Tipperary manager Liam Cahill was delighted to see his side carve out a spot in the All-Ireland SHC semi-finals but warned that they have plenty of improving to do despite an eight-point win over Galway in Saturday's quarter-final.
The Premier County got the better of Galway by 1-28 to 2-17 at the TuS Gaelic Grounds to set up a last four meeting with Kilkenny on 6 July at Croke Park, which will mark Tipp's first appearance at GAA HQ since the 2019 All-Ireland final.
"We're delighted now to be in the last four of the All-Ireland series. Always a pressure game, these games," Cahill told RTÉ Sport after his side's win.
"Historically, Tipp and Galway are always difficult for us anyway in Tipperary, so just delighted to get the job done today."
While the eight-point winning margin looks comfortable on paper and leaves them "still in the hunt" for honours, Cahill was not best pleased with all aspects of Tipperary's play.
"Credit to Galway, to be fair to them, they brought everything that we thought they would early on, could've cut us up open for even two or three goal opportunities there in the first half," he said.
"We were very fortunate to be on the better end of that. But we have a lot of aspects to go after our play. Our intensity petered out a lot near the end which would be a concern.
"But all in all it's about qualifying, getting the job done and we've plenty to work on for two weeks' time."
However, he was impressed by how his side dealt with conceding a goal to Galway early in the second half.
Winning Tipperary manager Liam Cahill believes there is plenty of room for improvement from his charges as they look forward to the All-Ireland SHC semi-finals pic.twitter.com/ju0nWaMPfu
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"I'm absolutely delighted with that because it's a trend of this squad of players all year. We've come out of some ferocious battles already - Ennis being an example against the All-Ireland champions," he said.
"When our backs were to the wall, and again today when the goal came and brought it back to two points, I think we tacked on two or three as well then to increase that gap.
"That's always encouraging when you see that from the lads."
Turning his attention to the semi-final against great rivals Kilkenny, he quipped that the match-up would "increase the banter" between the two counties' supporters in the build-up and "renew the rivalry of old".
"Massive game for both teams and Croke Park beckons and we're just happy to be back up the N7 after being absent for a number of years and it's exciting times again in Tipperary."
Galway manager Micheál Donoghue and his side will now have to regroup after exiting the championship. But he was pleased with how his team started the game and took a longer-term view after year one of his second spell in charge.
Galway remain a work in progress, according to manager Micheál Donoghue pic.twitter.com/daauXlx7bz
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"I thought in the first half, general play wasn't too bad. I thought we created a good few goal chances and to stay in the game against a top team, you probably have to take a few of those," he said.
"I thought the start of the second half, (we) rallied well, got the goal but then Tipp showed the quality, getting two scores after that and maybe we'd a couple of wides after it.
"We'll rue a lot of our turnovers and against a team with the quality of Tipp, you know they're going to punish you, but for us it's very much a building project. A lot of learnings from today as cruel as it is but we'll just regroup and go again."
