by Jackie Cahill

Liam Sheedy insists that his native Tipperary and League champions Clare boast the strongest panels in the 2016 All-Ireland senior hurling championship.

Sheedy, who guided Tipp to All-Ireland glory in 2010, believes that current boss Michael Ryan now has a squad to rival that success of six years ago.

Sheedy admits that he was "nervous" when Ryan named four championship debutants for last Sunday's Munster quarter-final victory over Cork but on the back of an impressive display, he's predicting "fireworks" at training sessions ahead of the Limerick semi-final on June 19.

The 15 starters last Sunday will aim to hold onto their starting positions with top-quality replacements itching for their chance to impress.

Sheedy told Tipp FM's Extra-Time: "We have a very, very strong bench and a lot of those guys were making their place last year, especially up front.

"Where you see most subs used is up front and you can expect fireworks in the training sessions.

"For every one of the 26, and a few more that weren't togged out, their overall ambition is to get a starting jersey.

"When we won the All-Ireland in 2010, I would put it down to the competition within the panel for places.

"You really need two for every position, whether you're Joe Schmidt or Michael Ryan.

"When I sat down and picked up the programme, I looked the Cork bench and said 'who's going to hurt us there?' Ok, Aidan Walsh was only coming back from injury but looking at the Tipp bench, you could see players that would come in and make a difference.

"You're going to need strength in depth in the panel and Tipperary and Clare have the strongest panels in the 2016 championship. We saw the benefits of that on Sunday in Thurles."

Sheedy also stated that with his former selector Ryan now at the helm, Tipperary are in a "very fortunate" position.

He added: "Mick is a fine fella, we're very fortunate to have a guy like Mick leading the charge in Tipperary for us on the sideline.

"He was a great support to me for my three years as manager and a great support to Eamon (O'Shea) for his three years.

"Mick was clearly management material, he's well used to managing people day in, day out in his work life over a number of years. It was always an easy flow to Mick.

"Sunday was a big day. We limped out of the League and there were some unanswered questions on the back of the League campaign and some lingering doubts around about could this team really push on? What we saw was a very emphatic performance. 

"With four debutants, people were nervous, including myself, but it was a really polished display." 

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