As starts go, presiding over Tipperary's first senior hurling defeat to Kerry was not an auspicious one.
But Colm Bonnar is too long at this lark to let a pre-season defeat rattle him.
Before Christmas, the new manager of the Premier County had revived the county's old divisional competition to serve as county trials.
As far as he's concerned, last month's Munster's Cup clash was about more about seeing some of the 80-odd players who had participated in inter-county action, and it served its purpose.
"It was a setback, in terms of the result, against Kerry but we were in a process there where we had committed to a number of players we had seen in the Miller Shields and these were the players we wanted to see," he tells RTÉ Sport, ahead of Saturday's Allianz Hurling League opener against Laois.
"It was a case of trying to help them in their development to become a Tipp senior player and that process continues.
"We have picked our panel with seven or eight new players that have come through from those games we have seen and it's added a new bit of energy to that 32/34."
That 32/34 does not include forwards Willie Connors - he suffered a season-ending ankle break against Kerry - and John 'Bubbles' O'Dwyer, who it is hoped will be back for championship if he can get over a knee problem.
But even more significantly it is missing Padraic Maher, who was still operating at a very high level.
The unexpected retirement of Tipperary's most decorated player of the last 50 years means only Noel McGrath, Seamus Callanan and Patrick 'Bonner' Maher remain from the 2010 All-Ireland winning side.
When added to the post-season departure of another former captain, Brendan Maher, 2022 is already starting to look like it could be that dreaded 'transitional year'.
Perhaps surprisingly for the manager of a traditionally - and recently - successful county, Bonnar declines to state outright that Liam MacCarthy is the target. But he does believe Tipperary retain enough talent to compete for the top prizes.
"There was always going to be a small rebuilding phase and that's the same with any inter-county team," he says. "Nobody can last forever.
"There's still great experience. The likes of Seamie Callanan and Noel McGrath, Michael Breen, Bonner Maher and Ronan Maher. There's huge quality there.
"I won't say we're in transition but there are opportunities for those younger players to possibly step in. It would have been great to have the likes of Brendan and Pádraic in there and educating these players and bringing them on, but they'll have to find their feet quickly because this League is starting next Saturday and obviously it's an opportunity for the players to step up and get the experience that's needed to play at this level.
"You talk about leaders and warriors, you talk about inspirational play. Both of those players were hugely consistent in their performances and in the heat of battle were never found wanting. They're big, big shoes to fill.
"That's where the challenge is for the younger players coming in, we have a young, dynamic group of players that would have won All-Irelands in '18 and '19 and they're biting at the bit to get a chance to get in there.
"We're not talking about All-Ireland or Munster titles or anything like that inside the Tipperary dressing room. We're talking about players being connected and what they can bring on any given night. If we get these attributes right results will follow.
"Any hurler their dream is to get to Croke Park and to win. But we have to match those expectations and keep them real in terms of what's in front of them and don't get caught up in the bigger picture that I have to win an All-Ireland.
"Obviously we are going to be judged by the outside world on results but my philosophy is you should enjoy hurling, love what you are doing. It is only part time, everybody has their work or whatever to go back to, so I'm in it with that journey for them. And every time I go up I can see that bit of magic happening with the players and that’s what keeps me going."
The seemingly slow progression of Tipp's back-to-back U20-U21 winning sides has raised eyebrows. Only Paddy Cadell and Jake Morris started last July's All-Ireland quarter-final defeat to Waterford.
In his three seasons back at the helm, Liam Sheedy mostly kept his faith in the more battle-hardened veterans, and was rewarded with an All-Ireland title in 2019. But with time ticking on and Limerick proving an insurmountable obstacle, Tipperary need this next wave of talent to start making their presence felt.
Bonnar, who managed multiple Waterford IT teams to Fitzgibbon Cup success, believes that the physical demands of the modern game make the step up harder but that that group will start to make their presence felt in the coming seasons.
"Sometimes when you win an U21 or U20, you feel next year, I'm gonna be playing senior and it's just an automatic transition," he reflects.
"But even Jake, in terms of the first two or three years, how much he's grown in the strength and conditioning, and athletic development side.
"It nearly does take two or three years to develop into that type of player where they can take the impacts. If they hadn't conditioning done over those two or three years they wouldn't be getting back up or they'd be so winded that the game would be gone for nearly half an hour before they get back into it.
"There's a massive amount of quality work gone into these players over the last three years. They're well equipped now to make that step up. I've no doubt that we are going to see a mix of experienced and younger players playing for Tipp over the next year or two.
"When players step away it is an opportunity and it will be a case that we will be rebuilding with some newer players and they'll be getting opportunities next Saturday. It's a journey for them and it's not going to start and end with Laois."
"Every county has that challenge and ours is to try and get as close as we can to Limerick"
It's not going to end with Laois but it could end with Limerick. How will Bonnar balance the necessary restructuring with the fans' expectation that Tipperary will put up the toughest resistance - as they did for half a match last year - to the Green Machine?
Living in Waterford helps for a start: "My wife is a mad Tipperary woman, she gives me enough hassle so I'd say 'God, if you give me this what would I be getting at home if I was back in Tipp?'
"You just have to look at what they (Limerick) got in the All-Stars, some people were even saying they should have got the 15 of them. They've won three out of four All-Ireland finals and people say only for Kilkenny in '19 they would have won four-in-a-row at the stage
"At the moment if you were to just look at them, you'd say why bother training but hurling isn't about looking at who's there. Obviously they have a target on the back but the lads that we have inside just love hurling, they love that challenge. Every county has that challenge and ours is to try and get as close as we can to Limerick.
"We have players that we're working on and we believe in their abilities. We'll never put a ceiling on what they can do. It's only players who do that themselves. We're going to free them up to hurl and let them go and where that brings us we'll have to see by the end of the year.
"Really we have to just focus in on Tipperary at the moment and try and get our challenge right and that balance between experience and youth. Let the hurling do the talking, we want them to hurl and go at it as hard as they can and to scrap and fight as hard as they can. If every team is doing that then anything can happen."
