great position to drive on, but then just slink away a beaten docket for the rest of the match. It’s a type of flakiness you wouldn’t get from Kilkenny even on their worst days.

The TV commentary went on about a tactical change as if that was the cause of it all. What nonsense. The worm had turned ever before there was any move to draw players back outfield. You could see the Galway players all over retreating for some time, as the Limerick attrition gradually began to take hold. Pulling a forward outfield was a response to the problem rather than the cause of it.

In the end it was an abject capitulation by Galway. An initial burst of enthusiasm and then nothing to follow up. Limerick just bossed the second half of the game and there was no resistance from Galway. After two seasons of limited (no?) progress you’d wonder about Shefflin’s future in the job.

In Sunday’s game I felt sorry for Clare. As in the Munster final they got a raw deal from the referee and then compounded their difficulties with bad decisions and execution at crucial times. The goal they conceded was the stuff of nightmares. And what about Eoin Murphy’s save for the ages. The curse of Biddy Early returns.

Kilkenny, though, just continue to be Kilkenny. I’ve had Limerick pencilled in for the four-in-a-row for some time; Sunday just reopened that debate.