Tommy Walsh was on OTB AM on Tuesday discussing Tipperary and their recent run of form.
The Kilkenny legend put their success down to the work rate they seem to be putting in. He also thinks that their dedication to the team stands to them.
“It comes down to their spirit, their heart, their work rate. I heard stories back last winter of a Tipperary player who wanted to go to an event, I think it was out of the country on Friday and Tipperary had training that evening. It was very early in the year, before Christmas he was told, ‘there’s no problem, you can go over to that event no problem but be back for training tonight’.”
“It starts like that, lads just buy into it then, it’s a tough way of doing it but that’s how you get the best out of guys, especially with the talent Tipperary have.”
Walsh also thought that they were top quality both on and off the ball due to their hard work.
“I think they’re the masters at the moment, with and without the ball. So we all see the brilliance of them with the ball but look at them without the ball… have you ever seen them chasing so hard and so tough?”
“It will go back to the first interview that Liam Sheedy gave before the Championship, basically, he said… the Tipperary people sometimes are not happy with the work rate of the Tipperary players and he was basically saying to his players ‘this is the challenge I’m putting up to ye, this is the challenge the Tipperary public are putting up to ye, if ye do this they will follow ye and they will love ye’.”
Beyond the quality team performances, Walsh also pointed out how their form also lies with individuals like ‘Bonner’ Maher.
“We haven’t seen the Bonner hurling like this in years. I always thought when I was marking him, the hardest thing marking the Bonner is his ability to pick up the ball and his ability to solo. He has this ability to just glide past you. He can run onto a ball at full pelt, rise the ball and not break stride. Then he can wiggle in and wiggle around you. That was the challenge marking the Bonner, you had to nearly stand off him.”
“When he got the ball you had to kind of take three or four steps back because you knew he was going to give you the shimmy and go around you. He’s back doing that again, gliding past guys.”
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