Tipperary's back door pedigree gives them confidence to bounce back from their Munster final setback, says Ronan Maher.
Albeit the loss to Limerick was by just five points in the end, the nature of it was particularly traumatic as Tipp had led by 10 points at half-time.
But they lost to the same opposition by 12 points in the Munster final two years ago and ended the year as All-Ireland champions while their other All-Ireland winning campaign under Liam Sheedy, in 2010, started with a 10-point defeat to Cork.
Tipperary re-enter the Championship at the quarter-final stage this Saturday when they play Waterford, who haven’t recorded a Championship victory over them since 2008.
"There's a lot of experience, a few lads have been in this situation before and the majority of the panel have come through the back door,” said Maher.
“But you have to draw a line in the sand when you're gone out of Munster and it's a whole new tournament when we look at it. It's the really exciting part of the year.
“It's down to crunch time and looking at players that we have, it gives us good confidence going forward and we all know our ability as a team and we all know we can drive forward and takes these knocks as all good teams do.
“I know that we have that experience behind us and that gives everybody confidence going forward.”
Managing the opposition on Saturday will be former Tipperary hurler Liam Cahill, who has guided his native county to All-Ireland success at minor, under-21 and under-20 level in recent years.
“It’s very strange to see him on the sideline there when you’re playing,” Maher admitted. “He brings out his own personality in the team when you see them playing. They’re very fired up so we’re expecting a massive battle on Saturday.
“We’ve seen it with teams he has been over in the past, they all seem to be the same. He’s very driven on the line and brings great energy to the team.”
From the team that lost the recent Munster final, Barry Hogan and Jake Morris were the only starting players that featured on Cahill’s successful underage sides with frustration building in Tipp at the fact that more young players haven’t been promoted.
“The competition is huge at training. It’s a healthy sign of a panel. There are a good few of those younger lads I don’t like marking at training anyway.
“They have great energy around the pitch and they’re doing everything they can to break onto the team.
“It’s a really healthy atmosphere and anybody could start on the day. Coming up to the weekend who knows what the team will be.”
Maher’s brother Pádraic was one of four long-serving thirty-somethings, along with Brendan Maher, Noel McGrath and Seamus Callanan, that started against Limerick though, at just 25, the Thurles Sarsfields man is keen to distance himself from the ‘aging team’ bracket.
"I wouldn't consider myself old! I suppose it's something that is going around there but to be honest the boys are well able to handle themselves and stay going at the minute as far as I can see.
“Liam Sheedy is a very experienced manager and he knows these lads if they were gone past it and didn't have anything to offer that he wouldn't be putting them in a Tipp jersey.
“I feel that's up to a few lads' opinions. I'm there a good few years now but it doesn't really impact us at all.”
And Maher says that he hopes that Sheedy remains on as manager after this campaign, regardless of how it plays out. Having completed three years before standing down in 2010, the Portroe man is now in the third season of his second spell and a fourth may be a stretch for him, even if he inspires another All-Ireland in the coming month.
Maher added: “We all know it's tough, it's nearly as big a commitment as a player at this stage but we'd be hoping that he's going to be sticking around because he's a massive boost for us in Tipperary and he brings that experience.
“He's a very passionate Tipp man and you can see that by the way we play on the pitch. So I'm not too sure what the future holds but hopefully he sticks around for a good bit longer.”
