Tipperary manager Michael Ryan says he won’t make a quick decision on his future, but admits he will agonise over this summer’s Munster campaign.
After two draws and two defeats in four outings the 2016 All-Ireland winners are out of the Championship already.
Ryan says he will take his time to decide on his next move, though by the sounds of it the winter will be a long one for everyone involved with Tipp hurling.
When asked why his team struggled to reach top form in Munster, he replied: "It’s a very good question and one that I will agonise over. I don’t know, is the short answer.
"I’m certainly not going to serve up any excuses; we had four games and over four games the cream comes to the top. We didn’t come to the top. Performance-wise today was the only day we were happy with the four games we played.
"It certainly wasn’t part of the script we were writing ourselves, but unfortunately we couldn’t get Cork, Waterford, Clare and Limerick to read our script," said Ryan, speaking to RTÉ Sport following defeat to Clare at Semple Stadium.
"We’ll let this pass, clearly we’re very disappointed, but you’re promised nothing in life. It won’t dampen down our love for hurling.
"We’ll take time to consider what our best options are and ultimately what’s best for Tipperary hurling, because that’s what’s most important."
Tipperary made it to the Allianz League final, losing to Kilkenny, and then their players were busy with their clubs during April before they get stuck into four Munster games in four weeks.
Ryan believes this hectic schedule may have been a problem and it’s something for the Premier County to look at in the future.
"For us, we have internal things we need to look at with regards to preparation and that includes how we approach the League," he noted.
"Being in the latter stages of the League, going straight into the club championship won’t have helped our run-in. Other teams were there and managed it, so it’s just one for ourselves."
Before throw-in against Clare, Tipperary were still in with a chance of making a Munster final, or an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final. Defeat would mean elimination.
At one stage they led by eight points and during the second half they were six clear, but they weren’t able to hold off a late Banner rally and they went down 1-23 to 1-21.
"It started here as a must-win match and the thing you’re always looking for our of your team is a performance," said Ryan.
"I have no qualms about that – we got a performance and I thought it was as good a game of hurling as we’ve been involved in for a very long time. Plaudits go to Clare because they came with a really strong finish and got those late scores."
