THE SUGGESTION that Tipperary boss Liam Cahill is guilty of overcooking players has been dismissed as a half-baked theory by Declan Laffan.
Cahill has faced claims of pushing his teams too hard since he led Waterford to the 2022 National League title, only for his side to flop in the Championship.
In his role as a pundit on an episode of the Smaller Fish podcast, ex-Offaly forward Brian Carroll claimed Cahill’s teams ‘run out of steam’ in the summer.
But after a challenging first two seasons at the helm in Tipp, they are just one win away from appearing in a first All-Ireland SHC showpiece since 2019.
Speaking ahead of Sunday’s semi-final against Kilkenny, Tipp selector Laffan said: “The public perception of Liam I suppose is that he flogs his teams.
“Look, let the public think what they like. We just have to worry about what we do.
“We probably didn’t get it right last year. We probably tapered it back a little bit too much and maybe suffered in the latter end of the games where teams pulled away from us and we just hadn’t it in the lungs to stay with them.
“It’s a fine balance getting it right and it’s even the same you’ll see coming into big games like this, match week, how you tailor training during the week that you don’t end up flat. Do you do an hour? Do you do 40 minutes?
“Everything has to be tailored properly and that’s where your S&C guys come in and make sure that things are done right.”
Tipp have played twice since Kilkenny’s last outing, which saw the Cats overcome Galway to land a sixth consecutive Leinster title.
Cahill’s men eased past Laois, before beating the Tribe in the quarter-finals.
Kilkenny will hope the four-week lay-off will stand to them in their first Championship clash with their neighbours since Tipp won the Liam MacCarthy Cup decider six years ago.
But Laffan said: “The two-week break after Galway is ideal . . .
“I think it’s worked well for us. If we win, we’ll say we have it right. If we don’t, somebody will find fault. There’s not much we can do about that though.”
