Heavy defeat by Cork represented 'a dark day for Tipperary hurling,' says Liam Cahill

Last Sunday was “a dark day for Tipperary hurling in a lot of respects”.

That was the verdict of manager Liam Cahill, after his team had slumped to an 18-points defeat by Cork.

“We will improve, there’s lots of growth still in this squad, and it might be a while away,” he told the assembled media in the old stand at FBD Semple Stadium.

“But we’ll keep trying, that’s what we do in Tipperary.

“We’ll dust ourselves down and we’ll take whatever criticism and analysis that comes, and deservedly do.

“When you put on the Tipp jersey you can’t represent it the way we did towards the end of that second half, it needs to be better. We know that, and we will get our heads around that and make sure that we do better.

“It was a tough day all round but that’s what you sign up for, when you take on a role of this magnitude.

“When you’re the Tipperary senior hurling manager it brings massive responsibility and we are where we are in Tipperary at the moment.

“I’ll continue to do my best as long as I’m asked to.

“I’m not somebody that runs away from tough times, we were brought up to roll up our sleeves and work hard and that’s what I’ll be trying to ingrain into my players.

“That dressing room is a close dressing room, we’re fully together, we try to keep one another accountable, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.

“And this will turn, whether it will turn on my watch or not I don’t know but I’ll do my best to make sure that it’s in a better position for whoever’s coming after me, or please God it will happen during my reign.

“Maybe not, but if it doesn’t (I’ll do my best) that it will be some bit healthier for the next person coming along”.

When asked if the players’ confidence had been affected, he said “Confidence comes from lack of preparation. And our preparation is top class.

“The majority of my players today would have had underage success against a lot of those Cork players today. They would have gone toe to toe with them and done really well.

“I can’t give us an ‘out’ on that, that our confidence isn’t where it needs to be.

“I think maybe that we need to have more leadership on the field. I think that’s something that needs to come better. And we have the leaders there, they really need to start embracing it a bit more, and that’s something we’ll continue to work on”.

The Ballingarry man said he was “unbelievably disappointed, there’s a really difficult dressing room down there, the players are absolutely gutted.

“That (performance) is just not a reflection on the effort that has gone with this group of fellows. I’m just so disappointed for the lads and everybody involved because it just doesn’t reflect the effort that these boys have put in.

“The goal before half time was a sucker punch. We were still very happy in the dressing room at half time that we were very much in the game.

“We started the second half really well. The second goal after half-time really knocked the stuffing out of us and that was the one that opened all the floodgates.

“We just seemed to lose all our intensity. I thought we were really good for 37-38 minutes, at the start of the second half we had it back to two and three points.

“We just didn’t respond well after leaking the goals, and it was a hard watch there as the game unfolded. Some of our decision-making, our body language....it’s difficult to explain.

“Cork are an exceptionally quick and fast team and they’re really coming to the boil now. They have pace all over the field and I think if they can stay alive in this championship they’ll have a serious say before the year is out. (Manager) Pat Ryan has done a marvellous job.

“It’s not lost on us the importance of representing Tipperary.

“I’m so disappointed for our supporters as well today. They came out there in numbers again today to really get behind the lads.

“These guys (players) are hurting but we have to really focus around making sure that in seven days time (against Clare) we protect the integrity of this competition, that we come out here and represent the jersey properly again, and better.

“It’s a daunting task but we are where we are. We have to roll up our sleeves and work hard to make sure we give a good account of ourselves and represent the jersey properly.

“We’ll go back tomorrow night and we’ll look at it. It will make for tough viewing, and we’ll have to make sure that we keep Clare really honest next weekend and that we also introduce a few guys as well that are maybe going to be part of our squad going forward into what is now officially a real rebuild job in Tipperary after today.

“What’s on the line against Clare is our good name and the integrity of the Munster championship.

“It’s a brilliant product, the Munster championship is a serious competition and we have to respect that and we have to bring our best performance here next Sunday against Clare.

“We’ll go back and try and be better and try and blood as many younger players that are on our panel, and give them a little taste of what proper senior inter-county championship is about”.