Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO Lorraine O'Sullivan / INPHO / INPHO

JOHNNY DOYLE HAS no doubt that Kieran McGeeney will strengthen the Tipperary hurlers this season.

McGeeney is working on mental preparation as part of the Tipp backroom and Doyle, who played under him for six seasons in Kildare, recalled this anecdote to show the influence he will have:

I remember in the first year he was in, we were playing As versus Bs on the Tuesday night before we played Donegal in a league match. I was on the Bs and I wasn’t overly happy with it.

I went to him afterwards and said, “What are we looking at here?”, without taking him on too much because there was only going to be one winner in that.

He said, “You’re not where I need you to be,” and I said, ” What do you mean? I’m training hard.” He said, “You’re not at the level I need you.”

I said, “If you think there’s six better forwards in Kildare than me, fair enough.”

He said, “Johnny, that’s your problem. I need you to be one of the best in the country, not the best in Kildare.”

My level of expectation wasn’t where he saw it. That epitomised what it was for me – there’s always more, there’s always more, and he always looked for more.

Waterford hurling legend Tony Browne has retired