Nicky English: Tipperary in a tight spot after opening round loss

Few folk can take the pulse of Tipperary hurling quite like Nicky English and history tells the former player and manager that they aren’t all that adept at bouncing back from defeats such as last Sunday’s in the Gaelic Grounds.

English claims it’s a trend he has seen “over a lifetime” but the last two years alone would back up that instinct with troubling league final losses, to Galway and Kilkenny, followed by disturbing championship defeats to Cork and now Limerick.

“The league final over the last two years: You’d say getting to them is what you would want to do but becoming holed below the water line in the league final has been a problem for us. This is the second year in a row that it has happened.