O’Shea: emulating Tipp has you behind already

LAUDED by Tipperary’s All-Ireland-winning hurlers, Eamonn O’Shea is regarded as one of the top coaches in the game. He spoke to Michael Moynihan about the state of hurling.

EAMONN O’SHEA collects the first question like a centre-back operating in plenty of space: a quick look up and then an elegant delivery. Your opener is about the state of hurling at present and the former Tipp selector is brisk.

“It’s a bit narrow in terms of quality, but it’s been narrow before. What happened in the nineties, when Clare broke through, and Offaly and Wexford, that whetted the appetite for a more competitive championship, but in the last few years Cork won a couple, Kilkenny won four, and Tipp came back to win one.