Stalemates are rarely celebrated with such venom and such gusto. Cahill would clarify that it wasn’t the 3-21 to 1-27 stalemate he was celebrating.

“I celebrated as if it was a win, but really what I was celebrating was the fight in my team. I wasn't celebrating the one point. I wasn't celebrating the so-called narrative of getting out of jail. I was celebrating the fight in us, in our players, in Tipperary. That is what I was celebrating today,” said the Premier boss.

A six-day turnaround in Munster Championship hurling hardly gives you time to wash the jerseys. Six days, in the aftermath of a 15-point annihilation, was ample time for Tipperary hurling to be waked and buried several times over.

The opening question of the Liam Cahill post-match interview inquired as to whether the Tipperary manager was “happy, relieved, or disappointed”.

His reply ran for just over two and a half minutes. The following is a mere flavour of his address.

“Really delighted that the players and we as a group got our heads around a performance last weekend that wasn’t acceptable. We have no issue with that. Some of the analysis was very warranted, absolutely it was warranted, but some of it wasn’t,” Cahill began.

“Really proud of the way we battled right to the end in a game that was more or less gone from us. We were given chances to win the game prior to that, to be fair, but really proud of the way we as a group, this bunch of players, as management and backroom team, everyone associated with the set-up circled the wagons this week, and really grateful to the supporters in the stands today, they were absolutely superb.

“To everybody out there, I’d just say to ye, stick with these players. We’re at a strange place in Tipperary at the moment where we have a number of players, not a lot, that are the older cohort in the twilight years of their careers, and younger players coming together, and it’s a tough job to get that balance right.

“To stay competitive but also to put a really good future together for Tipperary hurling; that was my job. That was the reason I was asked to take on this job, was to make sure that we start building again in Tipperary. Today we showed signs of that.” 

A final return to the TUS Gaelic Grounds and the scene of their opening round routing. Cahill said plenty following the 2-27 to 0-18 hammering. Said plenty about people with no relation to that fixture or the one here that ended in textbook Munster madness. That too was addressed, even if no names were again mentioned.

“Your emotions go bananas when things go wrong on the big stage in a Tipperary jersey. We as a group never intend to not fight or die in our boots on the field. We never intend to do that.

“So, we took massive ownership of what happened last weekend. We took massive ownership of it because we had to. We own that for the rest of our lives. I own, maybe, some of my comments in the aftermath. I own that and it weighed heavy. We just draw a line under that now and go forward with this performance and still try and make sure that we qualify out of this province of death in Munster.

“Let's see can we gather a couple more points.” 

Speaking of points, Waterford have three. At the halfway point of their provincial campaign, they’ve already bettered the points total from the county’s four previous round-robin failures.

Davy has five as their magic number.

“If we get another win we’ll be in a Munster final,” the Déise boss declared.

“We’ll be close enough to it, not far away from it. Could we qualify with three points? We could? Is there a chance we mightn’t if we don’t win another game? There is.

“It’s funny. I was listening to Liam Sheedy on Sunday Sport the last day and they were talking about Clare and Limerick qualifying. He was saying, ‘sure it’s a given. Waterford will go to Clare and Clare will definitely win that one’. I was saying, sure we might as well not turn up at all,” laughed Davy. “But we will turn up.

“The best thing this year compared to last year, no matter what, we’re in the last game with something to fight for. We haven’t been beaten in the Munster Championship in our last three games so we’re making strides.” 

Three games unbeaten in Munster is slightly different to a three-game winning run in Munster. Fitzgerald knew the latter was gone from them the second Tipp sub Seánie Kenneally goaled to bring Tipp within the minimum a minute and a half into second-half stoppages.

“After the goal, I knew it was going to be a draw. Even if they fell over their laces they were going to get a free That’s ok. I don’t blame them or the referee, we should have finished that game. I am extremely proud of the lads.

“This is a different bunch of guys, they are resilient. They’re deflated, they’re disappointed because they know we should have won. But that’s the way it goes.”