THEY EXITED THE 2021 hurling race today but Liam Sheedy believed his Tipperary team still proved the quality and character they possessed by the manner of their display against Waterford.
The 2019 Liam MacCarthy Cup winners have only won two of their six championship ties since that final success over Kilkenny.
Yet their manager reckons there is ‘a very bright future’ for Tipperary hurling.
“I think getting over the line could have given us massive momentum going into the last four but it wasn’t meant to be and I thought the way the crowd cheered my team in off the stadium here tells you all you need to know.
“And I’d say a lot of people questioned the character that I had in that dressing room, were these guys too old were they this were they that. I’ll tell you one thing they gave you some answer today that is a top quality group with a top quality bench to come in with top quality guys who didn’t make the 26 today, there’s very bright future in Tipperary with the quality of player I have in that dressing room and their spirit is a strong as ever.
“There’s loads of players coming through. We lost out to ultimately to the two teams that were All-Ireland finalists last year. The bar is high, we were right there but just came up that little bit short.”
Sheedy felt the penalty awarded to Waterford in the third quarter was ‘inconclusive’.
“The penalty looked like it was a big moment. It looked inconclusive to me – was it or wasn’t it? A big moment in the match. But normally we’d execute those three chances that we got. We stayed in the game. Had a really good look in each other’s eyes at the water break and said, “right boys, now it’s time. What’s in this group?” and my God did I get some reaction.
“In fairness, Waterford bring a lot of energy to the pitch. We knew that from last weekend. I thought the way they applied themselves in the final quarter, kept tipping on the points. We’ll look back on some of the turnovers and some of the ball we gave away that led to Waterford scores – we’ll be really disappointed with that aspect of our play. But we could have been level in the 71st minute, that’s how close a titanic battle this was.”
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