Home Are The Heroes – Part 1.

Excitement, broad smiles, overall good spirits and women with nails painted blue were the order of the afternoon yesterday, July 21st 2025, with at times cheering to be heard in Wales, when players and management eventually mounted the staged area in the Thurles “Field of Dreams”, as those assembled, welcomed home their heroes, the newly-crowned Tipperary All-Ireland hurling champions.

Following Sunday’s ardent and assertive destruction of Cork, both the players and management returned home to Thurles with the Liam MacCarthy Cup after an absence of 5 years. Waiting patiently were an estimated crowd of over 45,000 people, each determined to meet and greet their hero’s on the turf of Semple’s Field, (Semple Stadium).

Continuous rain shower gave those assembled some idea of what their heroes had experienced last winter as they trained.

On arrival Tipperary’s successful manager, Mr Liam Cahill, applauded the awaiting incredible scenes, rightly lauding their presence as “the stuff of dreams”.

On a sadder and subdued note, Mr Cahill paid tribute to the late Dillon Quirke, (who previously had played for Tipperary Senior Championship club Clonoulty–Rossmore), latter a most promising player who sadly passed away three years ago, on August 5th 2022, while playing a Tipperary SHC match for his home club, against Kilruane MacDonagh’s; in this same Semple Stadium venue.
In his tribute Mr Cahill added “It’s so fitting to his memory, that we bring Liam MacCarthy out into Semple Stadium as he remains always with us and ever on our shoulders everywhere we go.”

Festivities which ran from 4:30pm on into the early hours, featured home-grown entertainment from Seskin Lane, Callini Lua, Acquiesce, with Una Healy (Former member of the five-piece girl group The Saturdays) and The 2 Johnnies topping the bill.

Master of ceremonies for the 5 hour event was Radio Tipp FM’s Mr Fran Curry.

As every Tipperary person is aware the Premier County beat Cork 3-27 to 1-18 in Croke Park on Sunday afternoon last, to rightly claim their 29th All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.

Sadly, it was a different story in Cork city, where no homecoming event took place for either players or supporters, with their skilled hurlers returning quietly by train into Kent Station.