JAKE MORRIS attributes the best year of his career to being granted greater freedom to roam.

The Tipperary vice-captain references the long history of Premier forwards interchanging positions to create space and slip defenders.

But for Morris, the key detail is being more consistently involved in the play around the half-forward line.

“Predominantly, I have been playing inside since I came on the scene,” he says.

“After a chat with the management, they said I’d be deployed a bit further away from goal, and that has helped my game.

“I am enjoying it out there, but also being able to go back inside as well.

“There is a bit more freedom to get on the ball and use your legs more than inside, where you could be waiting five or 10 minutes for a ball to come in, and you have to make hay with it.

“Just being involved in the game more is helping my game.”

Morris had been positioned at centre-forward throughout the spring, but, if anything, the emergence of Andrew Ormond has enabled him to play an even freer role drifting from the wing.

“Historically, Tipperary have always had forwards rotating,” the Nenagh Éire Óg man adds. “It’s really what you have to do because it’s easier to get a handle on a fella when you stay in one position all game.

“Moving around and taking a lad into different positions, you find yourself on ball in different places.

“It makes our team tick a little better when we are rotating, especially with Darragh (McCarthy) going out to take frees. We like to make sure we set up well, so someone slips into the full-forward line to cover him.”

After McCarthy’s semi-final red card, Morris switched inside for the next 10 minutes to help make the ball stick and occupy the spare man.

He was also the first man over to shepherd the Toomevara teenager off the field.

“It was really about switching back on and getting the lads set up well with the two inside and everyone else back out the field and getting your shape again because we didn’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves in the moment,” he reflects.

“It’s just really sweet. It will bring the group on a massive amount to get through that battle with 14 men.

“It was really satisfying, but that is down to the hard work the group has put in all year long and how honest it is.”

Morris played his part in the 2019 All-Ireland final, but for plenty of his teammates, that most recent Kilkenny game was their first experience of Croke Park.

“We left no stone unturned in terms of preparation, going through all the scenarios, how big the stadium is, the noise and the communication, not being able to hear each other properly, and the slipping from the football the previous week.

“It is a different pitch, the whole atmosphere, the size of the whole place, so the management had us well prepped for that, and it helped us. When we went out, we had full clarity of what we were facing into.”

While Morris already has a Celtic Cross to his name, he feels more integral to the development of the current team.

“It’s a different group, a different crop.

“For me, I was on the periphery, coming on and learning my trade. Whereas now, this team is one I have been playing with a lot of lads I came up along with from minor and U20, which feels nicer. Especially being part of the leadership group of the team, taking more of an onus on yourself.

“The 2019 semi-final had a lot of similarities in it, the feeling at the end of pure satisfaction.

“We have lost a lot of leaders since then, and it is a really good feeling to be with this team.”

Morris has previously spoken about feeling “embarrassed” by the contrast between Tipp’s 13-man All-Ireland minor champions and the seniors’ winless campaign last year.

He adds: “We want the leadership to come from the top down, rather than 16- and 17-year-olds showing us the way, and how Tipperary should be hurling.”

Morris has been that leader against Cork in previous clashes. He scored the levelling point in 2018, his debut year, and the clinching goal in their 2020 qualifier. He has never left with less than 0-3 in their last six meetings.

“It’s down to the free-flowing, good games of hurling,” says Morris.

“Cork have some serious forwards, and I am sure some of their forwards like to play us as well.

“Alan (Connolly), in particular, has gotten good scores against us over the last couple of years.

“It’s probably the way games go, but we are looking forward to taking them on again.”