The former Clare legendary manger Ger Loughnane was writing for Buzz.ie and believes Liam Sheedy should have put more faith in youth in his second stint with Tipperary. Loughnane believes Tipperary are now paying the price for Liam Sheedy not doing so.
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Quoted via balls.ie
“Tipp need younger blood – players with the stomach for the physicality that Limerick bring. Their only hope for the future is trusting the younger brigade.
Watching yesterday’s game, I couldn’t help asking myself a question – where were Ger Browne, Conor Stakelum, Dylan Quirke and Conor Morgan in the last two years?
Why weren’t they there? Why weren’t they trusted by Liam Sheedy?
I have huge respect for Sheedy – one of the best hurling men in the country. In both his spells in charge of Tipp, he made a serious impact.
But the big mistake Sheedy made in his second spell was staying too loyal to the older brigade.
It’s hard to discard fellas who have won All-Irelands for you but there comes a time when you have to do it. The older Tipp players were – or are – tremendously skilful. When play is open, they’re fine and will get you beautiful scores.
But you need a rawness and energy against Limerick – and it was the young lads who brought that yesterday. Unfortunately for Tipp, those younger players don’t have the conditioning to stay the course with the champions.
It didn’t surprise me that they faded. They need another winter or two of hard conditioning to stay with Limerick over 70-plus minutes.
If they’d been trusted by Sheedy, they would be further down the road again.”