It was a successful return to Waterford for Liam Cahill, who had managed the county for three years earlier in the decade. He is now in the fourth season with his native Tipperary, who he guided to an All-Ireland last summer.
The stakes weren’t negligible on Sunday either, and Tipp’s eventual comeback win condemned the home side to relegation after just a year back in Division 1A.
After two sobering defeats by All-Ireland finalists Cork and perennial persecutors Limerick, Tipperary needed to win – not least to stave off any prospect of relegation.
“We needed to make sure that we were still functioning okay today. We got a huge test early on, Waterford created a lot of chances, created a lot of hassle for us with their movement and their energy and their picking off points from range, and then their movement inside.”
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All of which meant Tipp trailed at the break by eight, 1-9 to 1-17.
“That wind probably was more than an eight-point lead really. I suppose Waterford, on reflection, were possibly disappointed not going in maybe a little bit more up at half-time.
“But again, I think we showed good composure in the second half, never panicked, kept the scoreboard ticking over and got great intensity back into a few more of the established players, we’ll call them, that were coming back from injury. Then obviously the few newbies [he has introduced 19 players to the panel over the past two years] as well got their opportunity to get a taste of, I suppose, real intercounty hurling.”
Had he sounded the alarm bells at half-time?
“We do what we always do. We go after the metrics that are there in relation to the numbers we set that we go after from various aspects of our play and the ones that weren’t where they needed to be.
“We discussed it and gave little areas for the players as well, to go after and usually, when players implement that, it comes right and in fairness to them, they did that again and showed great leadership and ownership of their own performances. Our bench gave us a great impact as well when we came on. So, it’s just a great workout really for both sides.”
The match had been postponed by a week after the untimely death of Benny Kiely, father of Waterford player Michael, who received a huge ovation when coming into the match as a second-half replacement.
Cahill shared his sympathies: “I worked with Mikey here during my time in Waterford and was the one that brought him into the Waterford senior squad set-up initially, so we had a great relationship and, you know, it was a very emotional day.
“On Monday we were down at the funeral and Benny seemed to be a great character. I only met him once or twice when I was here but I know that he’d be very, very proud and always was proud of Mikey, but he’d be extra proud of him. He came on and nearly swung it in Waterford’s favour.”
