Liam Cahill says there are ‘massive learnings’ for Tipperary from the Limerick game

In the sheltered area from the dark and cold of the stadium on Leeside last Saturday night, the concern of Liam Cahill was firmly focused on the wellbeing of Seamus Kennedy who went down injured in the second half.

A full diagnosis will be made once the swelling around the knee goes down: “We don’t know yet (how he is) but it is definitely a knee injury,” Liam Cahill said.

He pointed out the importance of the St. Mary’s player to the group, “I hope it is not too bad. I’m just so disappointed for Seamus as he was playing so well. He's a big player for us so hopefully it is not too serious.”

On the match itself, Liam said that Limerick were too powerful in the second half, “They looked to assert themselves again and sure look that is nothing new with Limerick.

“That is their trait, isn’t it? They seem to be able to find those moments when they need to, especially after half-time,” the Ballingarry native said. He maintained that Tipperary worked hard and stayed going too.

“We hung in there,” he said, talking about recovering from that surge after half-time from Limerick. The margin being just a point at the end surprised him somewhat as Limerick had hurled better in the second half. He said Limerick were dominant yet somehow Tipperary were still in the game: “It didn’t feel like that on the sideline and if I’m being honest, it probably should have been more but I’m encouraged at how our boys stayed at it.

“We lacked a small bit of energy today I suppose and that is down to the way Limerick applied themselves. It takes a lot of energy to curtail them. Still, massive learnings from us today and we are very much a team that’s finding our way but we are nearly there in relation to finding our personnel.

“We have another round of the league to play next weekend now to see what way things will go. I know we are depending on results now to see whether we make the last four or not but it has been a very decent league for us so far,” Liam said. Limerick struck four unanswered points after the first two Tipperary goals, and that is something that he feels his team needs to work on.

“When you get a goal like that and then all of a shot there is three or four points that follow it from Limerick it just takes that bit of energy out of you so that is something we really need to look at, that when we do apply ourselves on a team like that when we get an opportunity to raise a green flag, we need to kinda stem the tide a little further then by following it up with a couple of scores again but we weren’t allowed to do that today,” Liam Cahill said.

Game management is an area he feels they can work on now: “It is something we need to work on and discuss. We have to create that awareness. We were hit for four or five scores in a row there on two occasions,” he pointed out.

For now, the focus is on Antrim as Tipp travels northwards for the next league game on Saturday. A semi-final berth will now depend on winning that, and also Limerick beating Galway to ensure Tipperary can progress.