‘We’re good at turning negatives into positives’

CONSIDER for a moment the state which the Tipperary hurling squad found itself in when Liam Sheedy was handed the reins back in September of 2007.

Under Babs Keating, the county had exited that summer’s championship at the quarter-final stage against Wexford and the camp seemed to be cursed by bitterness and bad vibes.

Brendan Cummins and Eoin Kelly had both fallen foul of the legendary Keating in his second spell as manager while, across the border in Leinster, Kilkenny were already halfway through their capture of four successive All-Ireland titles.

Sheedy, having delivered an All-Ireland minor title in 2006, was the obvious choice and Tipp have gradually fought their way back to hurling’s higher ground every year since.

Two Munster titles in his first two seasons were almost capped with an All-Ireland only for Kilkenny’s late, late show 12 months ago but none of that counted for much earlier this summer when Tipp were torched in Cork by 10 points.

The snipers, of which there have been many in the last three years, were quick to realign their sights and the brickbats were still coming Sheedy’s way on Saturday when Keating criticised his successor for ‘Riverdancing’ on the sideline during matches.

“I am a proud Tipperary man,” said Sheedy. “Ever since I got this job I said I’d give it 100% and at 3.15pm today, myself, Eamon (O’Shea) and Mick (Ryan) looked at each other and said, ‘no regrets, we’ve done everything, we’ve ticked every box and we are ready to play’.

“People are entitled to their point of view but, thankfully, we are very good at turning negatives into positive in our group and we got loads of opportunity. They said I didn’t win one (All-Ireland) as a player so I guess I’ve won one as a manager now. That’s something anyway.”

It wasn’t just Sheedy who had to shield himself from the jibes. That loss in Cork seemed to confirm a lot of peoples’ fears that Tipperary had reached as high as they ever would in that loss to Kilkenny in 2009.

“Since we had our poor match in Munster, people were very quick to point out what’s wrong with this team. I’ll tell you one thing today, it’s about time they sat back and pointed out what’s right. There are an awful lot of right things going on in that Tipperary dressing room.

“They know when they don’t perform. It hurts them, it eats them inside and it puts it up in their guts, in all our guts. It’s all about how you react and driving it on again, picking it up and going to the next level. You couldn’t have done it with 15. We needed 33.”

They have absorbed all those unwanted lessons and the memories of those recent defeats in Páirc Uí Chaoimh and Croke Park and those experiences played their part in breasting the tape yesterday.

Unlike 12 months ago, they took their goal chances when they came. Unlike last year, they stood up to Kilkenny’s inevitable late barrage and responded in kind with one of their own to win by eight points.

“We were shocked last year when we walked out of this stadium without scoring a goal because we have a lethal forward line that you’d always fancy to get goals. The amazing thing is all the pundits were saying Kilkenny will get two, three, four goals. Role reversal today lads.”

Understandably, there was a word or two for Lar Corbett, the hat-trick hero.

“He’s an amazing man. He really is an amazing man. The speed of the man. I don’t know if it’s Thurles milk or what he was getting as a young fella but his ability to find space and to run on to ball. His first catch... the first goal was a vital score for us. He just snatched it out of the sky.

“He’s such a leader within that group. He’s got huge experience. He was up here in 2001 as a young fella but he’s no young fella now. There has been a lot of talk that this group lack leaders and I heard from someone last week that we were arrogant. This team doesn’t do arrogance.”

Maybe not but, being Tipperary, their own will expect more after this. An All-Ireland title is to be cherished but it loses its sheen in Tipperary a lot faster than it seems to in many another county.

Sheedy seems to have little doubt but that others will follow.

“This team is a young team. I always said this team would win All-Irelands. I told you I could never tell you when but I’m delighted it’s today. There’s five of them that are playing U21 next weekend and there’s eight or nine of them from U21 last year. They’re coming and we have the old experienced heads around here as well.”