Training and challenge matches will be the order of the day for the Tipp senior hurlers over the next few weeks.
Having failed to reach the semi-finals of the League the Premier County will have no competitive fixtures between now and their Munster Championship opener against Waterford on April 17th in Walsh Park.
Meanwhile Cork, Waterford, Kilkenny and Wexford will all have the League semi-finals while two of them will also have the final between now and their respective provincial championships.
Hurling analyst JJ Kennedy says Colm Bonnar and his management team will ensure the players are kept busy.
“You don’t have much option. You can play a few challenge matches and do a lot of in-house training and try and gear up for it that way. That’s the reality – that’s all you can do at this stage.
“And mind you the other teams that are in the semi-finals – they’re going to have the opposite problem because while I think in the semi-finals you’d expect all four of them to really go for it. They have every reason to go for it.
“You’d wonder about the final then which is just two weeks out from the Championship. So there are problems on both sides of this.”
