Despite a chastening experience in Nowlan Park this spring, former Tipperary star defender John Kennedy believes Liam Sheedy's side remain on an upward curve and expects them to have a major say in the destination of the Liam McCarthy Cup. John Kennedy is adamant that Tipperary are on the right track, despite a crushing 17-point defeat to arch-rivals Kilkenny in this year's National League. The all-conquering Cats received a standing ovation at half-time after All-Star goalkeeper Brendan Cummins had the ignominy of picking the ball out of his net five times on one of Tipp's blackest days in many years. But while admitting that the result came as a shock to him, Kennedy believes there is no need for panic in the Premier County. "What you have to bear in mind is that Kilkenny are capable of producing a performance like that against anyone. They're so far ahead of the chasing pack at the moment, it's scary. They hammered Waterford in last year's All-Ireland final and beat Cork by 27 points in this year's league. So Tipp aren't the only ones who have been on the receiving end of a heavy beating from them," he said. "But that result aside, Tipp had a good league campaign and they qualified for the final against Kilkenny with a round to spare and gave them a great game. I think Liam Sheedy has done a great job since he took over 18 months ago. He had a very successful first year in charge, winning three trophies. People seem to forget the state Tipp were in before he took over. They can have very short memories." For much of last year, it looked as though Tipperary would repeat their feat of 2001 by going through the entire season unbeaten. But a shock All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Waterford ensured there would be no fairytale ending to Liam Sheedy's debut season as manager. The Portroe man oversaw a dramatic improvement in Tipp's fortunes in 2008, delivering the Waterford Crystal, National League and Munster titles with a new-look side. But their hopes of completing a 'clean sweep' of titles by capturing the Liam McCarthy Cup for the first time in seven years were dashed by their rejuvenated Munster rivals at the penultimate stage. Former star defender Kennedy is in no doubt that Tipp remain on an upward curve, insisting that the manager has strengthened his squad since last year. "They're improving, Liam has used the league to blood young lads like Noel McGrath and Seamus Hennessy and they've definitely added to the thing. The problem is they're being constantly compared to Kilkenny and nobody compares favourably to Kilkenny at the minute. Kilkenny are an exceptional team, but it helps that they don't have other sports to compete with in the county. "Tipp made great strides last year, and they have a lot to build on. Eoin and Paul Kelly are back training after long injury layoffs, and that's a big boost. I'd love to see Micheal Webster getting an extended run at full forward. He is a big man with plenty to offer." Kennedy was a key figure on the great Tipperary team which won All-Ireland titles in 1989 and 1991. However, his inter-county career was cut short by two cruciate knee ligament injuries. The Clonoulty-Rossmore clubman first came to national prominence in 1982 when he captained the Tipp minors to an All-Ireland minor final victory over Galway. He won an All-Ireland under 21 medal in 1985, again lining out at midfield, before graduating to the senior squad the following year. In 1987, Tipp captured their first Munster senior title in 16 years with Kennedy to the fore in the half back line. The fact that Tipp needed replays to see off both Clare and Cork only added to the massive outpouring of emotion after the Rebels were finally slain after 170 minutes of riveting action in the Munster final replay at Killarney. Inexperience cost Tipp dearly against Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final, and there was further disappointment for 'Babs' Keating's charges in 1988 when a late goal by Galway veteran Noel Lane settled the All-Ireland final. But Tipp were not to be denied in 1989 when, after finally get the better of Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final (the game had been overshadowed by the 'Tony Keady affair'), they trounced Antrim in the final to end an 18-year wait for All-Ireland honours. Tipp regained the Liam McCarthy Cup in 1991, but Kennedy missed the latter stages of the campaign after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury in the Munster semi-final against Limerick. He made a comeback in 1993 when he played a couple of National League games, only to tear his other cruciate ligament which ended his inter-county career at the age of 29. As well as winning two All-Ireland medals, he won four Munster championships and one National League. "I had a good innings," he recalls. "I was lucky to play for Tipperary at a time when they were very successful. We had a lot of good hurlers, people like Nicky English, Pat Fox, Michael Cleary, Cormac, Colm and Conal Bonner and the Ryan brothers, Bobby and Aidan. Our two biggest rivals at the time were Cork and Galway - we had some great battles with them." John also won two county senior championship medals with Clonoulty-Rossmore in 1987 and '97 alongside Tipp team-mates Joe Hayes and Declan Ryan. In the latter final against Mullinahone, he marked current county star Eoin Kelly, who was just 16 at the time. John has been living in Clonmel for the past 20 years. His children have inherited his passion for the GAA and play hurling with St. Mary's and football with Clonmel Commercials. Kennedy is dealer principal of Tom Hogan Motors' Clonmel outlet which employs 18 staff. Main Toyota dealers, Tom Hogan Motors' other outlets are located in Shannon, Ennis and Galway, which is the company's headquarters. As well as being one of the title sponsors of the All-Ireland football championship, Toyota is the official car supplier to the GAA, and has long held the distinction of being Ireland's best selling car. The difficulties facing the motor industry have been well documented in recent months, with new car sales continuing to plummet. Acknowledging these difficulties, John says: "The only way to ride this out is to keep offering customers a top-class service. And that's what we're doing. The only upshot to the downturn is that our aftersales service is much busier than usual. People aren't changing their cars as often as they used to, with the result that there is a greater demand for our aftersales and repairs service," he concludes. Tweet

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