Liam Sheedy believes his Tipperary side silenced their many critics by squeezing past Wexford in Sunday afternoon’s epic All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park.
Tipp were five points and a man down with 20 minutes to go after John McGrath was shown the line but they dominated the last quarter, outscoring the Leinster champions by 0-12 to 1-2 through to the finish.
It was an astonishing display by a team whose qualities have long been noted but whose collective heart and age profile have both been questioned, not least since their heavy Munster final defeat to Limerick and the tepid win against Laois in the All-Ireland quarter-final.
“Yeah, they did,” said Sheedy.
“It’s a difficult place to turn it around, when you are five points down and a man down and, look, there has always been questions about our character and could they really bring it.
“Did they have the pace? Did they have the energy and resolve? For the day that’s in it, they answered that emphatically.
“This is a wonderful bunch. This is a bunch that has given me everything since November and they have been challenged. I’m just fortunate to have put a really solid team around them that has asked questions of them every night and the reason you did it is for days like today.
“A man down and five points down, it really was backs to the wall.
I sit here today a really proud man because you don’t coach that. That comes from the inner resolve that each of those guys has. What a contest. What a weekend of hurling it has been. What a spectacle again.
“I’m probably on an emotional high again here now because you go through all those emotions on the sideline. I’m just thrilled for this group.”
Tipp edged through to earn a shot at Kilkenny – again – in the final despite having three goals disallowed throughout the course of this superb encounter.
Michael Breen, John McGrath and Jake Morris were those to see their efforts come to naught and there was plenty of other contested decisions besides.
The first and third of those were undeniably harsh on the Munster side and, while Wexford should have had a penalty awarded for a foul on Conor McDonald in the second-half, Sheedy was in no way critical of referee Sean Cleere having watched his side claim a three-point victory.
“So, look, Sean Cleere is a fine referee. It’s a difficult, difficult situation to find yourself in out there because the game is just frantic. Again, it probably tells you a bit more about our group and our team that they managed to answer back and found the resolve to go at it again. Because they are setbacks.”