IN OCTOBER, LIAM Cahill found himself back in the company of hurling men and women.
Warrenpoint, Co Down is one of those small enclaves that keep going and persevering. They exist a million miles away from the rarefied air that Tipperary as recent All-Ireland champions breathe. And yet he responded to a request to come up and see the club.
The following weekend, Warrenpoint had a club intermediate semi-final against Carryduff. The timing was perfect.
“Coincidentally, the weekend he was available was the weekend prior to playing the semi-final, he agreed to take them for a session on the Friday night,” said Warrenpoint hurling chairman, Seán Mallon.
“He had a chat with our manager, the two boys devised the training session for them. It was unbelievable. Liam just ran the show. The man is amazing.”
Despite a raft of commitments across every weekend, he stayed around for the following morning, when the club u14 hurlers, along with Newry Shamrocks players – the two amalgamate at that level to form the Patrick Rankins – had a session laid on.
“Every sport is fighting for a bit of people’s time, parents’ time, the kids’ time, it is how you promote that,” Mallon said.
“I think we’ve promoted it, the past weekend, the best that anybody can promote it. Him agreeing to come up the road, it has absolutely raised the profile.”
What struck Warrenpoint people was just how relaxed Cahill was. There were no furtive glances at the watch even though he had another engagement that afternoon in Dublin.
“He is an absolute gentleman, unbelievable, so down to earth,” Mallon says.
“I picked him up on Saturday morning to bring him to the pitch where we had all of the juveniles out. He went around to every single one of them. We’d upwards of nearly 100 children there, he took time. We knew he had to be in Dublin for early afternoon, but it didn’t bother him.
“He was taking his time, photographs with children, family photographs, individual photographs, the man spoke to every group, every individual. It just blew us away; how much time he put into it.”
It was just another engagement as the champions. While the All-Ireland final win over Cork ranks among one of the sweetest for Tipperary, they milked it in the best possible way. There was barely a school, hospital, old folks’ home, anything with a Tipperary connection, that didn’t get a visit from Liam MacCarthy.
Noel McGrath soaks up the All-Ireland win with son, Sam. Ryan Byrne / INPHO
Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO
They had their team holiday in November, minus the Loughmore Castleiney contingent. This follows a similar trend to Kerry footballers, with an appetite for their holiday early, so that they could turn the page early on an All-Ireland winning year. The medal presentation was in the Abbey Court Hotel on 30 November.
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They were back training a couple of weeks later than the previous season. But by the end of the Munster Hurling League, before their league opener with Galway, they were set.
“We would be behind in relation to our start time,” Cahill told The Nenagh Guardian, “but our workload we have gotten into our players is almost on par with where we were this time last year. Weather permitting to the end of January, we will only be two or three training sessions behind where we were this time last year.”
After opening with a brisk five-point win over Galway, they did a ruthless job on Offaly, running up 5-24 in Tullamore to win by 17.
The next two games though have thrown up the odd question mark. At the time we ran a feature about teams smarting from a damaging All-Ireland final defeat that get their own back in the following year’s league.
But there was something insipid from Tipperary that evening in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, drowned out by the schmozzle that wasn’t a schmozzle and content creator Ben O’Connor with his Little Johnnyisms.
A fortnight later and it felt like the game Limerick had circled in red biro from a long way out. A 15-point margin, Aidan O’Connor accounting for 11 of their points, wasn’t just about reasserting their head-to-head record against Tipp – which neither side will need reminding has now stretched into a 13-game unbeaten run – but it was about taking out the All-Ireland champions.
Sure, sure, they could have been in the throes of a heavy block of training, the excuse many reach for when they are stuffed, but Cahill wasn’t reaching for it.
It leaves Tipp in an odd place. One of four teams on four points, Cahill and his coach Mikey Bevans go back to Waterford this Sunday. A Tipp win will relegate Waterford, with the head-to-heads going against the Deise.
Liam Cahill with Mikey Bevans. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
That’s the short-term goal. The medium goals over the course of the league was to see if there was any more of the snap, crackle and pop from Darragh McCarthy, Oisin O’Donoghue, Paddy McCormack and Seán Kenneally, who arrived like a boy band to add freshness to their set-up last year.
For a variety of reasons, some are finding the second album a hard listen.
The commitments of the Fitzgibbon Cup has blunted the edge and Cahill addressed that after the Cork game.
“Oisin O’Donoghue and Darragh McCarthy have to play again in the Fitzgibbon final and a few more we left off tonight,” he said.
“It is not simple. It is definitely something that has to be looked at next year. I hear talks of maybe an extra group or extra matches in the Fitzgibbon next year. Something will have to give.
“It is just not feasible to play here in front of the crowds and the level we are playing, when fellas have played equally competitive and aggressive games 48 hours before. We are talking out both sides of our mouth in the GAA if we continue to allow that to happen in relation to player welfare.”
Cathal O’Reilly has been a bit of a find. He’s gone in at corner-back, all 19 years of him and he is wispy and slight. But he’s also as hard as the road. The 2024 All-Ireland winning minor captain will play championship this year.
Cathal O'Reilly is welcomed to senior hurling by Gearoid Hegarty. James Lawlor / INPHO
James Lawlor / INPHO / INPHO
Elsewhere, there’s some player churn.
Rhys Shelley’s injury has opened the door for auditions for Barry and Brian Hogan between the sticks. Neither are expected to dislodge Shelley with his deliveries being a key asset.
Rob Doyle has been injured (hamstring) but is expected back. Same goes for Michael Breen and his tender calf. The uncertainty and rotation at full-back will most likely be filled by the return of Ronan Maher.
All the pieces are falling nicely, and the level of expectation has been dampened. There is no ‘softening up’ exercise by any pundits about Tipperary’s prospects in 2026.
Last year was – and this is said with an absence of hyperbole – one of the very sweetest All-Irelands of their 29.
Unfancied at the start of the year, and all the way up to the final, the fact it was, well, Cork, and the manner of the second half landslide, all felt surreal.
Tipp fans travelled on the day feeling two things, that there was no expectation really, and that if they were close at all to Cork, they weren’t going to pass up the chance.
“That inherent tradition is always there. You don’t waste an opportunity even if you think you have gotten to the final maybe earlier than people would have anticipated,” says Shane Brophy, head of sport at the Nenagh Guardian.
“You had a lot of experience with Ronan Maher, Noel McGrath, Michael Breen, guys who had won it before. So that helped as well when it came to the day itself. They had guys who had been there and done it before.”
All the league postulating and theorising is great, but Brophy says that in Tipp, most of their attention is already on 19 April when Cork come to FBD Semple Stadium for the first round of Munster.
Two years ago, the place was invaded by Corkonians. Tipperary had already thrown their hat at the summer two weeks prior with a 15 point loss in the Gaelic Grounds to Limerick.
Beaten 4-30 to 1-21, in front of a Cork crowd in their own stadium looked like an abandoning.
In late March, the tickets go on sale. The way some are talking, it would be a shock if any go on public sale because of the demand in Tipperary and Cork. Some Tipperary clubs have adopted a belt and braces approach and warned/advised the county board that they will be taking all their allocation, and more if it is going spare. That would be some turn up.
Since the redevelopment of Thurles for the Centenary final in 1984, the place has felt like a cavern more often than not. Some 10,000 in a 45,000 capacity stadium hits different than when the same number is in a snugger venue such as Cusack or Nowlan Park.
Come 19 April, the place will be rocking. Both teams just need to get this league out of the road.
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One more league win and Tipp can zone in on Cork and an April day in Semple
IN OCTOBER, LIAM Cahill found himself back in the company of hurling men and women.
Warrenpoint, Co Down is one of those small enclaves that keep going and persevering. They exist a million miles away from the rarefied air that Tipperary as recent All-Ireland champions breathe. And yet he responded to a request to come up and see the club.
The following weekend, Warrenpoint had a club intermediate semi-final against Carryduff. The timing was perfect.
“Coincidentally, the weekend he was available was the weekend prior to playing the semi-final, he agreed to take them for a session on the Friday night,” said Warrenpoint hurling chairman, Seán Mallon.
“He had a chat with our manager, the two boys devised the training session for them. It was unbelievable. Liam just ran the show. The man is amazing.”
Despite a raft of commitments across every weekend, he stayed around for the following morning, when the club u14 hurlers, along with Newry Shamrocks players – the two amalgamate at that level to form the Patrick Rankins – had a session laid on.
“Every sport is fighting for a bit of people’s time, parents’ time, the kids’ time, it is how you promote that,” Mallon said.
“I think we’ve promoted it, the past weekend, the best that anybody can promote it. Him agreeing to come up the road, it has absolutely raised the profile.”
What struck Warrenpoint people was just how relaxed Cahill was. There were no furtive glances at the watch even though he had another engagement that afternoon in Dublin.
“He is an absolute gentleman, unbelievable, so down to earth,” Mallon says.
“I picked him up on Saturday morning to bring him to the pitch where we had all of the juveniles out. He went around to every single one of them. We’d upwards of nearly 100 children there, he took time. We knew he had to be in Dublin for early afternoon, but it didn’t bother him.
“He was taking his time, photographs with children, family photographs, individual photographs, the man spoke to every group, every individual. It just blew us away; how much time he put into it.”
It was just another engagement as the champions. While the All-Ireland final win over Cork ranks among one of the sweetest for Tipperary, they milked it in the best possible way. There was barely a school, hospital, old folks’ home, anything with a Tipperary connection, that didn’t get a visit from Liam MacCarthy.
They had their team holiday in November, minus the Loughmore Castleiney contingent. This follows a similar trend to Kerry footballers, with an appetite for their holiday early, so that they could turn the page early on an All-Ireland winning year. The medal presentation was in the Abbey Court Hotel on 30 November.
They were back training a couple of weeks later than the previous season. But by the end of the Munster Hurling League, before their league opener with Galway, they were set.
“We would be behind in relation to our start time,” Cahill told The Nenagh Guardian, “but our workload we have gotten into our players is almost on par with where we were this time last year. Weather permitting to the end of January, we will only be two or three training sessions behind where we were this time last year.”
After opening with a brisk five-point win over Galway, they did a ruthless job on Offaly, running up 5-24 in Tullamore to win by 17.
The next two games though have thrown up the odd question mark. At the time we ran a feature about teams smarting from a damaging All-Ireland final defeat that get their own back in the following year’s league.
A fortnight later and it felt like the game Limerick had circled in red biro from a long way out. A 15-point margin, Aidan O’Connor accounting for 11 of their points, wasn’t just about reasserting their head-to-head record against Tipp – which neither side will need reminding has now stretched into a 13-game unbeaten run – but it was about taking out the All-Ireland champions.
Sure, sure, they could have been in the throes of a heavy block of training, the excuse many reach for when they are stuffed, but Cahill wasn’t reaching for it.
It leaves Tipp in an odd place. One of four teams on four points, Cahill and his coach Mikey Bevans go back to Waterford this Sunday. A Tipp win will relegate Waterford, with the head-to-heads going against the Deise.
That’s the short-term goal. The medium goals over the course of the league was to see if there was any more of the snap, crackle and pop from Darragh McCarthy, Oisin O’Donoghue, Paddy McCormack and Seán Kenneally, who arrived like a boy band to add freshness to their set-up last year.
For a variety of reasons, some are finding the second album a hard listen.
The commitments of the Fitzgibbon Cup has blunted the edge and Cahill addressed that after the Cork game.
“Oisin O’Donoghue and Darragh McCarthy have to play again in the Fitzgibbon final and a few more we left off tonight,” he said.
“It is not simple. It is definitely something that has to be looked at next year. I hear talks of maybe an extra group or extra matches in the Fitzgibbon next year. Something will have to give.
“It is just not feasible to play here in front of the crowds and the level we are playing, when fellas have played equally competitive and aggressive games 48 hours before. We are talking out both sides of our mouth in the GAA if we continue to allow that to happen in relation to player welfare.”
Cathal O’Reilly has been a bit of a find. He’s gone in at corner-back, all 19 years of him and he is wispy and slight. But he’s also as hard as the road. The 2024 All-Ireland winning minor captain will play championship this year.
Elsewhere, there’s some player churn.
Rhys Shelley’s injury has opened the door for auditions for Barry and Brian Hogan between the sticks. Neither are expected to dislodge Shelley with his deliveries being a key asset.
Rob Doyle has been injured (hamstring) but is expected back. Same goes for Michael Breen and his tender calf. The uncertainty and rotation at full-back will most likely be filled by the return of Ronan Maher.
All the pieces are falling nicely, and the level of expectation has been dampened. There is no ‘softening up’ exercise by any pundits about Tipperary’s prospects in 2026.
Last year was – and this is said with an absence of hyperbole – one of the very sweetest All-Irelands of their 29.
Unfancied at the start of the year, and all the way up to the final, the fact it was, well, Cork, and the manner of the second half landslide, all felt surreal.
Tipp fans travelled on the day feeling two things, that there was no expectation really, and that if they were close at all to Cork, they weren’t going to pass up the chance.
“That inherent tradition is always there. You don’t waste an opportunity even if you think you have gotten to the final maybe earlier than people would have anticipated,” says Shane Brophy, head of sport at the Nenagh Guardian.
“You had a lot of experience with Ronan Maher, Noel McGrath, Michael Breen, guys who had won it before. So that helped as well when it came to the day itself. They had guys who had been there and done it before.”
All the league postulating and theorising is great, but Brophy says that in Tipp, most of their attention is already on 19 April when Cork come to FBD Semple Stadium for the first round of Munster.
Two years ago, the place was invaded by Corkonians. Tipperary had already thrown their hat at the summer two weeks prior with a 15 point loss in the Gaelic Grounds to Limerick.
Beaten 4-30 to 1-21, in front of a Cork crowd in their own stadium looked like an abandoning.
In late March, the tickets go on sale. The way some are talking, it would be a shock if any go on public sale because of the demand in Tipperary and Cork. Some Tipperary clubs have adopted a belt and braces approach and warned/advised the county board that they will be taking all their allocation, and more if it is going spare. That would be some turn up.
Since the redevelopment of Thurles for the Centenary final in 1984, the place has felt like a cavern more often than not. Some 10,000 in a 45,000 capacity stadium hits different than when the same number is in a snugger venue such as Cusack or Nowlan Park.
Come 19 April, the place will be rocking. Both teams just need to get this league out of the road.
Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here
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# summer is coming GAA Hurling Tipperary