Liam Sheedy: 'This is not new in Tipperary'

Tipperary manager Liam Cahill. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Liam Sheedy believes Liam Cahill tried everything to prevent Tipperary slipping backwards the year after success like previous sides from the county.

Tipp have not retained the All-Ireland SHC since the 1960s, with Sheedy himself unable to retain the title in 2020 after he managed Tipp to success in 2019. Previously, Sheedy stepped down as manager after he won with Tipperary in 2010, though his successor Declan Ryan only came up short in the 2011 final.

This time, the current All-Ireland champions have bowed out tamely in Munster, with Sheedy as baffled as anyone as to why a pattern appears to be repeating.

"It's hard to figure out," Sheedy said, on Dalo's Hurling Show. "They haven't found anything like their form in 2025 this year. 

"I know an awful lot went into last year, and I know it took a huge amount. They came from 20-1 outsiders to claim the big prize under Liam last year. I thought management and players were just incredible. But this is not new in Tipperary.

"Yet again, we simply haven't found anything like that level of form the year after when it comes to retention time, and that would be very disappointing."

Sheedy spoke to Cahill following last year's success and reveals the current boss was already planning studiously to avoid pitfalls ahead of the next campaign. 

"I was talking to him after the All-Ireland. He organised the holiday early to try and get that done and dusted. Then you're trying to get the medals presentation done.

"Then you have all the euphoria with taking the cup around the place and what the clubs wanted, the schools wanted, the hospitals wanted. It's just so frantic now in that period, because they're back with their clubs. And then there's the period before Christmas where it's just frantic.

"It's just trying to get everything back on track."  

Sheedy was most struck by the energy deficit in all Tipp's performances.

"Their second half performances in the matches, they just haven't looked to have anything like the energy or the drive of 2025.

"And in fairness to Liam Cahill, whether he was at Waterford or back with Tipp, his teams generally are big, big, big on energy, himself and Mikey Bevans. 

"Even listening to him afterwards, it felt like they didn't really reproduce what he had seen in the previous three weeks in training."

Sheedy hopes this year's underperformance won't cloud appreciation for what Tipperary achieved last year.

"I think Liam and his management team and the players, they deserve such credit for what they achieved in 2025. I would say they absolutely maxed out, but it probably took so much out of them that we left a lot behind and we didn't have any energy at all. And we didn't bring out what we're capable of bringing in 2026. 

"We probably won one against the head last year. But, you know, it is just so disappointing — 2026 has been a real anti-climax, unfortunately."