Sideline sideshow at Walsh Park could be interesting

We don’t know what exactly Liam Cahill was thinking.

That’s not intended in a critical way, like, “What were you thinking when you chatted up that mob boss’s girlfriend in the club he owned, with all of his bodyguards around the place?” It’s just a factual observation as to the lack of external insight into his strategy when talking to the media after Tipperary lost to Limerick in the Munster SHC last week.

After the opening few questions about how his team had ended up being defeated by 15 points, he was asked about the challenge that the Premier County now have to face into, a trip to Walsh Park this evening (6pm) to do battle with Waterford.

Having been the Déise boss from 2020-22 inclusive, guiding them to the Allianz Hurling League title in what proved to be his last campaign in charge, Cahill is well-placed to assess the size of the challenge. He certainly did that, along with sending out what appeared to be a few side-swipes.

“Waterford are a very athletic team,” he said, “up to 18 months ago, they were branded as the second-best team in the country.

“Their former manager [Derek McGrath] said, ‘Whoever beats them goes up the steps of the Hogan Stand.’ That’s the reality of it.

“The same said person, I haven’t heard sign nor light of him for the last 18 months but that’s there, it’s in print.

“They are a serious team, and the players seem to have found their style that really suits them. And had it in an All-Ireland final, semi-final, national league title. They’re hurling on all cylinders.

“They’re a team, above all teams, that really don’t fear Tipperary. Myself and Mikey Bevans are partly to blame for that, I suppose. They will not feel one bit intimidated by Tipperary coming to Walsh Park.

“That’s the challenge that lies ahead and we just have to be ready for it. If we’re not, we’re going to be in big trouble.” In the immediate aftermath of those comments, the accepted wisdom was that Cahill had had one of his Suirside predecessors, Derek McGrath, in his sights. McGrath, in charge of his native county from 2014-18, had indeed expressed the view after the 2022 league win that “whoever beats Waterford will be going up the steps” but it was said as a er of the county and was based on how impressed he had been with their triumph.

The line about not hearing “sign nor light of him for the last 18 months” was odd, given that McGrath has a high-profile column in the Irish Examiner, but it could be interpreted as Cahill was implying that McGrath had not had cause to express similar views on Waterford since then because the county haven’t been challenging for honours.

Creating a beef with McGrath is hardly in Cahill’s interests and, instead, it’s likelier that it was his successor in the Waterford job, Davy Fitzgerald, that he was looking to rattle ahead of tonight’s game.

Fitzgerald is of course no stranger to the verbal grenades and, after losing to Cork in the opening round of last year’s Munster SHC, he said: “I think there was a lot of damage emotionally-wise from last year.

“We fixed a certain amount of it and we still have a lot of work to do.” It would hardly be surprising if Cahill had taken umbrage with those quotes around how the 2022 season had imploded following the league win and, by citing how Waterford looked to have been closer to ‘his’ team in beating Cork this year, he was undermining Fitzgerald.

That Waterford don’t fear Tipperary was shown by how they won in Thurles last year despite having been eliminated and when a Tipp victory would have put them in the Munster final.

That will obviously have stung Cahill and Tipp couldn’t bounce back sufficiently in the All-Ireland series. After opening this year with a loss, they are under pressure as they go to Waterford this evening and trying to redistribute it is an age-old managerial tactic.

One would hope that there will be enough drama on the pitch to keep everybody occupied, but there will be plenty of eyes on the sideline action, too.