Paddy Stapleton: Liam Sheedy “a huge loss and absence for Tipperary going forward”

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“A huge loss and absence to Tipperary” is how former Tipp player Paddy Stapleton describes Liam Sheedy’s retirement.

The two-time All-Ireland winning manager announced he would be stepping down as senior hurling manager this morning.

Sheedy led the Premier to All-Ireland glory in his first term at the helm in 2010 before returning in 2019 to win another Liam McCarthy cup.

Paddy Stapleton, who played under Sheedy for the 2010 victory, describes what the Portroe native brought to the set up:

“First and foremost, he’s a great leader, in terms of, he takes a lot of the responsibility for the group on himself.

“He’s a very driven man, he expects the best out of players without being negative and he really tries to make the players feel like they are on top of the world and that they are the best in their position.

“I think that sort of positivity isn’t always seen around dressing rooms.

“That strong figure head, I think it took a big personality to overturn Kilkenny that time and without that big personality at the top as your manager, it never would have filtered through to the rest of the players.

“He’ll be a huge loss and absence to Tipperary going forward.”