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Liam Kearns takes his Tipperary team into action in Killarney on Sunday. Ryan Byrne/INPHO
Liam Kearns

Tipp boss on the Cork celebrations, WhatsApp groups, the Gooch tripping over his laces

And the experiences with Roscommon and Limerick.

LIAM KEARNS IS back managing in a Munster senior football final on Sunday.

The Tipperary boss talks about why they had to celebrate the Cork win, the benefits of his work with Roscommon and his views now on the experiences as Limerick boss.

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1. Celebrating the Cork win

“We allowed them to celebrate because they were entitled to celebrate that. I wouldn’t be one of the managers who advocates that you don’t celebrate anything, that you just move on and it’s all about recovery.

“I have studied the science side of it in a degree but I still believe in the old way as well that you have got to bond and have a spirit. What’s the point of doing it if you can’t enjoy it and can’t celebrate it?

“They were in Clonmel (after beating Cork) and it was the first time the whole squad turned up in Clonmel. Normally they go to the south or the north or their various areas but every one to a man turned up in the one place in Clonmel after the game. That in itself is excellent.

“On their first night back it was a tough enough experience for them but they had to pay the price for that.”

Evan Comerford and Alan Moloney celebrate Tipperary's Evan Comerford and Alan Moloney celebrate the win over Cork Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO

2. Working with Roscommon in 2015

“I wouldn’t have picked his brain at all really. I think John said it when I got it that I am my own man in relation to how I want to go about things.

“I did a (strength and conditioning) degree and wanted to get back into inter-county and John asked me would I like to get involved with Roscommon as a forwards coach.

“The idea of concentrating on just the forwards appealed to me and also I didn’t have the headaches of dealing with the media or all the other stuff managers have to do.

“I must say I enjoyed it. I also felt that it was six years since I was involved at inter-county and it has changed any awful lot and I felt this way I could find out how much it had changed.

“I felt John got a raw deal, he was jettisoned by Roscommon at the end of last year.

“That meant I was available to do a job and the Tipperary job came up. If John had stayed there I might still be forwards coach in Roscommon.”

John Evans Former Roscommon boss John Evans Presseye / Andrew Paton/INPHO Presseye / Andrew Paton/INPHO / Andrew Paton/INPHO

3. Changes in being an inter-county manager

“Technology, and the use of technology, the analysis, they are huge changes. There were no WhatsApp groups or anything like that

“But I have found them very good and we use it to coach all the time and get stuff out to the lads when they are not at training.

“I find it very good from that point of view but I was educated in Roscommon about that.”

4. The attacking talent of Michael Quinlivan

“In fairness to him he gets a lot of attention when he is playing. We are servicing him a bit better.

“We do try to facilitate his ability to get scores. We were reasonally successful with it but if a team double or triple mark him, then scores have to come from somewhere else.

“In fairness against Cork we got 1-3 from our half forward line, we got a couple of scores from the backs and midfielders. Michael contributed 1-2 himself from play out of 3-10 so we are getting it from quite a few areas.”

Maurice O'Gorman and Thomas O'Gorman with Michael Quinlivan Michael Quinlivan is closely marked by the Waterford defence Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO

5. The Limerick experience

“There were some good leaders in the my dressing room in Limerick and there are some good leaders in my dressing room in Tipperary.

“They go out and don’t just talk the talk, they walk the walk. That would be the biggest similarity I would see from them.

“In the first Munster final (against Kerry) they were took good for us. We learned from that and came back again and got to play them in the next two or three, (so) we knew we could compete.

“We drew with them (in 2004), then led them seven points in Killarney in the replay. I have to say the referee screwed us for a better word, he handed them a penalty against the run of play and the Gooch tripped over his own laces that day and got a penalty for it.

“We got no breaks and went in a point up after playing all the football in the first half and lost the game by four points in the end.”

Muris Gavin is consoled Liam Kearns with Muiris Gavin after the 2004 Munster final replay defeat INPHO INPHO

6. Tipperary’s future challenge

“Whatever happens on Sunday we have got to get back to a Munster final next year or the year after. It can’t be fourteen years before you get back to another Munster final again, because you are just not making progress if that is the case.

“As Dara Ó Se said, you don’t want then getting notions about yourself. That’s the reality, if they beat us well on Sunday and we don’t come back to a Munster Final for another ten or fifteen years, that is what they have done.

“That was my perspective with Limerick, the more times we got back to a Munster Final the better and the more competitive we got.

“What broke us is that we never made than breakthrough and even when I left Limerick, they went back to a Munster Final against Cork (in 2009) and had it won and I couldn’t believe they lost it.”

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