Jake Morris hopeful of fairytale ending to difficult journey for Tipperary

RTÉ News​

2 days ago

It's been quite the journey for the Tipperary hurlers.
From bottom of the table in the Munster Championship round-robin last summer, to an All-Ireland final on Sunday.
The signs of improvement were there in the National League as they won five of their six regular games, and made it to the final, only to be well beaten by Sunday's opponents Cork.
They'll be aiming to avoid a repeat of that result this time around, but going from June 2024 to July 2025 has taken a concerted effort from the players and management.
"It's been a long road," attacker Jake Morris told RTÉ Sport ahead of the game.
"It was a sobering winter for us all [after] being knocked out of the championship early again.
"Lads had to go away and have a hard, long look in the mirror, really. It's a hard thing to do but it had to be done.
"Pride was swallowed and really it was about coming back in and giving this one hell of a rattle.
"We worked extremely hard as a group to give ourselves a chance of being in an All-Ireland final and it shows what you can do with a bit of hard work and determination.
"Liam and the management have done superbly. They really learned from the last two years. There was never a doubt with our group and Liam Cahill and the people he has in with him.
"It wasn't an overnight switch, it's been a lot of hard work and realisation that this county deserved better than what we had given them as players.
"The onus was on us, we're the ones that take to the field, and that was it - we're really happy to be in an All-Ireland final."
According to Morris, there were real low points for the players and it made being a Tipperary hurler a lonely place, at times.
"The journey, what we're after coming through together over the last couple of years. Tough times, sleepless nights, being ashamed walking down your own street after how you're after performing on the Sunday.
"Being told about it as well, really harsh conversations we're after having.
"The hard work that's gone in this year so that when something does get thrown at you like that, you rally for each other."
Talking about being competitive and actually delivering on the promise are two different things, but for Morris, one game stood out this years in terms of getting the players to really buy into the plan.
After an encouraging draw with then All-Ireland favourites Limerick, they were brought back down to earth by Cork at Páirc Uí Chaoimh.
It mean that Tipperary's season was on the line against Clare.
"The win in Ennis was massive; in the lions' den, knocking out the All-Ireland champions," he says.
"That did give us a massive boost."
For such a storied rivalry between Munster's two most successful counties, this is the first meeting of the old foes in an All-Ireland final.
Cork have an element of a psychological edge, having won the league final meeting between the pair by 10 points, and followed it up with a 15-point trimming of the Premier County in Munster.
Whether Tipp can turn that around, and how they go about it, is what makes the final such a fascinating duel. There's a real risk of a repeat of some of the one-sided finals, like 2000, 2008 or more recently 2021.
But Morris says that Tipperary will always believe that on their day they can put it up to anyone.
"We're always told to play to the final whistle and there's a really good, 'never say die' attitude in this team.
"There's a massive bond there and it's not a bond that's fake. It's hard to create a bond when you're not winning games.
"We've stuck at it and it's a really good group. No egos, an honest group, and that's coming from the management down.
"We're proud players to represent our county and it's something we all love doing. Regardless of what way the result goes on Sunday, I think we can all hold our head high."