Former Munster Rugby player lauded for role in Tipperary's All-Ireland final success

FORMER Munster Rugby scrum-half Cathal Sheridan has been lauded for his role in Tipperary's comprehensive All-Ireland senior hurling final success.

Sheridan, the senior sports psychologist with Munster Rugby, is performance coach with the Tipperary senior hurling team.

Limerick-based Sheridan, who played 35 senior games for Munster Rugby, before retiring due to injury in 2016 aged 28.

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Throughout his professional playing career, UL-Bohemian clubman Sheridan continued his third level study in psychology and after completing his Masters degree in Sport & Performance Psychology from the University of Limerick, he began working in the mental performance field.

Tipperary produced a stunning second half display to overturn a six-point half time deficit, powering past Cork in the second period, running out 3-27 to 1-18 victors.

Following the game, Tipperary's topscorer in the final, UL student Darragh McCarthy, praised the contribution that Cathal Sheridan had made to the Premier county's success.

Sharpshooter Darragh McCarthy bounced back superbly having been sent off at the start of Tipperary's round robin fixture away to Cork and again in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Kilkenny to produce an eye-catching display against the Rebels.

Afterwards McCarthy told RTE Sport: "It’s all a mind game, really. If you let it get to you, you’re going to be curled up in a ball at home in bed.

"[Tipperary performance coach] Cathal Sheridan, our man, played a big part in that. I went in for a few chats to try sort the head out. You have to steel the mind and just forget about it.

"[My team-mates] are the best in the world. What they’ve done for me the last 12 months, and even after the first sending off against Cork, I’d say all 40 men on the panel texted me after it. Jake Morris texted me the following morning, saying 'we’ll go for a coffee’. Just to get back around the lads again."

In 2018, Cathal Sheridan spent a three-month work placement at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York, where cadets are trained to become officers for the US Army.