New Tipperary hurling manager Liam Cahill has a rebuilding job on his hands

An eventful week in the hurling world sees Limerick break new ground and Tipperary install a new manager.
They say a week is a long time in politics but it can be quite a stretch in hurling too. Within a few days Limerick smashed another glass ceiling with their three-in-a-row and Colm Bonnar got his P45. Waterford lost a manager and Tipperary gained Liam Cahill.
It’s high summer and high drama in the hurling world, with no shortage of material for a columnist.
As the country was gearing up for a great hurling decider, the Tipp managerial saga broke. Colm Bonnar was “relieved of his duties”, to quote the terse County Board missive. Some might describe the wording as curt, which one dictionary defines as rudely brief. As a PR item it certainly wouldn’t win any awards.
It read as blunt and to the point, though you couldn’t fault it on accuracy. I guess if a manager isn’t resigning then how do you go gently on the wording. “The manager won’t be continuing”, perhaps, or maybe “the board has decided that the team needs a new direction.” Anyway you put it, the message was going to be obvious that the manager was being removed from his position.
Some on television and social media immediately jumped on the bandwagon to throw predictable digs at the County Board. I wouldn’t be taking lectures from any of those. They likely know little about the background to events and would have even less interest in the wellbeing of Tipperary hurling.
In truth this decision was no big surprise. The background rumblings were uneasy for some time. It had been a troubling year, the defeats to Clare, and especially Cork, grated with a lot of people. It wasn’t defeat per se but the disjointed nature of the displays and the timid capitulations that were hardest to ignore.
On top of that there was talk of a fractious dressing room, with clear divisions between newer and more established players. Some had to be disciplined. Questions were arising about the future commitment of some players if things didn’t change.
None of this was directly Colm Bonnar’s creation. He clearly inherited a challenging situation and was utterly luckless with injuries as the season unfolded. What became an issue, though, was whether the situation could be rescued and clearly the board decided that it was irredeemable and a change in personnel was the only option. The stepping aside of Paul Curran and Tommy Dunne fed into that narrative.

There is understandable sympathy for Colm Bonnar (pictured above) in all this. His Tipperary credentials are beyond reproach. His playing career was exemplary, high on passion, the type who’d always go into the trenches when the need was greatest. Our team that died against Cork this season certainly didn’t reflect the manager in his playing days.
However, managing modern teams is a different and difficult task, one that very few succeed at. The feeling was that what went wrong this year couldn’t be put right with another season, so change was inevitable.
All of this coincided with Liam Cahill’s availability. There was a sense that the Ballingarry man probably wouldn’t persevere with Waterford in any case, given their championship collapse after such a promising league. It would have been very difficult to rouse the Deise again in 2023 after the collapse of 2022.
Suddenly all the ducks were aligned and the decision that should have been made last year happened a season later.
The new man comes in with no guarantees. He inherits a very broken situation, with lots of remedial action required to put the pieces back in place. One of his strengths is that he enjoyed major success with the younger players, which is a decent starting point. However, there’s uncertainty about possible retirements at the other end so, ultimately, it’s a rebuilding job.
No rebuilding is needed in Limerick, however, after what was arguably their most satisfying All-Ireland win of the four to be harvested in the past five seasons. Not having beaten Kilkenny was a definite box to be ticked if this era was to stand beyond dispute.
The 2019 semi-final defeat still grated, like a pebble in the shoe. Finally, it’s banished, they stand as hurling monarchs, undisputed as the greatest the county has ever produced and sitting alongside the greatest of all time from any county.
It was hard-earned - incredibly hard-earned. Like pesky pests Kilkenny just wouldn’t go away. Several times during the game you sensed that another score or two would take Limerick into that comfort zone, where the risk of a late ambush was minimised. But as often Kilkenny refused to accept the evidence of the play and just kept coming back.
In the end it was nervously tight but there was no denying Limerick’s superiority. They took the game from the front and every time they were reined in, they found another gear to pull away once more. Hegarty, of course, was immense in it all but there were other majestic displays from the likes of Hayes, Byrnes, Hannon, the Morrisseys, O’Donoghue and more.
Huw Lawlor subdued Gillane but Limerick found the scores elsewhere, including vital late inputs from substitutes Boylan and O’Neill.
Kilkenny tossed tradition in their faces but Limerick still held firm. If there was any doubt about this team’s greatness beforehand (surely not?) then this win put everything to bed. Without winning another match their place in the pantheon is assured.
For Mrs Kiely’s son it’s an extraordinary denouement for one, exasperated by a particularly low point in the county’s fortunes some years ago, picked up the phone and demanded that the County Board give him a role. Who could have foreseen then that it would all lead to this?
There will be talk about the various contributors to Limerick’s greatest glory on the hurling field. JP will be credited with the financial backing and the associated moral support. Caroline Currid will be feted for the sports psychology. Paul Kinnerk will be anointed for the tactical nous.
However, I’ve no doubt that while all the above are part of the jigsaw, the machine simply wouldn’t hum without the guiding hand of Kiely. He is the one who orchestrated it all, he is the maestro pulling the various strings to knit it all together. Only Cody stands above him now in the managerial gallery of greatness.

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Meanwhile, back to more basic local business, where the club scene is now set to dominate attention in the weeks ahead. My absence in the past few weeks saw me miss out on some high-quality divisional fare.
JK Brackens made history in the mid with a first-ever title. John Costigan and the other drivers who brought that club into existence will feel well vindicated by recent progress.
Carrick Swans gave a slap in the face to their demotion to premier intermediate ranks by turning over Mullinahone in the south.
Nenagh pulled off an exciting return to the top in the north with a win over neighbours Kiladangan. And in the west Clonoulty did what Clonoulty do routinely now – add yet another title against Annacarty.
Last weekend it was the turn of the intermediates, where Kickhams won the west and Boherlahan took the mid. I saw the latter contest over in Littleton on Sunday morning.
The star of the show was Tossy Ryan, who hit 1-14 of Boherlahan’s 3-16 total against Drom/Inch. It was an emphatic outcome that sets up the winners nicely for the start of the county competition this weekend with a match against Golden Kilfeacle.
That game will be part of a major programme of fixtures, as the county scene shuts down and the real heartbeat of the association, the club, takes its rightful place at the hub of events.
Finally, a word of heartfelt thanks to all who extended sympathy recently on the passing of our mother. She was a nonagenarian, just three years into her nineties, which is a good innings, though it doesn’t make the loss any less affecting.
It’s at times like this that you appreciate the strength of the GAA family, which turned out in force for the obsequies. We knock strips off each other at times but then rally like any tight family when the need arises.
Mother would have really appreciated it all. Her brother, Michael, was an All-Ireland minor medallist with Tipperary in 1949 and she loved the games, as well as life in general. We’ll miss her dearly.