Young Hurler of the Year Darragh McCarthy has described Tipperary's league win over Waterford in Walsh Park last Sunday as a "massive" result for the county.
Tipp travelled to Waterford knowing that anything less than two points could potentially have left them in a relegation battle against Kilkenny this weekend.
Trailing by eight points at the halfway turn, goals from John McGrath and Gearóid O'Connor helped the All-Ireland champions to a hard-earned win and instead condemned both Offaly and the Deise to Division 1B next season.
McCarthy spoke to RTÉ Sport at the launch of this year’s John West Féile competition, which marks 11 years sponsorship by the company of the underage tournament, which is now one of the biggest underage sporting events in Europe.
"Getting over the line last Sunday was massive," the Toomevara man said. "We were looking at a relegation battle this Saturday night if we didn’t get the win and we didn’t want another week of that being over us as we went into training.
"We would have been under the cosh, so we do not underestimate that result at all."
Life has been frenetic for McCarthy since Tipp won the All-Ireland U20 and senior championships last year.
After the senior win he was back in action with Toome the following weekend and then his club U20 side before helping to inspire a decorated UL side to Fitzgibbon Cup glory at Croke Park a few weeks ago.
Such a workload and schedule at his age - and in such dire recent weather conditions – can test any youngster, but McCarthy, typically, makes no fuss of that.
"Lads really managed it well," he said. "Liam Cahill and UL deserve huge credit for managing the load of players.
"When we are off the field, it is important to recover and switch off.
"It is almost as important to recover as hard as you perform on the field and try to get mentally fresh.
"The Fitzgibbon Cup was really enjoyable. You were playing with and against great players from different colleges and counties and then at the end of it all you got to enjoy thoroughly that day or two with the lads after the final and get to know them better. I loved it."
And so, the season powers on at speed.
"Not so long ago, you were thinking it’s four months to the championship, and all of a sudden we are four weeks away now," he said.
"It’s up to us to get it right step by step."
An ultimate team player, McCarthy had a fine Fitzgibbon Cup final, a brilliant All-Ireland senior final and, despite his callow years, has had to get through the challenges of receiving red cards, carrying a huge weight of expectation for club and county, and also enduring boos from opposing fans over his free-taking style.
He has, incidentally, maintained the same free-taking style since his under-12 days, having seen his brother Kevin deploy a similar approach when they pucked around at home.
And while Tipp haven’t fired into top gear yet this season, McCarthy knows the quality of team-mates that surrounds him.
"I think Liam mentioned how proud of the lads he was and of how they responded to last year, and the group has carried themselves very well outside of the training field, making themselves available and giving time back," he added.
"For any external factors, we can’t look at those at all really.
"We stay focused on what Tipp are trying to do and where we are trying to get to.
"There is scrutiny but this is where we want to be and we look forward to it again now with our last league match and then the next few weeks."
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