John Leahy has claimed that Tipperary lacked leadership in last Sunday's Allianz Hurling League semi-final defeat to Cork.

The 1989 and '91 All-Ireland winner, who served as a Tipp selector under Michael 'Babs' Keating a few seasons ago, says in today's Irish Independent: "From a Tipp point of view it was disappointing that when push came to shove, we didn't seem to want it enough. At times you can do nothing about the result, but it was the performance... are they mentally prepared? I thought Cork were more mentally prepared.

"On a positive note, I thought Brian O'Meara had a good game, Pa (Bourke) came into his own in the last couple of games, Gearoid Ryan played well and Conor (O'Mahony) is playing okay at centre-back for us as well.

"After all the managers I've played under, it all comes back to oneself and mentally preparing yourself for an occasion.

"We heard rumblings that there were meetings and things addressed, but we slipped back into the same frame of mind and that's a concern. Declan (Ryan) will be concerned about his 15 for May 27 (when Tipperary play Limerick in the Munster SHC quarter-final). That's the biggest problem we have." Tweet

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