John McGrath feels Tipperary came in for a lot of undue criticism after the national hurling league.

Tipp lost three times in the league but all three defeats were by small margins - against Waterford, Kilkenny and Clare. They also bedded in a slew of fresh talent up the spine of their team, McGrath himself included at No.14:

"Outside of our camp, there would have been a lot of criticism thrown at us - 'this team can't win tight games' or whatever. But our focus was on the first round of the Munster championship and just building towards that.

"The last couple of years a lot of lads were getting a lot of criticism," the Loughmore-Castleiney dual player notes. "I don't think that any amateur sportsperson that's giving up their time freely to represent their county, or whatever, to the best of their ability should be subjected to that kind of thing.

"We're all only going out to give our best and to represent the county and people have their opinions and that's grand, but we just have to try and put that to the back of your mind and get on with the thing.

"Maybe they won't be as quick to jump to the criticism if we lose a game or two next year. That's just the way it is."

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