An All-Ireland winner at U21 and U20 levels in 2018 and ‘19, the 22-year-old made his senior debut in '18 and was an ever-present in last year’s championship but feels more comfortable with the physical demands of the game now
Tipperary forward Jake Morris feels he is more ready for the rigours of senior inter-county hurling after strength and conditioning work the last three years.
An All-Ireland winner at U21 and U20 levels in 2018 and ‘19, the 22-year-old made his senior debut in '18 and was an ever-present in last year’s championship but feels more comfortable with the physical demands of the game now.
“It’s a hard step up to come from under 20/21 to senior, especially nowadays with the S&C that’s involved in getting your body right for inter-county hurling, it’s immense so it definitely is harder than some people think.
“I feel the couple of years I am after playing is after helping me a lot with a lot of learnings from it. There is definitely a big step up from under-20/21 to senior, which hasn’t been there in previous years, just with the level of S&C and looking after yourself and stuff like that. I definitely feel the last couple of years are after helping me bridge that gap and I feel a bit more ready at this level than I did before.”
Speaking earlier this month, Pádraic Maher put an onus on the younger players to make this team their own and while Morris concurs he points to the load being shared. “I do agree with what he is saying - he is after showing the level to hit and the way he trained and looked after himself.
"He showed us the standard and it is up to us now to continue that on for him but in terms of the younger generation, I wouldn’t be putting it all on that. We have a competitive squad inside in Tipp, and I think everyone just needs to raise the levels a small bit to fill Paudie’s void from now on because it’s going to be a big void but together if we get up the standard of the way he trains and played, we will be in a good spot.”
The subject of the foul which saw Clare’s Aidan McCarthy controversially sin-binned in last year’s Munster semi-final in Limerick, Morris does believe the infringement prevented a goalscoring chance, which formed part of the criteria for a player's removal from the pitch for 10 minutes.
“We might have had a goalscoring opportunity but there definitely needs to be more clarity with the rule. A couple of decisions were 50-50 but I understand it’s very hard for a referee to make a call like that in a split second. I would have said we would have a goalscoring opportunity out of that chance, yeah.”
The Nenagh Éire Óg man believes cynicism is an issue that still warrants addressing in the game. “I do think something has to be done about cynical fouling because it is frustrating as a forward when you get inside your man and he can just rugby tackle you onto the ground etc. But like I said there needs to be more clarity about the rule but I understand it was only being trialled and referees have a tough enough job as it is.”
Not reading much into last month’s Munster Cup defeat to Kerry, Morris reports training has been positive ahead of the opening Division 1, Group B clash away to Laois on Saturday.
“All I can say, from what I’m seeing in training night in, night out, lads are really busting themselves every night to go in and train really hard and everyone is enjoying it a lot. Kerry were very good opposition, we played them a couple of times over the last couple of years and got very good games.
“I think the league is about yourself anyway and all we’re doing is focusing on ourselves and trying to get a performance and lads used to playing together again. That’s the way we’re going to look at it anyway and try to get a performance for the Tipperary fans on Saturday night.”
