Tipperary hurling coach Paidi O'Neill admits that playing a round of club championship matches last weekend was "high risk".

Fortunately for Eamon O'Shea and the Premier County backroom team, the entire Tipp squad came through the matches unscathed and it's now full steam ahead for Sunday week's All-Ireland final against Kilkenny.

"It was high risk certainly and we were sitting by the phone on Sunday evening, but if something like that works out it is okay," the former St Mary's player says in The Tipperary Star.

"We would have been conscious as a management team that you have a very sizeable number of club players who need to be catered for as well. On balance, we have done okay, I think, with five or six rounds of games played at this stage.

"We have been putting ourselves in the hands of fortune but at the same time it is good for players to get a break from the intercounty scene.

"One of the impressive things for me with regard to this bunch of players is their commitment to their club teams.

"They come back fresh to us and when you can avoid injuries these club games can be very good for the county team."

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