The view from Tipp: Belief restored as Cahill’s men out to prove a point against Kilkenny Cats

A senior hurling championship campaign that started for Tipperary eleven weeks ago with a spirit-raising draw with Limerick in Thurles looked doomed to failure when they suffered a heavy 15-point defeat by Cork the following week. 

However, since that setback against Cork on April 27, Tipperary have embarked upon a four-match winning streak that has taken them to the penultimate stage of the All-Ireland championship, where they will meet Kilkenny in Sunday’s semi-final at Croke Park, at 4pm.

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It’s the county’s first appearance in an All-Ireland semi-final since 2019, when they defeated Wexford before going all the way to beat Kilkenny in the final and win the All-Ireland championship for the 28th time. 

Including that aberration at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh at the end of April, the team has won four, drawn one, and lost one of its six championship matches this year, a record that means that they're still very much alive and kicking at the business end of the championship. 

And that single championship defeat by Cork comes with an asterisk attached, after Darragh McCarthy was sent off before a ball had been barely pucked in anger.

There was no great level of optimism inside or outside of the county regarding Tipp’s prospects of qualifying from the round robin in Munster. They had endured a torrid provincial campaign last year, finishing at the bottom of the table without a single victory to their name, having drawn one and lost three of their games.

This year’s National League undeniably offered evidence that green shoots were sprouting in the Premier County, as a top-of-the-table finish ensured a final meeting with Cork. However, they came unstuck in the decider, as SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh proved to be a graveyard for Tipperary ambitions for the first of two occasions this season, when they were well beaten by 10 points on a 3-24 to 0-23 scoreline.

Whether Tipp will get the opportunity to avenge both of those defeats in the All-Ireland final remains to be seen.

The league campaign had also featured wins over Galway, Wexford, Cork, Kilkenny and Clare, with the only reverse coming against Limerick.

However, as everyone knows, the championship is the acid test, the ultimate gauge of how an inter-county team has fared in any given year.

In that respect, it’s a test that Tipperary have so far passed. Qualifying for the All-Ireland championship as the third-placed team may not have guaranteed direct passage to the All-Ireland semi-finals, but it did allow the team to catch its breath after a typically hectic Munster campaign and underline its credentials with relatively stress-free victories over Laois and Galway in the qualifying stages to arrive in the last four.

Whatever else happens from here to the conclusion of the All-Ireland championship on July 20, 2025, has been a year of redemption for manager Liam Cahill and his team.

Even without any silverware won so far,  the county’s stock has risen, and it has been a year when a sense of pride has been restored to the jersey.

The team appears to be a much more cohesive unit this season, with a real sense of purpose of what they are trying to achieve.

Irrespective of what happens on Sunday, something has clicked this season, a state of affairs that has pleased Liam Cahill no end and vindicated his approach since he took the job three years ago.

This has been achieved with the proverbial blend of youth and experience in the ranks.

Veterans such as captain Ronan Maher, Jason Forde, Michael Breen, Willie Connors, Seamus Kennedy, and the McGrath brothers, Noel and John, have shown that they still have so much to offer, and their contributions have been invaluable.

Others who accommodate that space between veterans and tyros, such as Jake Morris and Andrew Ormond, have come in leaps and bounds, with each player making a real impression on the scoreboard in every game.

No less significant has been the way the younger element, players such as the All-Ireland-winning Under 20 trio of Darragh McCarthy, Oisín O’Donoghue and Sam O’Farrell, as well as Robert Doyle, Eoghan Connolly and Darragh Stakelum, have stepped up to the demands of inter-county hurling at senior level.

How the relatively inexperienced players will adapt to the Croke Park experience could have a big bearing on the outcome of Sunday’s game. 

It’s a game that Tipperary justifiably believe they are capable of winning. But so too will Kilkenny, who instead of preparing for an expected tussle with Limerick are now lining up for a shot at their great rivals.

It promises to be a humdinger, one in which Tipperary will bid to maintain their incremental rate of improvement this season.

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