Tipperary hurlers have 'a fair bit of work' to do ahead of the championship

Tipperary’s hurlers have “a fair bit of work” ahead of them before their opening Munster Championship meeting with Limerick on April 28.

That was the view of manager Liam Cahill after his team slumped to defeat by Clare in last Sunday’s Allianz National Hurling League semi-final.

“Clare came out of the traps really well, started the match like a rocket, and we didn’t seem to have the answers. It was eight-nil before we knew where we were and we were struggling in a lot of areas, struggling to get to the pitch of it, outbattled in a lot of the physical stakes, and disappointing overall. (There are) a lot of lessons for us leaving here,” he said after last Sunday’s match in Portlaoise.

“When the stakes go up, different players react differently. Some of our players today, when the pressure cooker was turned up fairly high, they just weren’t able to find the answers. That comes with practice. They’ll have to go away, take the lessons out of that and work hard on it.

"We have to have quite a number of discussions as a manager and players between now and the next five weeks to really make fellas aware of where they’re at, what areas they need to improve on, and give them the support to do that.

“I have to really get behind these players now. They don’t become bad hurlers after one 70 minutes in the middle of March.

"Our goal was always April 28. That’s what we’re aiming for. We’re not going to hide under that today and use that as an ‘out’ today. We are disappointed we didn’t perform and we didn’t give the big travelling Tipperary support a little bit more to go on.
“We flashed into the game for 10 or 15 minutes after half-time, we looked to be finding our way but then just lost it again.

“There’s a bit of work for us all to do, players, coaches, managers, and everyone to get behind what needs to happen to have us competitive and in the right place for April 28”.

He said that losing the initiative again after coming within two points of Clare was “really is the disappointing part.

“When you work so hard to get yourself back into the game and then silly frees kept the scoreboard ticking over for Clare and gave them that bit of oxygen to see them over the line.

“Just when you’d think you had your foot on their throats and you were coming for them, we do something silly and get hurt for a silly free or whatever.

“Those are areas that have to be discussed and addressed. That awareness will have to be made within the group that if it pops up again, we’ll try to nullify it and correct it.

“But there’s great character in that room. We have a great mix of experienced fellas in their twilight years and some good, aggressive young lads who have come in in the past few years. There’s a nice mix there, they’re a good, tight group and we love working with them. We love coming to the training field with them, myself and Mikey (Bevans, the coach) and we’re not going to give up on them anytime soon.

“Because this is a new crop of Tipperary hurlers coming, not maybe for this year but I think in the time that we’re here the Tipp team will have transitioned fully.

“So to the Tipp supporters I would say stick with them. They will come right. Because what I see in training is not what transpired here today. The day they do bring their training form to the pitch, they’ll be a match for anyone”.