Complacency not in English vocabulary

Behind all the talk of cricket scores and massacres of the innocent, Tipperary hurling manager Nicky English still has to guard against complacency. Sunday's meeting with Antrim may be the annual mis-match thrown up by the All-Ireland quarter-finals, but before English can start talking about semi-finals he has to start talking about Sunday.

"This is a different championship for us," says English. "Right now it makes no difference to us whether we have won or lost the Munster title. My concern now is to get the team back to where they would have been had they won the Munster final. And the way to do that is through Antrim. People are asking me what we can get out of this game. Well we just want to win it, and get into the All-Ireland semi-final. But we're still treating Antrim with the utmost respect."

In some ways English sees losing the Munster final as a blessing in disguise. His team were forced to reassess their priorities against Offaly in the All-Ireland qualifiers, to reassess their form. He feels the questions have been answered. Whatever problems arose after losing to Waterford, they've now been laid to rest.

"We definitely learnt our lesson in the Munster final," he says, "where we almost took things for granted. But I think the two weeks made a big difference for us. I thought it would have been very difficult if, say, we were out the previous Saturday night. I don't think we would have been capable of it then.

"But everyone was back together again two weeks later. And there were a lot of players who had come off what they considered themselves to be a performance below their own standards.

"When you have players feeling like that going into a game, then it's almost the ideal scenario, and especially from a psychological point of view."

Not that the 13-point hammering of Offaly made up for the disappointment of losing their Munster crown. Even with all the injury problems earlier in the year there could be no excuses on the day. "No, not really," says English. "On the day we were beaten by a better team in the Munster final.

"But if anything all the injury problems we had earlier in the year helped us. It forced us to freshen things up a little. And in many respects the provincial champions are at a slight disadvantage when it comes down to the All-Ireland championship. And I think that's something that should be addressed in future years."

Assuming Tipperary progress, waiting opponents Kilkenny will have gone six weeks since their Leinster final win before they play in the semi-final. It's a long way to go without competitive hurling, and English is aware of the potential disadvantages.

"Well I know that didn't help us last year," he says. "At the same time we have to get out of Sunday's game first. That's our only focus. I think everybody in Tipperary has two feet firmly on the ground now, and we're just one step at a time. It's only when we come through Sunday that we'll start worrying about the next day."

Part of the difficulty for English is the limited knowledge about this Antrim team, who regained their Ulster title this year after a two-year absence. Since taking over Tipperary in 1997, English has yet to play Antrim in a competitive match. That breeds extra caution.

"We'd be much more familiar with Derry than we would be Antrim. Or Down even. We haven't played Antrim in my time as manager, and they've changed a lot of their team this year. There are a lot of younger players in there now.

"But I got to see a bit of the Ulster final on TV, and to be honest, I thought they were reasonably impressive. I think they are very enthusiastic, and they'll have a real go at this. We'll have to meet fire with fire early on, and make sure we're ready and fully prepared for what they give us."

Though it's an afterthought, English won't mind the trial run at Croke Park either. Much has been said about the distorted bounce of the new Croke Park surface, but for now English is content to wait and see: "Well I'll tell you about it on Monday," he says.

Sunday will be just the fifth championship meeting between the counties, and the first since they met in the 1989 All-Ireland final, which Tipperary won by 4-24 to 3-9. On that day English scored 2-12, while Tipperary selector Ken Hogan played in goal. It won't be totally unknown territory then.