Tipp legend fires back at Dónal Óg Cusack with savage dig ahead of Munster hurling showdown

Ahead of Sunday week's Munster SHC clash between Tipperary and Cork at Semple Stadium, former midfielder and All-Ireland winner Shane McGrath had a wry response to Dónal Óg Cusack's comments about his native county on Allianz League Sunday.

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Cusack stoked the fire on the Sunday Game analysis show on RTÉ last Sunday, when he told viewers: "As long as I'm involved in hurling, I think they can rise very fast, but they also fall faster than anybody else.

"I think the battle cry coming out of Tipperary, ever since the All-Ireland last year, all the talk is Tipp are going to do back to back for the first time since the 60s."

It has been almost 21 long years since the Rebels last got their hands on Liam MacCarthy, and Cusack's fellow pundit was keen on reminding him of the fact during RTÉ's championship preview.

"Twenty-one years is a long time for a fall, not to win an All-Ireland," McGrath remarked. "We've won a few since then.

"In 2010, everyone thought we were going to take over the world, because we won the senior and the under-21s.

"They thought this is it for the next few years. But we didn't.

"We lost a manager in Liam Sheedy and that's a factor as well. People forget that.

"If you look at Kilkenny winning all the things, it was the same manager all the time.

"When Limerick have been winning, it's been John Kiely at the helm. Losing Liam was a big thing.

"The 'rise and fall' thing, I wouldn't agree with it. I think we've been fairly consistent. We might not be winning them every year, but we're chipping in every few years with them.

"We're not doing too badly at under-20 level, under-21 level and minor level.

"While we rise, I don't think we fall as dramatically as Dónal Óg is saying.

"But I understand what he is saying, because I think some people think that when we win an All-Ireland, we should be winning the next two or three in a row.

"That's not the way it is anymore. Hurling is ultra-competitive."

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