Important to heal Rebel wounds - Cahill

By Shane Brophy

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill admitted beating Cork in the National League last Saturday night was important after what happened the last time their great Munster rivals came to FBD Semple Stadium in the championship last summer.

“When the dates came out in the league fixtures for this tie here, behind the scenes, I would personally be always aiming towards Cork coming to Thurles again,” revealed the Tipp boss following their four point win.

“From there, you would start making sure that you are putting those building blocks in place that needed to happen and bringing a bit of enthusiasm back into what has to be Tipperary hurling.

“The energy tonight on the field, feeding up into the stands and the stands down into the players, it was a lovely place to be and please God we'll look forward to more days like that as we move forward with this exciting winning team.”

At a minimum, Tipperary had to show the workrate and desire that was largely missing from their last clash against Cork, crucially responding well to the pressure when the rebels drew level going into the last quarter of the game.

“It was a nice performance,” Cahill continued.

“It was a real, honest, workmanlike performance, and once you have that any day you put on the jersey you would be happy, that’s the first ingredient you are looking for when you are coming to play for Tipperary, here in Semple Stadium.

“I am really happy with the attitude of the players, the way they applied themselves on the field, their work ethic, and the way they figured out a lot of things themselves on the field which is really encouraging.

“Little green shoots again as we go through this league. We are very conscious it is spring time; summer time is when you are really going to be judged but spring time is important for this group of players that we get our house in order and give ourselves a fighting chance in the summer.

“Our hurling will improve, a lot of our mistakes that contributed to Cork capitalising was through our hurling mistakes for this time of the year which is every teams trait; nobody is where they needs to be from a hurling touch perspective now.

“The way we rallied when the pressure came on was really encouraging, that for me is the biggest plus from tonight that these players are showing they are battlers and are prepared to do what is required to hurl for Tipperary.”

The win also maintained Tipperary’s perfect home record in the league, while it is only two games, making Thurles a difficult venue for opponents will be important come the round-robin Munster Championship.

“You have to perform every day, but it is twice as important in Thurles, here in Semple Stadium, that you always apply yourself properly, and you bring that spirit, energy, and work ethic, which we had all of tonight,” Cahill added.

“It’s very positive from my point of view that the players are working really, really hard. A lot of people supporting behind the scenes.

“We just have a real good feeling about what we are doing. From myself, right through the squad, we are really enjoying our hurling at the moment. It is brilliant to be in that kind of a space, that you are enjoying your hurling and you are working so hard on other aspects as well to all feed into the success of trying to get back and compete with the bigger teams again in the championship come April.”