Tipperary a rising force in Munster

Their growing confidence inside the whitewash is at long last being matched by their words off it; Tipperary football speak has never been so bold or assertive.

Where once they were grateful for Division 4 league success, accepting of moral defeats and apprehensive that a string of qualifier wins would endanger their dual crowns, those serving at the coalface of Tipperary football are now targeting Munster senior glory, a quarter-final spot in the All-Ireland series and the Holy Grail itself, Sam Maguire, by 2020. Quite the change in scripts.

Take manager Peter Creedon’s mundane post-match musings following Division 4 league glory in the spring of 2014: “Any time you win a title is a boost. We have to put the work in because we are playing a Division 3 team [Limerick] in the championship and we know there is plenty of room for improvement.”