KILKENNY MAY BE without an All-Ireland title since 2015 but Tipperary’s Ronan Maher says they are still the side that everyone should measure themselves against.

The neighbouring counties face off in the fourth round of the National Hurling League this Sunday in Thurles, with victory badly needed by each side if they harbour realistic hopes of qualifying for the quarter-final stages.

In his first year back in charge of the team Liam Sheedy’s side have only managed to win one of their three games in the league, while Kilkenny have also lost twice so far.

The great rivals last met in the 2018 league final where Kilkenny claimed a convincing six-point win, while the Cats had one point to spare six weeks earlier. In 2017 the sides drew in the league, so Tipp’s last win in the rivalry came in the 2016 All-Ireland final.

“They’ve had one of the greatest teams in the last few years and everyone’s been looking up to them,” said Maher, 23, who won his only All-Ireland medal in that 2016 final.

“The rivalry with Kilkenny has grown over the last 10 or so years. It’s a massive game, no matter whether it’s the league or championship.

“It’s the kind of game the supporters from both counties tend to judge their team on because of the rivalry. It’s always nice to set down a marker in the league for the championship, and with both counties having had two losses, you can be sure both teams will be going all out.

“They won last year down in Nowlan Park, which set us back a small bit, so we’ll be keen to turn that around this weekend.”

Sheedy was gone as Tipperary manager by the time Maher came onto the scene in 2014, but the Thurles Sarsfields club man had heard tales of his legendary leadership. Added to that in recent days is the return to Eamon O’Shea as coach, and Maher welcomes a fresh face.

“I never had him [Sheedy] as a manager but talking to the players who were there in 2009-10, they’d have you excited the way they’d talk about him. It’s something fresh as well.

“Michael Ryan was a serious manager, someone I looked up to as well, and the two of them worked together in 2009-10, they’re both quality managers.

“But it’s nice to see someone fresh coming in too. He and the backroom team are working well. They give us great confidence and back our decision-making ability. It’s just that freshness that’s giving that buzz around the county.”

Both Tipperary and Kilkenny have already fallen to All-Ireland champions Limerick in this league campaign, while last week’s defeat at Wexford Park was another setback for Tipp. Despite the loss, Maher thinks the Tipp panel has the talent to rebound.

“Limerick and Galway are cruising at the moment. They’ve set the standard for work rate, but we know the ability we have in our dressing-room, and how hard we can work.

“We can only concentrate on ourselves, we believe in our own ability and in how hard we can work. We’ll take it step by step, and when the matches come, we concentrate on those.

“We are Tipperary after all. We want to be winning games and putting down markers. We’re working hard and trying to build our standards every week. We’re taking it game by game but it will be like a championship game next weekend in Semple Stadium and there’ll be a big crowd there.

“We’ll be judged on it and no better team than Kilkenny to see where you’re at.”

Murray Kinsella, Andy Dunne and Gavan Casey look ahead to Ireland’s Six Nations meeting with Italy and discuss the week’s biggest stories in the latest episode of The42 Rugby Weekly.

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