Newly-appointed Tipperary football manager Liam Kearns is confident that he can translate the county's underage achievements into senior success, despite the loss of key players Colin O'Riordan and Seamus Kennedy to Aussie Rules and hurling respectively.

During his six years in charge of Limerick, the Tralee man was unlucky to lose Munster finals to Kerry in 2003 and '04, but is now hoping to make the breakthrough with Tipp.

"Colin (O'Riordan) is one of the best players in the country - it's a pity we won't have him, but that's the way these things go. A chance came in Australia and he decided to have a go," Kearns said in the Irish Independent.

"You don't like being without anyone, but the good thing is that Tipperary now have a lot of very talented players.

"We all know that success at minor and U21 brings no guarantee whatsoever at senior level, but it's still good to have so many players who have proven themselves against the best in the underage grades.

"The challenge is to get Tipperary being the very best they can and showing it on a consistent basis.

"They are aspiring to being right up there with the big boys and my job is to put everything in place to make sure they have a real chance of doing that. After that, we'll see where it takes us."

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