2025 was Great for Tipperary, Could 2026 be even better ?
This is the season of glancing over the shoulder, of pausing at the crossroads of the year to reflect and remember, to savour the moments of magic that stitched together the domestic, provincial and national GAA calendar. And from a Tipperary vantage point, there is no bitterness in the backward glance. There is no anger, no regret — as the Gallagher brothers once roared through Croke Park in the height of summer, this was not a year for looking back in anger.
For Tipperary, 2025 shimmered like a mirage turned real — an oasis of magnificence rising from the dust. An All-Ireland U20 crown was claimed in UPMC Nowlan Park, prised from the hosts’ grasp, to sit proudly alongside a Munster title in the same grade. It was an achievement all the more remarkable given the darkness of that opening night in the Munster championship at FBD Semple Stadium, when a limp performance left few souls believing that All-Ireland glory lay ahead. And yet, belief has a habit of blooming in unlikely places.
As the Christmas lights flickered and the RTÉ Sports Awards rolled across our screens, the annual roll call of those who had gone before us carried a heavy silence. Philly Ryan’s name was spoken, as were those of the late Matt Hassett, Seán McLoughlin and John ‘Mackey’ McKenna — whose brother, former Senator Tony McKenna, would himself pass away on Christmas Eve. Aoife Shelly, too, has been recalled in recent days. So many fine Gaels, called ashore by the Great Referee in 2025. Christmas, inevitably, was a hard season for the bereaved, and once more, the deepest sympathy of the GAA family is extended to all who mourn.
Then came the moment that will live forever.
A few short weeks after the U20 success, Ronan Maher stood tall and lifted the Liam MacCarthy Cup to the sky as Liam Cahill’s men were crowned All-Ireland senior hurling champions — not merely at Cork’s expense, but in defiance of all logic, all probability, all expectation. The extraordinary journey from the doldrums to the rostrum has since been captured with rare beauty in the Blue to Gold documentary, and it made for deeply satisfying viewing in countless Tipperary homes once the turkey and ham had settled. It was, by some distance, a better way to spend an evening than enduring The Holiday, Love Actually, or Indiana Jones for the umpteenth time.
Like the Tipp seniors themselves, the documentary promised much — and delivered in abundance. Insight and introspection, nuance and revelation flowed freely across its 72 minutes, and homes in Tipp fell into reverent silence as blue and gold memories unfolded. It was not television; it was testimony.
This time last year, the very notion of Tipperary standing atop the championship mountain would have drawn hollow laughter. Few believed we would escape Munster. Fewer still imagined an All-Ireland final. And nobody — absolutely nobody — foresaw victory. But inside the camp there was steel beneath the skin: resilience, experience, belief, and a stubborn refusal
to bow to expectation. When the second half of that All-Ireland final arrived, Cork were swept away in a blue-and-gold tide they neither anticipated nor understood — and perhaps still do not. It was one of the most exhilarating, complete, and satisfying halves of hurling produced by a Tipperary team in generations. The pundits were wrong — all of them. They were left choking on their certainties. But Tipp sought no apology and no reckoning. They accepted the praise as champions should: with humility, decency, honesty, and a fierce, unbreakable pride. It was a mirror of the ethos instilled by the management, led by Cahill — a man who etched his name into GAA history as the first to win All-Ireland titles at minor, U21, U20 and senior grades as manager. A legacy carved in limestone.
Yet the year was not without its shadows. The minors endured a bruising campaign, and the footballers found the road steep and unforgiving. And then came the passing of Philly Ryan — a loss that placed every result, every scoreline, every trophy into devastating perspective. An immeasurable blow that rippled through the Premier County and beyond, leaving sorrow in its wake. RIP Philly.
The Domestic Scene.
Upperchurch Drombane carry the Premier to Croke Park in the All-Ireland intermediate— the latest chapter in a year that insists on defying expectation. Like so much of 2025, it did not announce itself early, but gathered momentum with every passing step.
Loughmore Castleiney may have surrendered half their titles along the way, yet history still bent to their will as they claimed a first-ever back-to-back Dan Breen Cup. Commercials reclaimed their throne in Tipperary football, while the U21 championships delivered winter drama of the highest order. On St Stephen’s Day, Holycross Ballycahill completed an A-grade double, Kilruane MacDonagh lifted the B crown, and the crowds told their own story — hurling still matters, deeply, even at the tail end of the year.
One of the most significant shifts of 2025 came off the field, with the move back to even-age juvenile grades bringing Tipperary into line with the neighbours. With inter-county minor expected to return to U18, the prospect of future minor finals in Croke Park looms. Whether that proves a blessing or not, who knows—memories of standalone minor finals, affordable access and packed terraces still burn brightly.
At schools level, Thurles CBS lit up the year, capturing both the Harty and Croke Cups. The Harty remains in Tipp hands for a third straight season, and the 2026 campaign is already alive with promise as Thurles, Templemore and Nenagh CBS resume battle after the Christmas break. That St Patrick’s Day triumph in Croke Park was a moment etched into Thurles folklore — and a fitting prelude to another past pupil later climbing the Hogan Stand steps.
The County Board, too, enjoyed a banner year, transforming a sizeable 2024 deficit into a healthy surplus in 2025. Proof, perhaps, that when momentum builds, it carries everyone with it.
Already, attention turns forward. The hurlers resume against Waterford on January 3rd, followed by Kerry on January 12th in the Munster Co-Op League, while the footballers begin their McGrath Cup journey. With league campaigns looming, there is much to anticipate.
5 Takeaways from the Tipperary v Kilkenny Challenge Game.