Tipperary and Clare have the best panels, says Liam Sheedy
Speaking to Tipp FM’s Extra-Time, the Portroe man reckons his native county and the Division 1 champions have deeper personnel pools than even the likes of All-Ireland champions Kilkenny and Waterford.
“We have a very, very strong bench and a lot of those guys were making their place last year, especially up front. Where you see most subs used is up front and you can expect fireworks in the training sessions.
“For every one of the 26, and a few more that weren’t togged out, their overall ambition is to get a starting jersey. When we won the All-Ireland in 2010, I would put it down to competition within the panel for places. You really need two for every position, whether you’re Joe Schmidt or Michael Ryan.
“When I sat down and picked up the programme, I looked the Cork bench and said ‘who’s going to hurt us there?’ Okay, Aidan Walsh was only coming back from injury but looking at the Tipp bench you could see players that would come in and make a difference.
“You’re going to need strength in depth in the panel and Tipperary and Clare have the strongest panels in the 2016 championship. We saw the benefits of that on Sunday in Thurles.” As Tipperary begin their preparations for a Munster semi-final against Limerick in Semple Stadium, former goalkeeper and manager Ken Hogan believes TJ Ryan has a superior team to Cork.
“Limerick is going to be a different proposition altogether (to Cork). Limerick thrive on the physical exchanges, thrive on big game situations and thrive on the Tipperary game being a derby game. They will come with numbers and come with huge intent. The biggest thing of all with Limerick is they’ll be smarting from their poor league displays as well. They’ll bring more to the plate, they’re more opportunist than Cork. They’re a better hurling team. They have championship medals under their belt at underage level.”
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