Noel McGrath remembers getting first Tipperary call-up from Liam Sheedy

It's 10 years this month since Liam Sheedy showed faith in the teenage starlet that was Noel McGrath, handing him his Championship debut against Cork.

The 18-year-old transitioned to senior inter-county hurling seamlessly, scoring 0-3 in a three-point win that day and ending the year as an All Star after Tipperary’s near miss in the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.

Though he had already completed two years of senior hurling for Loughmore-Castleiney at that stage, McGrath was only a fortnight short of being eligible for the minor grade in 2009 and was still just 17 when Sheedy called him in the previous winter.

Dublin ladies footballer Lyndsey Davey and Tipperary hurler Noel McGrath play the new Cúl Heroes Trading Card game 'Steps Shoot Tackle' (David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile)

Last season was the shortest, by a reasonable distance, that McGrath has known with Tipperary given their elimination on June 10 and despite it being his 10th season on the inter-county carousel, his admirable dedication to his club meant that he couldn’t stomach the thought of heading off for the summer.

“I suppose you’d always have thoughts of going away to America and things like that but any time we were finished early with Tipp, leaving my club and not being able to play the club matches would hurt me as much as missing out with Tipperary so I’ve never gone away in the summer, even if we were finished early with Tipp and last year was no different. 

“You stay around because you love doing that as much as you love playing with Tipperary.”

Although McGrath played in the first inter-county game at the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh when Tipperary beat Clare two years ago, Sunday will be the first time they’ll have played Cork there.

“With the new stadium down there it’s a great place to go. The Cork people, the fans are always good craic. 

“When I was growing up Tipp played in Cork in a lot of matches in the late 90s and early 2000s. You grew up going there, so to play there is great and the history that the stadium has with the Tipp and Cork rivalry.”

If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

“He gave me a call, it’s something I wasn’t expecting at the time,” said McGrath ahead of Sheedy’s first Championship game since returning as manager against the same opposition on Sunday. “I had been under him as a minor in 2006 and it just came out of the blue for me. At the time, you just don’t say no at the chance to come and play for your county and there was no way I ever going to not go in at any stage I was asked.  “That was a good boost to my confidence as well, knowing that they have faith in you that early at that age and I suppose I just fed off that and I was just enjoying my hurling.  “As I said, I wouldn’t have been expecting to be called in that early, but when you do it’s hard to say no. Luckily I’ve been there since and hopefully I’ll be there another while. “I would have been nervous going into a dressing room full of lads you looked up to, and some of them had been there for 10 or 12 years,” added McGrath, an ambassador for the popular Cul Heroes trading cards, whose 2019 range was launched this week.