Padraic Maher says Tipperary can't take anything for granted in the senior hurling Qualifiers.

The defending All-Ireland champions have been handed a relatively back-door opener against Westmeath in Turles this weekend, but Maher is adamant that they can't afford to take their eyes off the ball:

"One thing we've learned, even when you go back to 2013 and 2014, you can't look beyond any game," he told The Irish Times. "In 2013 Kilkenny caught us in Nowlan Park, 2014 we barely got over Galway - a late comeback by us. Small margins, these games. So we can't be thinking about getting back to Croke Park in August, we've to concentrate fully on July and that's our focus at the moment.

"It can have its pros, in that we might gain a bit of momentum, but you are definitely looking at one if not two hard qualifier games. It is a tough route, but if you can get through the qualifier games, you're coming into a quarter final against a team that has been beaten in a provincial final. So you're tail could be up and they could be down. You can get momentum from this way but preferably you'd go the other way but we have to deal with the cards we've been dealt. 

"Our aim was to try and win the Munster championship first and unfortunately that didn't happen. Now the destination is the same but the route is different." 

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