Captain Padraic Maher says Tipperary will have to perform even better than they did in 2016 to retain the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

The Premier County appear to have continued where they left off in September with comfortable victories over Dublin and Waterford in the opening rounds of the national hurling league, but Maher insists improvement is needed if they're to go all the way again:

"We know if we play the same as last year, then we're going to find it hard to do what we did last year," the Thurles Sarsfields ace notes in The Irish Examiner.

"We have to up it ourselves, we're taking it a game at a time and we have a break for the weekend - try to get the lads involved in the Fitzgibbon through that weekend, then look forward to Clare - back home after two rounds of the league away.

"Mick [Ryan] gave a lot of players a run again on Sunday to show what they're capable of. We know we're going in the right direction, but we've plenty to improve on as well."

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