Liam Sheedy

Liam Sheedy (born 24 October 1969) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a left wing-back for the Tipperary senior team.

Born in Portroe, County Tipperary, Sheedy first excelled at hurling whilst at school in Nenagh CBS. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Tipperary minor team, before later lining out with the under-21, junior and intermediate sides. He made his senior debut in the 1989-90 National Hurling League. Sheedy went on to play a bit part for Tipperary over much of the next decade, and won one National Hurling League medal.

At club level Sheedy won one intermediate championship medal with Portroe.

Throughout his career Sheedy made just seven championship appearances. His retirement came following the conclusion of the 1999 championship.

In retirement from playing, Sheedy became involved in team management and coaching at club, inter-county and inter-provincial levels. After guiding Tipperary to All-Ireland glory in the minor grade, he later guided the senior team to All-Ireland success in 2010. Sheedy also served as manager of the Munster inter-provincial team, while he has also acted in an advisory role with a number of different clubs.

Playing career

Club

Sheedy played his club hurling with his local club in Portroe and enjoyed some success. The highlight of his club hurling career came in 1990 when he captured a county title at intermediate level.

Minor, under-21 & junior

Sheedy first came to prominence on the inter-county scene in the early 1980s as a member of the Tipperary under-16 team. He won a Munster title at this level before later joining the county minor team. Here he enjoyed much more success, winning a Munster title with the team in 1987.^[1] Sheedy later lined out in the All-Ireland final with Leinster champions Offaly providing the opposition. It was a disappointing day for Tipp as Sheedy’s side lost by 2–8 to 0–12.^[2]

Two years later in 1989 Sheedy was a key member of the Tipperary under-21 team. That year he collected a Munster title in that grade following a 5–16 to 1–6 trouncing of Limerick.^[3] The subsequent All-Ireland final pitted Tipperary against Offaly. On this occasion Sheedy ended up on the winning side as Tipp won by 4–10 to 3–11.^[4] This victory gave him a coveted All-Ireland under-21 medal. In 1990 Sheedy captured a second consecutive Munster title in the under-21 grade following another heavy defeat of Limerick.^[5] He later lined out in a second consecutive All-Ireland final. On this occasion Kilkenny were the opponents, however, Sheedy’s side were defeated by 2–11 to 1–11 on this occasion.^[6]

By this stage Sheedy had also joined the Tipperary junior hurling team. He captured a Munster title in this grade in 1989 following a 2–14 to 2–8 defeat of Cork.^[7] He later lined out in the All-Ireland final with Galway providing the opposition. It was a successful day for Sheedy as Tipp defeated the men from the west by 0–12 to 0–8 to take the All-Ireland title.^[8] Two years later in 1991 Sheedy added a second Munster junior title to his collection after an exciting draw and a replay with Cork.^[9] After a defeat of Kilkenny in the 'home' All-Ireland final Tipp later took on London in the All-Ireland proper. A 4–17 to 1–5 win gave Sheedy his second All-Ireland medal at junior level.^[10]

Senior

While still a member of both the Tipperary under-21 and junior hurling teams Sheedy joined the senior team. He made his debut in 1989 in a National Hurling League game against Dublin. In spite of this Sheedy was still not chosen on the Tipp senior team in the championship until 1997.

That year he lined out in his first provincial decider. Clare provided the opposition on that occasion, and Tipp lost a close and exciting game by 1–18 to 0–18.^[11] The introduction of the new 'back-door' system resulted in both Clare and Tipperary meeting for the second time in the first all-Munster All-Ireland final. The game itself was one of the best of the decade. Clare were well on top for much of the game, however, Liam Cahill and Eugene O'Neill scored twice for Tipp in the last ten minutes. John Leahy missed a goal chance in the last minute. At the full-time whistle Clare were deserving winners by a single point – 0–20 to 2–13.^[12]

Sheedy added a National League medal to his collection in 1999; however, success in the championship still eluded him.^[13] He lined out in the National League final again in 2000, however, Tipp lost out to Galway. After failing to make an appearance in the championship that year Sheedy retired from inter-county hurling.

Management career

Early managerial career

Shortly after his retirement from playing, Sheedy became involved in team management. In 2000 he took charge of the Tipperary intermediate hurling team and enjoyed some initial success. He guided his team to the Munster title in this grade in 2000 following a 1–19 to 0–15 defeat of Cork.^[14] Sheedy's side later qualified for the All-Ireland final where Galway were the opponents. Tipp were successful on that occasion and trounced the men from the west by 2–17 to 1–10 to take the All-Ireland title.^[15] It was Sheedy's first major success as a manager.

In 2005 Sheedy took charge of the Tipperary minor hurling team. His first season in charge was an unsuccessful one. In 2006 Tipp lost the Munster final to Cork, but reached the All-Ireland final via the 'back-door' system, and beat Galway by 2–18 to 2–7.^[16]

Managing Tipperary

2008: League & Munster titles

Sheedy's performance as manager of the Tipperary minor team brought him to the attention of the county board when they were looking for a successor to Michael 'Babs' Keating as manager of the county senior team. In spite of a number of high profile names being mentioned, including Davy Fitzgerald and Declan Ryan, Sheedy was appointed manager in September 2007.^[17][18]

Sheedy's term in charge of the Tipperary senior team got off to a good start. In early 2008 his side breezed through the Waterford Crystal Cup before defeating Waterford by 3–13 to 0–13 in the final.^[19] Tipp were undefeated in that competition. In the National Hurling League Tipp's run of success continued. Sheedy's side defeated Laois, Offaly and Limerick and drew with Galway and Clare to come second in Division 1B. The team later defeated Waterford in the quarter-final and Kilkenny in the semi-final of the competition, resulting in a league final showdown with Galway. The final was a tough, competitive game with Tipp preserving their unbeaten record in 2008 by defeating Galway on a score line of 3–18 to 3–16.^[20] Sheedy's next competitive game in charge was a Munster semi-final showdown with Cork on June 8. The omens pointed to a Cork victory as Tipp hadn't defeated Cork in the championship in Cork since 1923. On this occasion, however, Tipp broke the hoodoo and defeated 'the Rebels' by 1–19 to 1–13.^[21] Tipperary later continued their unbeaten run with a 2–21 to 0–19 defeat of Clare in the Munster final.^[22] It was Tipp's first provincial final victory since 2001 and it gave the team a save passage into the All-Ireland semi-final. Waterford, the perennial losers at this stage of the competition over the last decade, provided the opposition on this occasion, however, it was a different story for the men from the Déise. At the full-time whistle Waterford had broken their semi-final hoodoo and defeated Tipp by 1–20 to 1–18.^[23]

After the success of his first term in charge Sheedy was unanimously appointed for a second term for the 2009 season.^[24]

2009

On 12 July 2009, Sheedy guided Tipperary to their second Munster title in a row with a 4–14 to 2–16 win over Waterford in Thurles.^[25] Tipperary went on to defeat Limerick in the All Ireland Semi-Final by 6–19 to 2–7 on 16 August 2009, to set up a final meeting with Kilkenny.^[26] Sheedy revealed that his side have used the memory of the 2008 All-Ireland hurling semi-final defeat to Waterford as a motivational tool for the semi-final in 2009, he said 'There was a lot of hurt in our dressing room this time last year, the 17th of August was anything but a nice day and it hurt a lot of us, We waited a year to get back up here and redeem ourselves.'^[27] In the final on the 6 September, Tipperary lost to Kilkenny by 2–22 to 0–23 in a match described as one of the best finals ever.^[28] After the game Sheedy commented on the game and Kilkenny saying "I felt the lads really gave it everything. We just needed a goal at some stage to really kick on, push on. We'd one or two chances, but found PJ Ryan on a very good day today, but these lads have done everything I've asked of them in last eight months, everything I could possible want them to, so to just come up short is very, very disappointing, we knew we were facing the best team in probably the history of the game".^[29]

2010

On 30 May, Tipperary started the 2010 Munster Championship with a quarter final defeat to Cork in Páirc Uí Chaoimh. Tipperary lost the game by 3–15 to 0–14, the county's biggest defeat to Cork in 68 years.^[30] After the game Sheedy was criticised over the collapse to Cork by former manager Babs Keating who said that "I think if Liam and his selectors sat down with us at that stage for a couple of hours, they needn't necessarily have taken our ideas on board, that he could have taken a few shortcuts along the way and he'd be in a better position today than he is".^[31] On 3 July, in the All-Ireland SHC phase 1 qualifier, Tipperary comfortably won by 3–24 to 0–19 against Wexford at Semple Stadium to advance to the next phase of qualifiers.^[32] In the next round on 18 July, Tipperay defeated Offaly by 0–21 to 1–12 to advance to the quarter finals.^[33] On 25 July, Tipperary met Galway in the quarter final's at Croke Park. In what was generally described as the best game of the year so far, Tipperay won by 3–17 to 3–16 with a late winning point coming from Lar Corbett.^[34][35] In the semi final on 15 August at Croke Park, Tipperary defeated Munster rivals Waterford by 3–19 to 1–18 to set up a second All Ireland final in a row against Kilkenny.^[36] On 5 September, Sheedy managed Tipperary to win their 26th All Ireland title, beating reigning champions Killkenny by 4–17 to 1–18 in the final, preventing Kilkenny from achieving an historic 5-in-a-row.^[37] On 7 October 2010 it was announced that Sheedy would be stepping down from his position as Tipperary manager.^[38] Sheedy and his selectors, who found themselves working up to 16 hours a day during their three-year term, cited work commitments as the reason for stepping down and Sheedy thanked the board for their “top class” support.^[39]

Sheedy was named the Philips Sports Manager of the Year for 2010.^[40][41]

Honours

Player

Nenagh CBS

• All-Ireland Colleges' B Senior Hurling Championship (1): 1984

Portroe

• Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Championship (1): 1990

Tipperary

• National Hurling League (1): 1999
• All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship (2): 1989, 1991
• Munster Junior Hurling Championship (2): 1989, 1991
• All-Ireland Under-21 Hurling Championship (1): 1989
• Munster Under-21 Hurling Championship (2): 1989, 1990
• Munster Minor Hurling Championship (1): 1987

Manager

Tipperary

• All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (1): 2010
• Munster Senior Hurling Championship (2): 2008, 2009
• National Hurling League (1): 2008
• Waterford Crystal Cup (1): 2008
• All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship (1): 2006

Munster

• Railway Cup (1): 2013

Individual

Honours

• Philips Sports Manager of the Year (1): 2010

References

External links

• Profile of Liam Sheedy

Teams