SHEEDY NEEDS A SEASON
CUMMINS CAUTIOUS
BRENDAN Cummins has said it’s a bit much to expect Liam Sheedy to work the oracle and deliver an All-Ireland again in his first season back in charge.
Instead, he thinks it will take 12-18 months before Tipperary can rule the hurling world and he has put the pressure on the golden generation of players to deliver on the promise that has only yielded one senior title since the 2010 breakthrough under the same manager.
‘He’ll put everything in place for you to perform but the responsibility always falls on the player to perform. He’ll create the environment for you to do that but it’s going to come down I think to that and also I would probably think it might take 12-18 months. I wouldn’t put pressure by saying they have to do it next year but I think the bit of rebuilding work has to be done, players have to be bedded in, those Under 21s and all that, so it is going to take a bit of time.
‘His ambition will be a one-year plan like he’d always have said to us, but probably I might say it’ll take two.’
So an All-Ireland within two years, not one. No pressure, then.
And yet those are the kind of expectations that Sheedy’s second coming have engendered.
As for Cummins himself, his status as a studio analyst with RTÉ and in various coaching roles with Kerry and Laois meant his name was linked with the same job. And he makes no bones about his ambition to take on that top job in the future, especially when his credentials were such that he was linked with the Waterford post after Derek McGrath stepped down.
‘Yeah, it definitely would be down the road I’d say for sure. Just the timing this time around wasn’t really right for me with work. It’s amazing that I was installed as the favourite for the Waterford job even though I didn’t speak to anyone from Waterford. Which was just amazing. No phone call.’
Cummins was speaking yesterday in Borrisoleigh at the launch of the Amanda Stapleton Benefit Fund Match, which will see Tipperary and Kilkenny take part in a special match at the club ground next Monday night. Amanda, a sister of county star Paddy who Cummins won an All-Ireland with in 2010, was recently diagnosed with a brain tumour and the charity game has been organised to raise funds. After commenting recently on the chaotic scenes around the Conor McGregor UFC fight in Las Vegas, Cummins is asked what he thinks about the fight club that has sprung up on GAA pitches in recent weeks and highlighted via social media.
‘I sent out a tweet about Conor McGregor saying, “Where do the MMA crew go now?” The next thing I see club players horsing into each other like there is no tomorrow.
‘This is the time we see it most. It means a lot for clubs to get across the line. If something sparks it, then they can just lose the plot. I’ve been in that situation. I know what it is like. But we do need to steady up a small bit. Those scenes, especially in those phones that are in your hands at the moment, they are not the greatest things we want seeing for our games.’