Tipperary have plenty to work on in aftermath of Westmeath win according to Liam Cahill

Satisfaction was the overall impression for Tipp boss Liam Cahill in the aftermath of the league win over Westmeath and the Ballingarry man heaped praise on Joe Fortune’s team who made his experimental side battle to the end.

“Delighted to get the result, obviously. It was a spirited performance from Westmeath and we knew that coming in they pride themselves on really hard work and they were resilient today all through the game,” he said.

“They continued to stick to their game plan and worked really, really hard. You know they were impressive at times – asked a lot of questions of us especially in the air and our ability to win high ball, dirty ball in the air I suppose. 

“Yeah, asked us a lot of questions and I suppose we missed a few chances alright but I suppose at the end just delighted to get out with the win the way things were going down the home straight.”

The impressive figure of Niall Mitchell was a huge thorn in the side of the Tipperary full back line, with Barry Heffernan. Then Brian McGrath had struggles with the forward who played a part in both goals and won a penalty, and it is something that pestered Tipp far too often according to Cahill.

“It’s still jumping out at us that we still haven’t perfected it - or anywhere near it. It’s something we’re going to have to work on before the league closes so that we have ourselves right for the championship.

“As I said, it’s three from three but there are a lot of areas which would give us concern today.

“That was the objective (winning). We’re fortunate enough to be able to do that after our first two wins.

“It definitely answered a few questions for us as a management team around the shape of our panel going forward into the remainder of the league.”

The last few games have created a fair degree of collateral damage for the medical team in Tipperary and it was concerning to see Mark Kehoe withdrawn at half-time with an injury but Cahill played down the seriousness of the issue post-match.

“It was just precautionary really with Mark,” he assured the reporters.

“He did jar his knee and whilst we would be confident there was no damage done, we were just happy to get him out of there when he was feeling it a little bit."

On the positive side of personnel, Tipperary welcomed back three stalwarts in the form of Jason Forde, Dan McCormack, and Noel McGrath for this game and the trio got a full game into their legs which will be a pleasant sight for supporters going into the Limerick game in a fortnight’s time, which promises to be a big game - even at this stage of the season.

“It was a good game to bring them (experienced players) back into and they all needed it, definitely.

“No matter what work you’re doing on the training ground there is nothing like match practice and the intensity and physicality that Westmeath brought today was as good as three or four training sessions for those guys in particular.

Speaking about the Limerick game Cahill said, “It is a league game but it is still a big game for both sides.

“If you look at Limerick as they’re progressing through the league, they are starting to ramp it up. You can see a lot of their bigger names coming back into the fold.

“I’d say - in two weeks - it’ll be a high-tempo league game in the Gaelic Grounds that both teams and management will learn an awful lot from,” he added.

Cathal Barrett is one of the only regulars and experienced players yet to be used so far in the league with the Holycross Ballycahill man being eased back into the action and Cahill revealed that Tipp supporters can expect to see Barrett before the end of the group stages of the league.

“He’s nearly ready. Today was just a little bit too soon for him but I would be very hopeful that we’ll see Cathal Barrett, if not in the next league match, definitely for the Antrim game.”

Cahill earmarked the Westmeath game in previous weeks as the cut-off point for players to stake their claim for a place on the panel for the remainder of the league and championship, and he said he was satisfied with the run-out and the options he will have going forward.

“Very happy, yeah,” Cahill said about the depth available to him.

“We’ve been very committed to making sure that we don’t do anything rash by any player. We’ve put the structures in place to make sure we leave nobody behind.

“There are a number of players who have come on quite a bit this year and will benefit from what they’ve done with us with a view to next year.

“There’s still a cohort of a very young squad there. A lot of the newer fellas that were brought in and integrated into our training sessions have got a bit of game time during the National League and there will be great learnings for them to improve for next year and see if can they stamp their authority on the team and the panel,” he finished.