Former Tipperary boss Michael Ryan says talk that they were shoo-ins for another All-Ireland win after 2016 was “rubbish” and “bar-stool stuff”.
Three years on, Tipp are still trying to repeat that MacCarthy Cup triumph and 2018 in particular was a horrendous campaign.
Ryan resigned after and admitted it was a low point but said the team hasn’t been that far off.
He pointed to Joe Canning’s winning point for Galway in the 2017 All-Ireland semi-final, for instance, and noted how it took that “wonder score” to knock Tipp out.
He’s confident they have the ability to win the big prize again this year but said it’s something that can never be taken for granted.
Ryan listened throughout the autumn and winter of 2016 as supporters talked of back to back titles and of dominating for years.
Ryan said: “That’s bar-stool stuff to be honest. The morning after an All-Ireland, actually any time between winning the All-Ireland and Christmas, you are hearing all the talk about winning it back to back. To be honest, it’s rubbish.
“Sure what do you think every other team is doing? They are out busting their chops to make sure that you won’t do it. So look, the standard you have to reach and the consistency you have to reach to pull that off, is a huge, huge ask.
“People shouldn’t ever forget the path you have to travel. Like, for us to win in 2016 we had to knock out Galway by one point.
“Were we substantially better than Galway? No, we weren’t.”
Conversely, Ryan is adamant Tipp aren’t as far off as some might think.
He hopes the Premier men can pull it off because when things are going wrong, the Tipp rumour mill can be a brutal thing.
It kicked in at times last year and during their mid-season slump in 2017 when all sorts of wild claims were made on social media platforms.
Ryan nodded: “Yeah, look, I think if you’re involved with any group of players for any length of time, you’re definitely going to have that kind of thing.
“You’re just going to be brought into it, and it’s awful, you don’t want to have to contend with off field rumours and issues, you just want to concentrate on preparing the team to play, no more and no less.”
While Wexford come to the last four with momentum as Leinster champions, Tipp are desperately seeking a spark after two unconvincing performances.
They lost the Munster final to Limerick by a dozen points and went through the motions in disposing of Laois.
Ryan said: “You are looking for our guys now to go out there and deliver a confirmation that we haven’t gone away, that we’re back on track.
“We just haven’t see it in the last few games.”
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