Michael Ryan hails Tipperary's 'total hurling' but urges caution from fans
Ex-Tipperary manager Michael Ryan has hailed the "total hurling" of his former charges as the best the county has produced in a while.
Tipp came into the Championship out of form last year, after an intense April schedule of club fixtures which was halved for this year's Championship.
Ryan praised his successor Liam Sheedy, who he soldiered alongside as a player and selector, for getting the team's preparation spot on for the Championship.
"It was just a total hurling performance from Tipp," Ryan told Tipp FM's Extra Time show.
"I was afraid of what Waterford might bring, that it might be their top-drawer game, and to be fair, that's what we got. But the quality of our hurling... we got into a groove almost immediately.
"The first score Jason Forde had was on the board within, it felt like record time, 15 seconds, that set the tone.
"You've got to credit our guys, they hurled exceptionally well.
That's a quality of hurling we haven't seen from Tipperary in quite a while in the last two games. It was absolutely brilliant to see it and clearly the boys were ready.
"Preparation has been absolutely spot on to date, every box that needed to be ticked has been ticked, and the quality of the hurling has been fantastic."
Tipp backed up a victory over Cork in which they scored 2-24 from open play, with 2-23 from play against Waterford. It was also the first time in the county's Championship history to raise 30 white flags.
Ryan says the confidence gained from the win in Páirc Uí Chaoimh flowed into this weekend's performance.
"You can't underestimate confidence and clearly after gameday one down in Cork, our confidence was going to be strong. You could see that in the payers the minute the game was on.
"We were going to the ball at 100 miles per hour and the quality of the hurling was of really high order. The movement of the forwards, they were borderline impossible to mark. So it was all positive."
He also praised the blend of young players Sheedy has introduced from the bench.
"On a few different levels, the quality of the hurling has been fantastic and that's right throughout the field.
Michael Breen's form in the middle of the field, three points in either half, that's fantastic shooting. I'm not sure at times does Michael realise exactly how powerful an athlete he is and that gives him that extra half-a-yard of space to get away that perfect shot.
"It was really good to see the blend of the team. It was brilliant to see Ger Browne, Robert Byrne, and Jake Morris get on the field, the three young fellas from last year's U21 team. Barry Heffernan was really good, Willie Connors too.
"Last week, we'd different players coming in so Liam and the management team have really developed a great squad. But we need to keep our feet on the ground and be realistic with these fellas.
"As a Tipp supporter, I would caution, we do not need to lose the run of ourselves. We need to do quite the opposite. The team are progressing absolutely exactly as you'd want at this point in time but we have two more key games in the round-robin series, none of which are easy.
"We should enjoy what we're seeing, the boys are hurling out of their skins, we've had two really good performances, but the job isn't done. It's half done."
Anthony Daly, Ger Cunningham and TJ Ryan review the weekend's hurling.
