Evans: We’d been through a lot of pain and had the hunger

After the devastation of their loss 12 months ago, Tipperary boss John Evans was ecstatic at the final whistle last night in Austin Stack Park after securing the county’s first ever Munster U-21 football crown.

"We’ve one guy up there John Coghlan and this is his fourth time playing an U-21 final. You’ve to lose a few I suppose to win one. It came down to the closing stages of the second-half, and we were the team who’d been through a lot of pain and had the hunger. So we weren’t going to lie down.

"The backs were closing them down and weren’t letting the forwards out of their sight. Full credit to Michael O’Loughlin as well. I brought him in as trainer this year and the lads are tremendously fit. There’s a little known fact that I brought seven of these guys to Spain for altitude training, and they showed that out there."

Last Sunday’s defeat to Armagh saw the Tipperary seniors relegated to Division 3 of the NFL, but this victory helped ease the pain at that loss for Evans.

"Last Sunday with the seniors had a devastating effect on me. It was the first time in my life that I’d taken a backward step with a team, going down a division. I went away for two days with my wife to re-energise. Last Sunday was a hard one to take and this goes some way to helping it.

"At some stage it was going to happen after losing nine finals. You have to get up there with the Kerry’s and Cork’s of life. It’s tough to come down here to Kerry and try to win, but our lads did brilliant."