If Michael Ryan wanted his Tipperary team to make a statement at the start of the summer, this was not what he'd have had in mind.
It was, said Tomás Mulcahy, "the worst Tipp performance I've seen for a long, long time".
The Treaty stormed to a fully merited 1-23 to 2-14 success a the Gaelic Grounds though it was the nature of the defeat that left Tipp with some serious questions to answer.
They next face Cork at Semple Stadium, but the Sunday Game panel believe they have some basic issues to address very quickly or any ambitions of challenging for Liam MacCarthy will go up in smoke by mid-June.
"There seems to be a serious lack of drive, a lack of appetite," Mulcahy added.
"They've put themselves under massive pressure for the next game."
Henry Shefflin agreed, highlighting their fall from grace since they went all the way in 2016.
"When they beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final two years ago we said they were going to drive on and dominate, but they've regressed since then.
"Every year they seem to be going back. Today was a low ebb for them again - the team, the structure, the leadership. They got five points from play.
"We always talk in the studio about the skill levels in the forward division, they can make the ball talk. And they get five points in over 77 minutes of play."
