Eamon O'Shea never doubted Tipperary's quality: "We have a strong belief in ourselves and in our hurling."

Even when the Premier County were struggling to get the results their performances merited, their manager was content that they were doing things correctly. From the low of a fourth successive championship defeat (suffered against Limerick in the Munster SHC this summer), they now stand 70 minutes away from All-Ireland glory:

"I'm not sure I see the world as nothing to lose or win. I don't see it like that," the Tipp boss comments in The Irish Times. "I'm here trying to do a job.

"I came back to try and do a job and if it didn't go the way I wanted it but I wouldn't have felt any less a person. I tried everything, really tried hard and if it didn't work it didn't work and somebody else would have taken it on.

"When you know your team are trying, really working for you, then it's a really good place to be.

"There's been a really strong commitment to training, to trying to get better. What you saw against Galway, the qualifier match we came back in, you'd have to ask where did the last 20 minutes came from?

"It came from the squad having a base-line belief that they could do something. I think a lot of that is down to themselves in terms of the way we've been training and our belief in what we do.

"We have a strong belief in ourselves and in our hurling. I have a strong belief in our hurling and I was delighted for them that it came together in that 20-minute spell - I wish we'd see a bit more of it! That's the aim for the next day - can we get to that level?"

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