The Tipperary hurlers travel to the Gaelic Grounds this Saturday to face a Limerick team that has gone from strength to strength since the sides last met. The clash of the 2019 and 2020 All Ireland champions will set in motion the eagerly awaited hurling season that has taken so long to arrive.
Later this week the 2021 senior hurling captain will be confirmed as part of the team announcement for Saturday’s game. Manager Liam Sheedy said the captaincy will be decided in the next few days: “It’s something we have to fixate on this week. Seamie is probably the one that’s carrying a bit of a knock so it’s something we said we will confirm before the league. We’ll probably confirm the captaincy plans as part of our first league team. It’s just that with all that’s going on and trying to get lads back in and see where lads are at, we said that we will probably call it later on this week. That decision will be made I’d say as part of the announcement of the team this Friday.”
Currently Seamus Callanan is affected by an ongoing back issue which it is hoped will clear shortly but it will curtail his involvement in the early league games.
Since Tipp returned to collective training load management has been key in order to ensure injuries are kept at a minimum. The Tipperary panel had been working away on their own for over fourteen weeks under the guidance of Cairbre Ó Cairealláin, their strength and conditioning coach, who Liam Sheedy paid tribute to: “Cairbre is just an exceptional strength and conditioning coach. He’s very committed to the lads, and he’s very committed to Tipperary.”
David Power is set to plan for the summer of 2021 without the services of Colin O Riordan, Liam Casey and Philip Austin from last year’s team. The footballers begin their campaign in the Gaelic grounds on May 15th at 5pm. The teams met at the same venue in the championship last year as Tipp beat the home side after extra time ensuring progress to the Munster final where Conor Sweeney led Tipp to victory.
Click on the link below to listen to the audio of hurling manager Liam Sheedy and defender Ronan Maher as well as football manager David Power and captain Conor Sweeney. Both the hurlers and footballers league openers with Limerick will be live on Tipp FM.
Listen to the full interview with Liam Sheedy, Ronan Maher, David Power and Conor Sweeney here:
