Less is more remains Kilkenny management mantra

A few days before the All-Ireland hurling final, the Tipperary supporters club placed on record their praise for the ‘27-man support structure’ and ‘army of experts’ assembled by Liam Sheedy.

A year earlier, Limerick won the All-Ireland and produced an official photograph that included 23 backroom team members while it’s been reported that Davy Fitzgerald’s management in Wexford and Mattie Kenny’s in Dublin number 28 and 27 respectively. In the case of Limerick and Tipperary, there is also the considerable support of wealthy patrons, JP McManus and Declan Kelly, to call upon, all of which seems a world away from the slimmed-down, traditional operation overseen by Brian Cody in Kilkenny.