James Barry was always confident there was “one extra spark” in Tipperary after their 2018 meltdown.
Despite being one of the pre-Championship favourites, Tipp exited with a whimper having failed to record a single victory from their four games last summer.
With it being their earliest exit since 1998, the Tipp players watched the Championship play out to a thrilling conclusion in their absence.
Barry said: “I remember being inside in the pub and watching Galway-Clare and Cork-Limerick game in the other semi final so it’s not easy because you feel like you could beat any of those teams.
“You are a hurling fan so you are interested in the game but it’s hard watching. It’s hard watching the final last year between Galway and Limerick but we knew there was one extra spark and to prove to people that we weren’t finished the way people said we were.”
Much rested on their opening game against Cork in Pairc Ui Chaoimh, which they won by seven points to set them on their way.
“Last year we did it wrong, we were flying it early in the year and when Championship came we were flat so we knew we needed to do it in reverse.
“The big game was the Cork game, that’s the game we targeted before the start of the year so we knew no matter what happened before that, that by the time the Cork game came we were going to be right.”
It was somewhat risky to place all their eggs in the one basket ahead of that game but Barry insisted: “You have to trust what Liam and the guys were doing they had a plan in place to have us right by the Cork game and you have to trust they know what they are doing and they ask us to go not the field and do what we can do.
“There was a risk but when it goes right it was nice to be part of it.”
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