Seamus Callanan says Tipperary "will have to get to higher levels again" to retain the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 2017.

Tipp failed to mount a successful defence of hurling's top prize in 2011 but Callanan feels they are better equipped to do so this time:

"I think the panel is mature, we have been around long enough, we have seen enough of hurt at this stage, whereas we hadn't seen as much in 2010," the Drom-Inch man notes in The Irish Examiner. "It is a place we don't want to go again. The league fixtures were made last week and just shows how the thing rolls on.

"We are going to be the team that is aimed at. So we will have to get to higher levels again. We can't be going out thinking that the performances of this year will be good enough again next year because they won't be.

"And a lot of other teams will be coming back hungry next year too. Kilkenny will be back hungrier than ever. In my mind, they are going to be the benchmark as they have been for years."

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