GAA.ie is delighted to announce that former Tipperary hurler Shane McGrath will pen a regular hurling column for us this summer in association with GAAGO starting tomorrow. 

McGrath won one All-Ireland, one National League, five Munster titles and two All-Stars during his 10 year career with the Premier County before he finally hung up his boots after the 2015 All-Ireland Hurling Championship.

He sat down with GAA.ie’s John Harrington this week to talk about...

• How he's adjusting to life without inter-county hurling.
• How Liam Sheedy transformed the Tipperary hurling team.
• Their 2010 All-Ireland success.
• Their rivalry with Kilkenny.
• Why the Tipperary captaincy didn't suit him.
• How the 2016 Tipperary team is shaping up.
• What sort of column he intends to write.

John Harrington: How does it feel to be an ex-county hurler?

**Shane McGrath: **All and all, it's been grand. You've given so much of your life to it and you had a bit of success which was important because you look at some great guys who never won an All-Ireland so you do have to be grateful.

I suppose it all really hit me the morning that Tipp played Cork because you'd normally be doing a certain routine with certain people and you're not doing them anymore. I just found it a bit difficult, to be honest. Especially right before the throw-in with the National Anthem.

I would have had my thing with the National Anthem that I'd hold the miraculous medal. I just said to myself, “Right, you're not going to do that anymore now.” If I started grabbing it in the stand people would be looking at me! People would have wondered why I even did it on the field, but it helped me get ready for the games. Other than all that, it's been good to have the bit of free time and do things with family and friends.

JH: You would have been described by some of your team-mates as one of the chief jesters in the Tipp dressing-room. Is the camaraderie and fun of the dressing-room something you'd miss especially?

**SM: **Yeah, massively. I would miss that. I'd still be in contact with a good few of the lads. On every panel you'd be closer with some lads than you would be with others. Be it age, or where you're from, or whatever. There would be a group of lads I'd still be very much in contact with, seeing how they’re get on. I'd still call down and meet up for lunch with them whenever we can. That's one thing you do miss.

No-one misses the training, to be honest, but it's the craic in the dressing-room before and after training you'd miss. And driving home in the car with three or four lads, you do miss that, and it's very hard to get it back because when you're used to doing it for 10 or 11 years or so it's hard to replicate that with another bunch. But, you know, it's great to be back with the club now and getting to know all the younger lads in the club as well and to go out with them at the weekends and  be down on the field with them. It helps with the transition.

JH: As much as you might have been a joker in the dressing-room, presumably the other side of your personality is that you were also a driven sort of character?

SM: Everyone has to have a bit of craic. If you don't have a bit of craic in the dressing-room then it's going to be a very quiet and lonely place. I would have been one of the lads to have the craic the same as five or six others who'd be doing the same thing. But when I was on, I was on. There was no messing out of me during training or during the training matches or doing drills or anything like that.

I knew, right, work hard tonight to be good at the weekend. It was the same with the games. I would be without doubt one of the lads messing on the bus on the way in. But as soon as I got off the bus and into the dressing-room, that was it. I knew there was a time and place to do it. And I felt the time and place might help lads relax. It definitely helped me relax before the bigger games, having the bit of craic with other lads.

There would also be certain lads you wouldn't have the craic with because they just don't want to have it, and that's fine too. They want to focus. When I was in the dressing-room or pucking around in the warm-up room below, I was fully focused on playing for Tipp and that was it. I suppose what drove me on was that I was trying to do something that no-one from my parish had ever done in the history of the parish. To play for Tipp on an All-Ireland Final day was something that was never done. I hope it's done again really, really soon by someone else.

JH: Do you count yourself fortunate to have been there when Liam Sheedy became Tipperary manager?

**SM: **Very lucky. My game, coming up to that, I would never have really concentrated too hard on the gym or really minded myself. And then Liam came in. That was late 2007 and we would have started training and he brought in Cian O'Neill and they just brought my game to another level then. Without them, I wouldn't have made it. I would have just kept tipping away and being an okay inter-county hurler. 

Whereas they said, “Right, you need to do the Gym. You need to mind yourself both on and off the pitch.” It was the same with 80 per cent of the panel. We never trained as hard as we did getting ready for 2008. We felt it brought us on to the next level then and they would have been a huge factor in that.

JH: What sort of manager was Liam?

SM: He's a brilliant man-manager. He hasn't gotten to where he is in his own life with his job without being one. And everyone can see how good he is on the Sunday Game with his punditry and how good and professional he is. That's the way he was as a manager. If you did something well he'd be the first to come up and pat you on the back. The flip side of that is that if you weren't going well in training or he wasn't seeing results, he'd be the first guy to call you over and say it one-on-one to your face. I think everybody respected Liam more because of that. You weren't hearing it anywhere else, you were hearing it straight from his mouth.

That's what good managers have to be. There have to be there for you when things are going well. But on the flip side he'd also say when something isn't good enough. He'd say, “You have to push your game on because you're letting me down and you're letting the rest of the boys down as well.” I suppose that's sort of like hearing someone isn't mad with you, but disappointed with you, and that always hits home more. That's the way Liam would operate.

JH: How early did you know there was something special building?

**SM: **The first indicators for me was when we beat Kilkenny in Nowlan Park in the League semi-final (in 2008). That was the first time we would have beaten Kilkenny in a so-called big game, even though it was only the League. That was a massive thing for us. We went on and played Galway in the League Final after that. Coming out of Nowlan Park that day we just knew that, right, we can do this. We're good. We've gone to the next level. Let's mark that now and move on again.

Winning the League was a massive thing as well because we hadn't won one since 2001. That was a big boost for us, to get our first National medal. The game down in Páirc Ui Chaoimh then that summer against Cork was massive too because it was the first time in 83 years or something since Tipp had won down there. 
Before that game Liam would have broken down and said it wasn't as if we'd lost down there 83 times in 83 years. We've only lost there this many times and this is what happened in one of hte games in the 1930s and this is the reason why. So we didn't make a big a deal out of it as other people did. And coming out of the victory that day was, like, “Right, that's done now. Let's move on again.”

JH: Losing the 2009 All-Ireland Final to Kilkenny in the manner ye did must have been crushing?

SM: '09 was the most disappointed I ever was. I just felt that we had come so close in '08 but then didn't perform in the All-Ireland semi-final against Waterford as a group. '09 I thought was collectively one of the best games of hurling we played as a group and that's why it was so disappointing not to win. We did everything we could that day to win that match, hurling wise.

There were factors that were outside of our control that came in. And they took the couple of goal chances that unfortunately we didn't. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be for us that day. The chances the boys had just slipped. That's just the way it is. If they were two inches to the left or two inches to the right, they mightn't have slipped.

Everyone obviously knows how good PJ Ryan was that day. And I think PJ would admit himself that was one of those days for him as well. He had an unbelievable game that day. We came back into the dressing-room thinking, “Is this ever going to happen?” Liam sat us all down straight away in the dressing-room afterwards and said, “I guarantee you this time next year we're going to win it.”

It started straight away from there. The homecoming we got was unbelievable after losing it. And I think we all made a promise not to come back to that crowd again without the Cup.

JH: I presume if you could live 70 minutes of your life over again, it would be the 2010 All-Ireland Final?

SM: Yeah, it would be. Just the feeling when the final whistle went. I had gone off at that stage, I just couldn't go anymore. I had given it everything and I was just so tired. Obviously when Larry got the last goal I think we kind of knew. There's that famous image of Liam with the stop watch and he kind of goes, 'We have it now'. But you don't really believe until the final whistle goes.

It was an unbelievable feeling and it was great because of the contrast of walking into the Burlington in '09 and '10 was as wide as the Atlantic ocean. It was emotional, but it was a different emotion. It was like, 'We've done it now. Happy days.' We enjoyed it, there's no point saying anything else. Then things changed obviously, management changed, and that probably didn't help us either.

JH: How big a shock was it when Liam Sheedy announced he was stepping down?

SM: It was a massive one. You've gotten to know him so well and they got to know us so well and we felt we could keep things going. It was a big shock when the lads left, but there is a life outside of hurling and I'm really seeing that this year. People have to move on with their lives. None of us are getting paid a wage and you have to realise that and the commitment that those guys were giving was unbelievable. It was every bit as much as the players in every aspect of their life.

JH: You have a different view of it now, but when you were in the bubble did it feel like a betrayal at the time?

SM: I suppose in the moment, at that time, you would. You'd be saying, 'Why?' But then you'd go, 'Right, they've obviously thought long and hard about this, they're not just doing this on a whim, they feel this is the best thing for them'. I've no doubt they thought they were leaving us in a good place because of the core bunch of players that were still there. Maybe we have to look at ourselves as a bunch of players and ask ourselves did we drive it on as hard again in 2011? We still got to an All-Ireland Final, but I don't think we played as well as we could have.

JH: How do you reflect on those few years after 2010?

**SM: **On a personal level, in '08, '09 and '10, things went well for me. You'd be getting nominated for All-Stars and you take it for granted that this is going to happen forever. In '11, '12, and '13, I personally didn't push myself as much as I should have to keep that level up. The game was changing all the time. Look at the difference even to how the game has changed since 2010 and that match. Compare that game to how the Munster Final is likely to be on Sunday. The game has evolved and it's changing the whole time. I don't know where it's going to go.

We still won Munster Finals in '11 and '12, but I still don't believe we were performing to the peak we could have had. And then in '13 was just a bad year for me. It was great in a way that I was made captain but I put just way too much pressure on myself and I didn't perform to the levels I should have had.

JH: How did you put too much pressure on yourself?

SM: I've said it before, people who are the really great captains quite often won't be the stand-out players. But they'll just do their job so well. They know when to talk and know when not to talk. They know when to have a word in someone's ear. Off the field from talking to lads who were on the panel at the time, I felt I was a good captain. That I was asking lads how things were going and how we could improve the set-up. But on the field I was just putting way too much pressure on myself to perform and it just didn't happen.

I remember being down in Nowlan Park in the Qualifier against Kilkenny and it was an unbelievable atmosphere with Henry (Shefflin), was he going to play or was he not. I was taken off at half-time, and I just said to myself, "Jesus, I don't know if I should be hurling for Tipp anymore."

It was tough. Things just weren't going well. I was putting way too much pressure on myself and I wasn't enjoying the thing at all. And I suppose that's why '14 was such a big year for me then. To come back, get back on the team, and to hurl fairly well for Tipp again.

JH: Did winning an All-Star in '14 feel redemptive after you struggled so badly the previously year?

**SM: **I met Eamon O'Shea one day in late October (2013) and going to meet him I thought, "This lad is going to tell me that's it. We don't want you involved with Tipp anymore." We had a good chat and he said, "Look, I know your potential and what you can do. You have to decide what you want to do. Go away and get yourself right and I'll chat to you again in January or February.”

I did. I absolutely gave it everything for the next three months after that. Just got myself back to a good level of fitness and got my hurling fairly right. I started really enjoying my hurling again in '14 because the weight of the world was gone off my shoulder not being captain anymore.

JH: I remember in 2013 you were talking about different books you were reading by famous captains of great sporting teams because you were trying to get as many insights as you could. Maybe you were trying too hard?

SM: I was trying too hard. I was, definitely. And then in 2014 it was about just going out there and hurling and I didn't really care what anyone thought anymore or things like that. Maybe I had a feeling in my own head that this might be the last hurrah for me. But, yeah, I really enjoyed '14 and '15 as well. It was the same thing. Let’s just try and go out on a high if you can. The last couple of years were good for me.

JH: As a spectacle, the drawn 2014 All-Ireland Final against Kilkenny is arguably the greatest match ever. What was it like to play in?

**SM: **It was 100 miles an hour. From the throw-in, it was just so, so fast. I could only compare it to the first 10 or 15 minutes of the 2010 Final. That was just crazy what was going on between the two '45s. There was just so many bodies and lads willing to do anything to get the ball. It was the same in '14, but the hurling was probably even a bit faster in '14. I know it's only four years, but lads were just zipping the ball around and it was ball to hand. If we got a score, literally less than a minute later they were getting a score. We were getting a goal, they were getting a goal.

It ebbed and flowed and at half-time you were just coming in and looking at each other saying, "That was hectic!" Back out again and the same thing again, no let up at all, right literally to the last puck of the ball. It was a crazy game, but I really enjoyed those two games in '14. We didn't come out the right end of it, unfortunately, but they were two great games of hurling to be involved in.

JH: What sort of relationship was there between those Tipp and Kilkenny players? There was a lot of needle between both sets of supporters, was it the same between the players?

**SM: **There was, yeah (between the supporters), but I think they had time to talk to each other in the stands whereas you don't have time to talk to each other on the field. I never heard a bad word from a Kilkenny lad on the field. They just don't do that. They just go out and they hurl ya fair and hard. There wouldn't be any bad blood going on the trips together or anything like that. There's a good relationship between the Tipp and Kilkenny boys, there's a good respect there. There would be no hate there whatsoever. Whatever is done is left on the pitch and that's it.

That's often not the way in the stands, but it's different in the stands and I'm seeing that now. If you're listening to a lad for 35 minutes going on and on about something, it's very hard to bite your tongue all the time especially if they lad they're having a go at is your son. I've heard the parents talking about that and you'd hear the brothers of sisters of some of the other lads telling you that stuff too. It's very hard to bite your tongue all the time because that person who's saying that has no idea who you are or who they're sitting beside is.

JH: Kilkenny dominated the rivalry, but that Tipperary team always seemed to be self-confident enough to really go for them.

**SM: **Yeah, more often than not it didn't work for us, let’s be honest, they had the upper hand on us in the bigger games. But we genuinely did believe we could beat them. I feel Kilkenny believed we were a big threat to them at that time. But, look, the history books will say that out of the four or five Finals, we only won one of them. That's the way it is. We still have one anyway, I suppose.

JH: Was the decision to retire after last year's championship an easy one or did it take a bit of thinking?

**SM: **It did, I suppose. I had a good chat with some friends of mine and some of the boys on the panel. They would have felt that I should maybe go for another year. It wasn't something I decided overnight, but I was happy with the decision. I'd given the ten seasons and I was happy enough that I had done my bit and it was time to move on to the next part of my life.

JH: How do you assess the current Tipperary team?

**SM: **It's a new team now. Four or five lads went last year and new faces have come in. You're starting to see a younger team now, really. I suppose everyone knows how good Cathal (Barrett) and Mickey (Cahill) are in the two corners. Mickey Cahill is back to the Mickey Cahill that we had before. James Barry has really established himself. Seamus Kennedy has come in and doesn't seem to be fazed by anything.

People will say that Ronan (Maher) is new this year, but Ronan has been knocking on the door for the last two or three years and the experience he's after getting now from last year when a few things didn't go his way...he is our number six now and that's it, he's one of the first names on the paper.

Mikey Breen is lighting up the world there at the moment. He scored two goals in five or six minutes against Limerick. I didn't score two goals in ten years, like! That's the way it is, and that's the midfield player he is. And Brendan is a different sort of midfield player and is thriving now that he's back in his best position.

Then look at the forwards. I don't think there has been as much competition in the forwards for a long time. Just talking to the boys inside, they're saying it's unreal, it's so hard to pick the six forwards. I'd say Mick (Ryan) still hasn't the six forwards picked for Sunday yet. It's a good headache to have.

It's definitely a new team, it is evolving, and we've got a strong bench there as well. Kieran Bergin, Gar Ryan, Jason Forde, Niall O'Meara, all of those guys can come in. They've some good experience there to come on and drive it on for the last 10 or 15 minutes. I think Mick has done a great job. Those boys are close and you can see that the way they're willing to put their stall out in matches, especially the last day against Limerick.

JH: Finally, what can people expect from your GAA.ie column?

**SM: **It's a great honour to be asked to do it, first of all. To be asked to do the hurling, especially when you see that Declan O'Sullivan is writing the football column. You'd look at him and go, "Right, do I know as much as him about the game after everything he's won?"

What I'd like to get across is what it's like from a player's point of view. Maybe things you mightn't go on during the week of a game or what goes on in the background. What actually goes in to really getting ready for the games. The way it is nowadays with players and management, across the board no-one really wants to give away anything. Hopefully this column will give an insight into a player's point of view in terms of how they get ready and set-up for the bigger games. Hopefully I'll get that across and hopefully people will enjoy reading it.

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