'We were walking down the street ducking and diving from people'

TIPPERARY DEFENDER MICHAEL Breen says the disappointment of their 2024 season was the inspiration for their All-Ireland triumph on Sunday.

Last year, Liam Cahill’s side limped out of the championship after a winless run through the Munster round-robin series.

Breen, who is now a three-time All-Ireland winner, says the impact of that exit sparked a revival that propelled the county to the summit of hurling in 2025.

“It did inspire us,” Breen begins.

“But you know what the narrative is going to be and 12 months ago, we were walking down the street and kind of you’re ducking and diving from people because you don’t want to have the conversations.

“And all it took was, as Liam said earlier, we’d to get into the trenches, we’d to get the work done and that was simply it. Like we were, we knew where we were last year, put it that way.”

It was a remarkable comeback victory for Tipperary who were trailing by six points at half-time, but eventually won by 15. They conceded a goal just before half-time which Breen says “really woke us up” but he adds that they were happy with their defensive shape at the break and that they “didn’t leave gaping holes” for Cork to exploit.

He also paid tribute to the Tipperary forwards who orchestrated their second-half fightback including teen star Darragh McCarthy who finished with 1-13 including a penalty.

“Sure he’s 19. Like these lads, they’re so resilient already in the journey they’ve come, they lost an [U20] All-Ireland against Offaly last year. Came back, won it this year.

“Like even coming up on the bus, he’s playing games on his phone, and he’s having a laugh. There’s no seriousness or uptightness to it.

“He’s on the field every day for hours on frees and that’s no exaggeration. Anybody would tell you he’s down, he’s practising and you could see there today, he was just taking his time. He was doing his thing and he was putting the ball over the bar and that was it. And I know he was getting jeers from the crowd, but he just, he didn’t hear it, he blocked it out.”

Breen concluded by reflecting on his previous All-Ireland medals from 2016 and 2019, and said that the support they received this season was particularly noteworthy.

“This is really sweet. 2016-2019, they were brilliant, but I’d never seen the colour and the excitement around the county. And the supporters again today were unbelievable. I said it the last day, and I think I got mocked at, but that support was unbelievable.

“There was a lot of red, because the red does stand out, but our support has been unbelievable all year. And it will continue to be that way, I think, because the people are behind this team.”

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