Declan Browne: Obstacles in Tipperary before we even get to the first hurdle

Over the winter, most football folk in Tipperary would have been excited about the prospects of our 2016 chances on the back of reaching All-Ireland finals in both minor and U21 last year.

On top of that, Clonmel Commercials annexing a Munster Club title, the first by a Tipperary team in the history of the competition, was a huge boost for football in the county.

Peter Creedon made it clear at the start of 2015 he was to step down as manager of the senior team after four reasonably successful campaigns but it took an awful long time to appoint ex-Laois and Limerick manager, Liam Kearns to the post. Valuable training, strength and conditioning time was lost as result which I have no doubt hindered the performances of the team during the league.