DECIES IT NOW FOR CAHILL ...

Result will decide if Tipp boss stays

- By PAT NOLAN

TOMORROW'S renewal with his old Waterford charges might not make Liam Cahill's tenure as Tipperary boss — but it might break it.

Win and knockout hurling is assured, with the possibility of a Munster final spot to boot.

Lose and they're all but out and Cahill’s reign, which has looked promising at different stages, would surely be over, with not even a home win from six Championship outings in Thurles.

Like last Saturday's win over Clare, arguably the finest result of his three years at the helm, this is a knockout game in everything but name.

Cahill started with a win in Ennis two years ago, when Clare weren't quite the scalp they are now, and followed it up with impressive draws against Cork and Limerick, before an already eliminated Waterford came to Thurles with a Munster final spot at the home side's mercy.

They were extremely flat and slipped to a six-point defeat. You could argue it’s taken them until now to recover from that setback.

A few weeks later Galway sent them packing in the All-Ireland quarter-final.

They did reach the League semi-final last year but suffered a heavy loss to Clare and the Munster Championship was a horror show as they took just one point, from four matches, with a scoring difference of -36.