Liam Cahill declares Darragh McCarthy ‘arrived on the scene' after Tipperary GAA starlet's All-Ireland final masterclass

The Irish Sun

7 days ago

LIAM CAHILL hailed Darragh McCarthy for catapulting himself into the Tipperary Hall of Fame.
The 19-year-old Toomevara thunderbolt capped a dream debut senior season by
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Liam Cahill hailed Darragh McCarthy
Credit: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
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Darragh McCarthy scored 1-13 in the All-Ireland final
Credit: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
The Premier have a reputation for producing young stars and won All-Ireland minor crowns in 2022 and 2024 before
Still, his temperament was questioned this season when his boss gave him his shot on the big stage.
He was
But Cahill kept faith in his star talent and that was rewarded as he fired Tipp to their first Liam MacCarthy since 2019 thanks to a
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The manager said: 'That's the class of the man. We produce legendary players like Jason Forde and Eoin Kelly and Séamie Callanan and all these.
'And some of them can't be hanging around forever and you'll say, 'Where are you going to find the next one?'
'Suddenly, up pops McCarthy, 19 years of age — he's now arrived on the scene. From a serious club in Toomevara. Those fellas up there would eat you alive.
'So, there was never going to be a case of Darragh's character being questioned or him doubting himself.
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'That's the class of this young man and the resilience he has. And he just loves his hurling. And when you love hurling like that, you get your rewards. And he got his just reward today and I'm really, really happy for him.'
Tipp had their resilience questioned 14 months ago when they bowed out of the Championship without winning a game. Finishing bottom of the Munster SHC was a sickener for their management and players.
Liam Cahill speaks to RTE after Tipperary GAA win All-Ireland final
But then came a stunning rise from the ashes. Cahill revealed they had to go back to basics and earn the trust of the Tipp public all over again. And his players did just that to storm to their 29th crown.
The Premier won SIX Championship games in a row to go all the way, stunning the hot-favourite Rebels who only managed TWO POINTS in the entire second half.
On their recovery, Cahill explained: 'It was about bringing back a bit of identity to our play — 2024, we just didn't contest for the jersey the way we should have.
'I'm not going to go there after today because for me it's in the past now. We started at a very low base, all of us, management, the whole support team, players.
'And we just started to go game by game, bit by bit and suddenly these younger players really started to integrate into the more seasoned players.
'Suddenly you had serious options and then the momentum of our Under-20s winning the All-Ireland, it starts to take off.
'I'm just very, very fortunate to be from Tipperary and to have the talented group of players that were there.
'OK, they're a little bit off of maybe their maturity and we did always say that was a three-year-plus plan.
'But these players, when they get belief and confidence in them, they mushroom into really good players.
'Again, it's just testament to the ruthless mindset of the players as they gathered momentum.'
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
And as his players partied in the dressing room, Cahill was already thinking of next season. Cork, on the other hand, their long and painful wait for glory goes on. The Rebels were everyone's front runners to prevail and were on course to end their 20-year famine when Shane Barrett's goal put them six ahead at half-time.
But it all fell apart for them after the restart when John McGrath netted twice either side of McCarthy's penalty, which saw Cork go down to 14 when Eoin Downey collected a second yellow.
Cahill felt for counterpart Pat Ryan given the pressure to deliver and knows the Rebels will be back.
The Tipp chief said: 'We've arrived now. It's easy to be the hunter going after teams and now it's going to turn to us into being the hunted — so it's going to see a different side to management, our prep and our mindset going into next year.
'To be fair to Cork, all week, I can only imagine what it has been like for Pat and his management team and everybody to try and manage that expectation. It's huge.
'Cork have been superb all year, league champions, Munster champions, bringing massive crowds back to the stands.
'As I said to Pat after, I wish it was anybody bar him that I was shaking hands with today because he's put so much into it. He's after having a difficult year as well, personally. But I know that Cork team will be back and I know that Cork will have their day in the sun soon.
'We're just proud that it wasn't today and that Tipp thankfully got over the line. We never had it won. Looking at the watch, 55, 60 minutes, 'Would it just get to 70 minutes, please, as soon as possible'.
'But anyway, we're here, really proud to be associated with this group of players. Really proud to have been given the honour to bring through this crop.
'It's been a tough road but just immensely proud of everybody involved, the whole collective.
'Fortune favours the brave and our hurlers were really brave today.'