Tipperary's Caoimhe Maher has warned their rivals that they are not going to give up their league title easily as they prepare to start their defence against Dublin in less than a fortnight.
The Premier County won the Division 1A title last season – just Tipp’s third ever – with a one-point win over Galway, but by the time the All-Ireland semi-final came about, it was the Tribe County who were celebrating a win by the narrowest of margins.
That league title ended a 20-year wait, and they’ll be hoping they can end a 21-year wait for All-Ireland glory in 2025. That’s for later in the year though with the focus for now on retaining their league title.
"Absolutely," was Maher’s response to RTÉ Sport when asked did the league still hold significance for the group.
"This is going to be our first chance to get back in playing proper competition for the first time in a few months.
"We put down a long hard winter and because nobody has been playing any competition, nobody really knows much about each other at the moment.
"It’s the first opportunity to see other teams, figure those out, but then also to figure ourselves out to put ourselves in the best position for the league and throughout the summer as well."
For Maher, who has been representing her county since 2012, gaining significant silverware last season was just reward for the toil of so many, and she also hopes it’s the springboard for further success.
"It was really, really positive for us as a team and really important.
"We have an awful lot of people who have been putting in a hard shift over the last 10 years and it was their first national title and their first national medal.
"It was a really positive thing to get there, be there on the day, be a part of it and then coming out with the win was a huge plus."
When Tipp host Dublin on 22 February, there will likely be a few new faces on show with the likes of Moneygall’s Caithlyn Treacy and Moycarkey Borris’ Sarah Corcoran hoping for a chance to shine after helping the county to All-Ireland Minor honours last season.
"We’ve a bit of different team to what we would have had last year because we’re down a few due to injury and things like that, people are taking time out.
"A core bunch of us will be there but with any new league or new competition you’re going to blooding players and trying new things.
"We’ll probably see a couple of different people coming in and out over the next few weeks."
Watch Kerry v Dublin in the Allianz Football League on Saturday from 7.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to Saturday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch Allianz League Sunday from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to updates around the country on Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio
