Missing Jerome Cahill, Tipp's great lost hope

One of the most skilful players in the county is no longer a Tipp hurler

Jerome Cahill during the All-Ireland U20 Championship final against Cork. Picture: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile

The mention of Jerome Cahill’s name turned Tipperary selector TJ Ryan wistful at last month’s Munster senior hurling championship launch.

In all three of the under-age All-Irelands won under Liam Cahill, Mikey Bevans and Ryan, the Kilruane MacDonaghs man was a starter. Outside of the McGraths and Ronan Maher, the 2019 U20 hurler of the year is probably the most skilful player in the county.

But Cahill is no longer a Tipperary hurler. Hasn’t been since March 2020 when he came off the bench in a league game against Galway a few days before the country shut down due to the pandemic.

Who knows if that cessation in the blue and gold gave Cahill time to consider his life choices but a most promising inter-county career was arrested. A member of Liam Sheedy’s 2019 All-Ireland SHC winning panel, Cahill’s senior appearances came as a substitute in that year’s Munster final defeat to Limerick and All-Ireland quarter-final win over Laois.

He was more than a hope. Few players have Cahill’s balance, poise or directness never mind his strength. Maturity too. Sheedy was comfortable enough to put the then 20-year-old on interview duties ahead of the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.

Absent when the 2020 season resumed and for ’21 and ’22, the amount of time demanded by inter-county hurling had become a difficulty for Cahill, who is also a high achiever off the field and now works as a senior financial controller. But if one man was going to be able to persuade Cahill back it was his namesake manager last season. “Ah yeah, not successful,” bemoaned selector Ryan in Clonmel last month.

Maybe someday? “No, he was asked and I don’t think he’s going to come with us. He’s other ambitions in life so best of luck to him. He’s a good hurler, it’s a pity, he’s a big loss. You just have to continue without him and that’s it. Someone else take up the mantle.” 

After lighting up the 2022 Tipperary senior championship when he captained his club to glory, scoring 1-4 in the semi-final and two goals in the drawn final, Cahill intimated he wasn’t for moving. “I’ve been there before. I know the commitment and dedication that’s involved, and also I know the reward and the absolute privilege that it is to put on that blue and gold. Having said that, I feel I have a good balance in my life at the moment, which I probably wouldn’t get if I was training five nights a week. I want to maintain that.” 

Recently, Cahill has been giving reminders of what Tipperary are missing. Representing Lahorna, he claimed an All-Ireland junior handball title in Croke Park earlier this month when he beat Kilkenny’s Jack Doyle, who won an All-Ireland intermediate club hurling medal with Thomastown in January. With Colin Ryan, he also claimed the junior 40x20 doubles All-Ireland handball final in Cashel.

The idea of playing hurling for Tipperary again was broached in an interview with Tipp FM before that final against Doyle. “It’s something I will never rule out,” he replied. “It’s a massive privilege to be able to play for Tipperary at that level.

“It also involves a lot of work and I think each year the bar is being raised higher and higher for a number of reasons, one being that the sport is surrounded by professionals but the players themselves aren’t professionals. They still have to get up and make a living each day after every game, so it’s tough going.” 

Cahill continued: “Tipp is a great hurling county. If I was going in there, I would like to give nothing short of my best and at the moment it’s hard to maintain that high level of performance. Unfortunately, I’m not in that position at the moment.

“There are definitely aspects of it that I do miss, team-mates and lads that I would have grown up playing with. Maybe I haven’t had as much contact with them anymore. Working with guys in the backroom team who are really at the top of their game, the best coaches… we are very fortunate in Tipperary to have access to all that.” 

Tipperary not having the services of one of their best players doesn’t appear favourable, though. Like Limerick without Lynch or Kilkenny minus Reid. But akin to Austin Gleeson in Waterford and to a lesser extent Tom Devine before him, there has to be an appreciation that hurling even for those who excel at it isn't everything. 

For two-thirds of the 2019 All-Ireland U20 half-forward line, Jake Morris and Gearóid O’Connor, and the other four of that team of Liam Cahill’s set to start for him in TUS Gaelic Grounds, few things matter more than Sunday. The hope is in time Jerome Cahill will see likewise.