O’Shea so passionate about the Premier

There’s a spikiness about Eamon O’Shea.

That’s not a criticism. In his game, it goes with the territory. Hurling, that is. The lecture halls of NUI Galway, where he is a professor of economics, aren’t as adversarial as this gig.

As engaging and insightful as he is, there are occasions when he has felt it opportune to snap and snarl. The first example came after last year’s Championship exit to Kilkenny. “These will be men of honour in the future and any criticism these guys get is undeserved because these guys have put in a huge effort for Tipperary, a massive effort, yeah. Whatever happens, yeah, we just lost a game by three points, yeah. We didn’t lose what’s in Tipperary.”