All-Ireland Hurling Final: Keith Dugganlistens as vindicated Tipperary manager Liam Sheedy savours a remarkable, victorious end to a campaign which began so poorly with defeat to Cork

“ALL THE doubting Thomases, get up the back there,” Liam Sheedy calls cheerfully.

The Portroe man can’t resist and who can blame him? A tumultuous summer for Tipperary, when the verdict was that they were down and out after losing to Cork, when they quietly and steadily got back on track, when they lived on their wits against Galway; a hectic season has ended in perfection.

Sheedy shakes his head when considering how this feels.

“Powerful. Great bunch. They are three years in the journey. There has been a lot of twists and turns and highs and lows. First week in June and a lot of people said we didn’t do qualifiers. I think we saw today what this team could do. We felt today that we were in a very good position. Whether you like it or not, five-in-a-row brings its own pressures.”

Something happened in Tipperary this summer. The optimism after last year’s All-Ireland final loss, when a young Tipp side showed fire and several flashes of brilliance against the masters, evaporated. It was replaced by impatience and much internal criticism, some of it personal.

Perhaps it was fuelled by the realisation that Kilkenny hadn’t disappeared, that they looked stronger than ever. Winning could be Sheedy’s only worthwhile response. He did that here, in memorable style.

“There is no shortage of them,” he smiled when asked about his critics.

“People were very quick to point out what was wrong with this team and today it is about time to point out the right things. It is all about how you react and driving it on again. We needed 33 players to do this. I am delighted for that group because I feel they have shipped a lot of criticism unfairly. I am a Tipperary man and a proud one and we put everything we had into this.

“At 3.15 today I looked at Eamon O’Shea and we said, no regrets. We had left no stone unturned. They said I didn’t win one as a player but sure I have won one as a manager now.”

When you trace Sheedy’s influence on this squad, the line takes you back to his debut league campaign, when Tipperary played each game with a collective intensity that even then seemed significant.

He took a leaf out of Brian Cody’s book in his appreciation of the squad and the panel and all of his individual praise returns to the collective.

“What we have now in Tipperary is a panel. Substitutes came in today – Séamus Callanan came on and Séamus Hennessy and Benny Dunne all came on and scored. And we had 11 players who did not come on today. Three who did not tog out. We are a panel.

“And you have to have that family atmosphere to be a panel and stick together. The one thing that Tipperary have is composure in Croke Park. We have belief in the panel. Benny getting the last point really struck a chord with me .

“I felt so sorry for that young fella last year and we made a promise that we would be back here a year on and there would be a different result. And seeing him going in there and scoring I had a lump in my throat. He has given so much to Tipperary not just this year but for the last number of years.”

Later, Eoin Kelly comes into the room. One of his first duties of captain is to sit alone at a desk, like a man at a job interview. He is calm as ever.

“Tipperary won five All-Irelands in 40 years,” he says quietly at one point.

“Children have grown up in that time. I hope it is not another 40 years for us to win five All-Irelands. Look, we will enjoy this.

“It is a massive thing in Tipperary. What Liam has done and the belief he has given us in incredible. And you know, the younger players are oozing with class and coolness. They came into our dressingroom with All-Irelands hanging off them and there was never any talk of what they achieved. It was hunger, hunger, hunger.”

Hunger. So it is not just a Kilkenny thing.