Boss Cahill never doubted he could get Premier back on track

So, if the summer of 2024 was about surviving, then winter was about planning.

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They targeted the League as a means of making progress, which they did, reaching a final which they lost to Cork.

We'll come back to that crowd in a minute.

But before we do, we must reflect on what Cahill endured last winter when there were times when he must have wondered if he had got the right job at the wrong time.

He says: "The reality of it is that by the time I came into the job in 2023 most people in Tipperary knew that there was a big change coming, because unfortunately, we had a number of really top-class players who were coming towards the end of their inter-county careers.

"And the gap between what needed to come in and replace them, wasn't maybe fully ready at the time."

The Tipp county board knew this — and to their credit they held their nerve last year when there were murmurs of discontent about the direction Cahill was taking the team in.

And rightly so because he has pedigree, having won All Irelands at underage level with Tipp, prior to bringing Waterford to the 2020 All-Ireland SHC decider.