'We tend to love a good failure in Tipp,' said Tipp boss Liam Cahill after Deise draw

In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s thrilling Munster Senior Hurling Championship clash between Waterford and Tipperary at Walsh Park, Tipperary manager explained the root cause of his delight with what he had just witnessed on the field of play.

“I celebrated as if it was a win, but really what I was celebrating was the fight in my team. I wasn’t celebrating the one point. I wasn’t celebrating the so-called narrative of getting out of jail. I was celebrating the fight in us, in our players, in Tipperary. That is what I was celebrating today,” the Ballingarry clubman stated.

Having shipped a ton of criticism in the six days between the heavy defeat to Limerick and last Sunday’s encounter, Cahill knew that his side needed to show much more this time around. And he was happy that he got that response from the side.

“Really delighted that the players and we as a group got our heads around a performance last weekend that wasn’t acceptable. We have no issue with that. Some of the analysis was very warranted, absolutely it was warranted, but some of it wasn’t.

“Really proud of the way we battled right to the end in a game that was more or less gone from us. We were given chances to win the game prior to that, to be fair, but really proud of the way we as a group, this bunch of players, as management and backroom team, everyone associated with the set-up circled the wagons this week, and really grateful to the supporters in the stands today, they were absolutely superb,” added Cahill, realising that a second defeat would have probably meant elimination for his charges. Maybe Sunday’s fightback is the beginning of a something more.

“To everybody out there, I’d just say to ye, stick with these players.

“We’re at a strange place in Tipperary at the moment where we have a number of players, not a lot, that are the older cohort in the twilight years of their careers, and younger players coming together, and it’s a tough job to get that balance right.

“To stay competitive but also to put a really good future together for Tipperary hurling; that was my job.

“That was the reason I was asked to take on this job, was to make sure that we start building again in Tipperary. Today we showed signs of that.

“Your emotions go bananas when things go wrong on the big stage in a Tipperary jersey.

“We as a group never intend to not fight or die in our boots on the field. We never intend to do that.

“So, we took massive ownership of what happened last weekend.

“We took massive ownership of it because we had to.

“We own that for the rest of our lives. I own, maybe, some of my comments in the aftermath.

“I own that and it weighed heavy. We just draw a line under that now and go forward with this performance and still try and make sure that we qualify out of this province of death in Munster.

“Let’s see can we gather a couple more points,” added Liam Cahill.

Cahill was delighted with the contribution of his substitutes, as they accumulated a combined 1-3 late in the game when the chase was on to pull Waterford back.

“Without our bench today, we’d be going home empty-handed. The ever-warrior Bonner came on there, John McGrath was top-class, young Kenneally, Darragh Stakelum made his championship debut, and he was excellent today. He never gave up.

“We have good young lads coming in Tipperary. Our U20s were phenomenal last night, and they are in a Munster final.

“We tend to love a good failure in Tipp. That is what disappoints me the most.

“Really, we should be privileged in the position we are in. We are not where we want to be. Of course we want to be winning All-Irelands and dining at the top table every year.

“But we are where we are and we have a lot of really good people and good, top-class players fighting to achieve that and get back to the top table.”