Jake Morris: 'The manner of some of the defeats last year wasn't acceptable'
When Liam Cahill spoke last month about he and the Tipperary players being 'embarrassed' at the county's All-Ireland minor final win over Kilkenny, it was eye-opening.
As a 13-man Tipperary pulled off a famous extra-time win, what should have been a joyous day for anyone affiliated with the blue and gold was a bittersweet one for the members of the county's flagship group.
For Cahill, Jake Morris and others, it exacerbated their sense of disappointment after failing to get out of the Munster SHC the previous month.
'I was down in Nowlan Park myself that day and there's no point in saying it, we were embarrassed walking around,' recalls Morris.
'Players are in the trenches. You have to go to work, you can't hide away. We were in the trenches after last year. We had to deal with it face on and take our constructive criticism and move on and look in the mirror.
'There was a lot of soul-searching done over the winter. A lot of hard looks in the mirror and seeing what can be done more. To be fair, lads have done it and so have the management team. They have come with us every way in this journey.
'It hasn't been pointed just at the players, they've taken on the flack as well and together as a unit, we've worked hard and we've got ourselves into this situation now where we're still alive in the championship and that's ultimately what we aim for.'
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In those tigerish Tipperary teenagers, Morris took inspiration. Another All-Ireland final loss after the U20s fell to Offaly in Nowlan Park earlier that June would have been rough but the afterglow of the minors's achievement was lengthy.
It was something of a turning point too, Morris concurs.
'It was in terms of looking at a team that fought on their backs together, a united team, a good battling Tipperary team, that never-say-die attitude. That's what was taken away that day.
'We never mind losing games and any of the boys there will tell you, you never mind losing a game as long as you've shown up and you've performed and you've fought on your back and you can come away together on the bus afterwards and you can look at each other.
'The manner of some of the (senior) defeats last year wasn't acceptable. That's where there was a bit of lessons taken from looking at 16 and 17-year-olds performing last year in Nowlan Park.'
Morris isn't sure there was a similar seminal moment for the seniors this year even though they emerged from the province.
'I suppose getting to the league final was nice. Drawing against Limerick probably did plant the seed with a lot of Tipp supporters that, 'Ok these lads, they mean business, they're competitive again' but I don't think there was exactly one moment.'
Jake Morris of Tipperary is tackled by Cian Galvin and David McInerney of Clare during the Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship. Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile.
What's certain is the Tipperary supporters are back behind their team in strong numbers having been away for a while.
'It's massive,' says the Nenagh Éire Óg man. 'You're down the home straight of a match down in Ennis and in Semple Stadium the last day against Waterford and you hear the chanting going, 'Tipp, Tipp, Tipp' and you know that they're going to roar you out over the line.
'All Tipperary supporters are very fair, they just want to see a team that are battling hard and giving it their all and that's what we're doing this year and that's why they're getting behind us now, because it's a team that they can enjoy going to watch.'
But Morris doesn't lose sight of the fact that it's about the wins. A fourth straight SHC victory in Limerick this Saturday and what would be a first in four SHC meetings against Galway will earn Tipperary a first appearance in Croke Park since their 2019 All-Ireland final success.
'If you're not winning games, the morale is down. We got a couple of pats on the backs for our second half performance against Cork, but a pat on the back is no good to us at that level.
"It's a points business, so it's all about results and from here on in it's about results and performance and that's what we're going to be judged off.'
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I'm not sure what kind of a crowd will be in the Gaelic Grounds but it certainly won't be a sellout, whereas Ennis would have been. I just felt they should have gone with Cusack Park and made it an all-ticket game. The vast majority of people who will go today would have got a ticket but the scramble would have also drummed up more hype and discussion around the occasion, which, to be honest, has been fairly low-key this week. Much of that is down to the GAA not promoting the quarter-finals enough but it's also probably a result of the distrust around Galway and what team may actually turn up. Galway haven't liked Tipp since the 1980s but they're so Jekyll and Hyde that even their own supporters can't trust them to bring enough anger into this match to make it into the kind of spectacle that their public deserves. Galway were a joke in their opening game in Nowlan Park and, while they recovered well in their next four matches, they were back to their old bad habits in the Leinster final. Aside from a seven or eight minute burst late on, Kilkenny rode roughshod over them. Galway need to cut loose again now because I'd be fairly confident that Tipp will. They're back in a quarter-final when a lot of people – including their own – wouldn't have expected Tipp to have reached this stage at the outset of the championship. They have improved as the championship has gone on, but I also think they're in a far better physical – and mental – state than they were when Tipp were last on this stage in 2023. That year, their form was slowly draining away as the championship progressed and they effectively bottomed out against Galway that afternoon in Limerick. I'm not sure if all the older brigade had bought into the Liam Cahill project in that first year whereas this is definitely Cahill's team now. Tipp almost seemed stuck in neutral on that mid-June evening in 2023 whereas this is a team on the move now. This has all the makings of a cracker but I really think it's down to Galway to make sure that it is. Is there enough badness in them to win a game like this? Everybody is already talking about Cork and Tipp in the semi-final. That's dangerous talk for Tipp but it's music to Galway's ears. Tipp have to block out all that outside noise. They're capable of beating any team on any given day, but can they step up and take down a Galway team now that, on paper, they are better than? I just think that you can trust Tipp more so I fancy them by about three points. When the option of going to Croke Park to take on Dublin was put to Limerick, I'm sure it wasn't even a discussion for John Kiely. As well as Limerick loving the venue, only losing there under Kiely in championship for the second time last year, it's also an ideal opportunity for Limerick to flush that bad memory out of their system before stretching their legs at Headquarters ahead of an expected match-up there with Kilkenny in two weeks. Limerick are too professional to be looking that far down the tracks without focusing on the job in hand, but I can't see Dublin being able to contain a wounded animal hell-bent on retribution since the Munster final defeat. Losing that game on penalties again underlined just how hard Limerick are to beat and, aside from the deficit in physicality and hurling ability, I don't think Dublin can be in the right frame of mind to take down Limerick either. If they had beaten one of Galway or Kilkenny in Leinster, it would have at least given them the confidence to think that they can live with Limerick. But I can't see it. Limerick won't be concerned about putting on a show. They will only be focused on getting the job done, which Limerick will. Kilkenny will come in their own good time.
