Clouds lift for Tipperary as they get into their stride

Tipperary 1-15 Waterford 1-7: Tipperary’s football pulse, having slowed somewhat during a turbulent and disruptive spring, quickened a beat in Dungarvan yesterday.

They’ll probably still require a tank or two of oxygen when the air thins against Cork in a fortnight, but for the new management headed up by Liam Kearns and the new-look team he has been forced to assemble, this opening chapter to their summer was, if nothing else, encouraging.

Sure, the eight-point winning margin was some distance removed from the 22-points which separated the teams at this very juncture last year, but Tipperary’s canvass has changed dramatically in the interim 12 months and of the 21 players who saw action that afternoon in Thurles, only 11 were present in Fraher Field.