Liam Sheedy guided Tipperary to All Ireland glory in 2010.
By Cian O'Connell
"Nothing beats being there", Liam Sheedy suggests about patrolling the sideline with Tipperary.
Having reached the hurling summit in 2010 Sheedy opted to exit the inter-county arena with the blue and gold flag flying high.
The intervening years have featured pain and promise, while polish was supplied during a gorgeous 2016 campaign. Sheedy watched on as an analyst, but the time was right to return to the Tipperary fold.
"I’m chugging on in years," Sheedy says ahead of Friday's Co-op Superstores Munster Hurling League opener between Limerick and Tipperary at the Gaelic Grounds. "You probably do get to a stage where, 'will you ever be able to do it again?'
"I probably left a bit prematurely the last time – I made some career decisions that, to be fair, have worked out very well for me.
"There is still a group of players I would have a close affiliation to, who would have been involved with me last time. There are probably coming to the back end of their careers whereas when they started out with me originally, they were in the infancy of their careers.
"Look, I thought long and hard about it. I was driving around and it wasn’t going away. It was niggling at me. I had a chat to a lot of people I take advice from, had a chat at home, and there was no roadblocks put up. So I said, “here goes”.
"The easy thing for me to do… I love my time with The Sunday Game, with RTE. But no different to the GAA slogan, “nothing beats being there”, I don’t think anything beats being involved with the team. Coming out of the studio and getting a chance to go back down on the pitch, I’m really looking forward to it."
Liam Sheedy has returned as Tipperary manager.
Inevitably Tipperary will be forced to deal with the heavy weight of expectation, but that doesn't overly concern the Portroe clubman. "Anyone that is involved in a team is anxious to get to the summit – that’s just a given," Sheedy acknowledges.
"I don’t feel any pressure. Not an ounce of it. I’m free as a bird. I’m going in, working with a new team. It’s 10 years on, a new group of players. I’m going go give it 100 per cent to get the team to play to its potential. Wherever that takes us, it takes us. But I’m excited about it. It’s an absolute honour and a privilege to manage your own county.
"We’re only back two weeks. It’s full on. It’s really enjoyable. I love being in around the dressing room. "I love being in around good players. I love being in a set-up that is starting to come together as we go on a journey. Who knows where it will take us. Wherever it takes us, it won’t be for want of trying."
Encouragement and enthusiasm is taken from how Tipperary gleaned an All Ireland Under 21 title in August. Sheedy is willing to expose young players to senior training early with 12 from that victorious squad currently involved.
"We have got a panel of 40," Sheedy states. "But the hardest thing I am having to deal with at the moment is injuries. I have just had my fifth ACL in Tipperary in less than 12 months. That is just chronic bad luck in my view.
"There are things we are looking to see what we change in terms of how we prepare and how we get ourselves set up. Conor Hammersley, player of the year in Tipp this year, and all of a sudden he is lost. Brendan Maher is trying to make his way back, Billy McCarthy, Sean Curran and Michael Cahill are all going to struggle to see pitch in 2019.
"It’s difficult to get your full panel and get your best team on the pitch. That is a challenge, but certainly a blend of youth and experience is really important.
"I go back to when we were competitive in 2008, ’09, ’10 in my last tenure you had the young guys coming through you also had the experienced guys at the other end.
Liam Sheedy enjoyed working as an analyst for RTE in recent years.
"That’s what you need is a good mix in a panel. I think the young guys, having that winning mentality coming from Under 21 is never a bad thing coming into a senior set-up."
Having suffered a significant loss in Munster against Cork, that Tipperary collection responded in the All Ireland decider and Sheedy accepts the gritty manner of the win was important. "Without question," Sheedy replies. "Having got such a start and then Cork came roaring back into the game against the breeze.
"You felt that Tipp at half-time had probably lost their chance. But it just wouldn’t go away, that never say die attitude was very visible within the group. Liam Cahill done a superb job with them.
"The challenge for me now is to try to get that group to gel, you have the up and comers, you have got the experienced guys and the guys in the middle. If they gel together they should be well competitive in 2019."
The decorated figures within the Tipperary have so much still to contribute according to Sheedy. "Like Seamus Callanan was dogged with injury all last year, Brendan Maher is coming back from injury, Padraic Maher has had a massive club campaign over the years, Noel McGrath has always been in Loughmore playing right up until November and December," Sheedy remarks. These guys have lots to offer.
"The challenge is mine and the challenge is that how do we ensure that we get these boys to the peak of their powers come the middle of summer.
"These guys are fresh and hungry and they are going out to battle and they are injury free then they will be able to compete. That is what I am really looking forward to is working with the youth, the guys that are in the middle in the 25 and 26, and some of the guys that I have had my hands on before.
"We are only two weeks in, but I have a job to try to win back the Tipperary public who probably haven’t been travelling in numbers to follow this team. My job is try to find a team that Tipperary can follow in 2019. I will leave no stone unturned to try to make that happen."
