Tipperary captain Noel McGrath is not looking past clash with Offaly this Saturday

Tipperary captain Noel McGrath knows that his side cannot afford to underestimate Offaly.

Speaking at the official launch of the All-Ireland series last Tuesday evening in Waterford, the Loughmore Castleiney man reflected on his side's last day capitulation against the Déise which ultimately cost him and his team a place in the Munster final.

“The Munster Final is a great day to be involved in, and we would love to have been involved in it, but we weren't - every day you go out, you have to be on,” McGrath said.

“We barely got through in Munster, just by the skin of our teeth. That last day in the Munster Championship was crazy.

“We were disappointed, like every team that wasn't in the Munster Final, but at the same time we came out of the group in Munster. We are in the All-Ireland series now, all we can do now is look forward, and hopefully we can get back on track again.”

And with a big Tipp presence in the Faithful County’s backroom team, the Premier will need to be on their guard for Saturday’s All-Ireland SHC preliminary quarter-final as they travel north to Glenisk O'Connor Park in Tullamore.

“I suppose that is what the team needed. We had a disappointing year or two leading into this year. New players were needed to freshen the thing up, new management came in with new ideas.

“That is what you need. Every county has it at different stages, where they get a group of lads coming in new and they just take to it. Thankfully a lot of lads that have come into it this year have taken to it well, they are pushing hard for places. That is great to see.

“It has been encouraging so far. The end of the Munster Championship was disappointing, the Waterford match, when we had a chance to get to a Munster Final, and we didn't take it. Waterford were much better than us on the day.

“So we've regrouped over the last few weeks, we are in knockout hurling now. If you are not on any day you go out, you are going to be in trouble. That starts with Offaly this weekend. In knockout hurling you have to be ready every day you go out.”

McGrath will face Offaly for the first time in the Championship since 2014 in Saturday’s preliminary quarter-final and there is plenty of Premier influence in the Faithful backroom, with his former teammate Brendan Maher part of Johnny Kelly’s management team, along with Brendan's brother and former Tipperary hurler Martin.

"It has been a while since we played Offaly, a qualifier in Portlaoise back in 2014. If you go back to the early to mid-2000s, Tipp and Offaly would have played each other a lot more, so it is different but it’s good. You want to play different teams.

Get past Offaly and the beaten Leinster finalists Galway are up next. Tipp have found a lot of good form this summer in beating Clare, and drawing with Limerick and Cork and McGrath highlighted that there is is confidence amongst the players that they can find that form again. 

“After any defeat, you’ve to ask the hard questions of yourself, first of all, and then of the team. That’s all part of sport. It’s nothing I haven’t been involved in before. It’s happened at club and inter-county level before.

"It’ll probably happen again to not just Tipp but other teams. It’s just how you bounce back from it then after that," he finished